Analyse The Opening Sequences of a Horror Film genre

I looked at the opening sequences of five films, the first four i focused on where of horror genre for one of these three i looked at was a Japanese horror so compare the opening sequences and i also chose a thriller to show that i have looked at other genres.
Here are my following analyses of the films: Scream, End call (Japanese), the sixth sense , the omen and fight club (thriller).




Scream

Scream begins with a black scream then someone screaming in the background and the word scream appears in a white font which gives the viewer an automatic response that this is something to do with a horror moving as the title is being displayed with screaming noises and with a dark setting there is a heartbeat being played in the back ground and every time the heart beats the title flashes red also this is symbolised with blood so you can eliminate any other genre as just from the first opening seconds you can see that this is a horror then the title scream turns red and dominates the screen. Throughout the opening sequence the phone is dominating the sound and the tone progresses louder to emphasise shock and horror as the phone rings, the knife also makes a sound, the popcorn crackling , the piano noise when it starts to get intense the camera zooms into the girl and is hand held so we can see her reactions as the object walks away the camera stays in the passion she was in for a second or two after to show how she may be being watched also high angle shots looking into the house shows how the young girl is being watched from another prospective. Bird noises and dog barking are used to scare the viewers as this shows that something had to trigger off the dog bark this makes the viewer get scared which is what a typical convention of
The setting is based in the middle of nowhere the theme is dark and foggy so this seems to builds a sense of darkness bad things to come also the animal noises in the back ground help show that the victim is going to be in the middle of nowhere and no one could help her so therefore this makes the audience scared which is what a horror film is there to do.



End Call

Another horror film I looked at was end call (Japanese) I choose to look at this as it is set in Japan in a different language, to see if the opening conventions differed. The opening credits are black and white with red splashes of red writing to emphasise blood this shows that the film is a horror, the film starts with a dark screen and the film has a dark setting this shows that this is a horror film as horror films tend to have a dark setting .The opening credits have pictures of Japanese buildings this allows the viewer to see where the film is set, the sequence of the opening credits are fast this shows that there is a someone in a hurry maybe someone is trying to getaway there are many people but it is very blurry you cannot see just one specific face which gives a sense that there is no just one specific target rather any one can be a victim. Throughout the opening scene there are many numbers of sound used to emphasise that this is a horror film the use of water dripping gets more intense and builds up a sense that something is going to happen , the clock is ticking in the background and gets louder as the scene develops, when the phone vibrates it gets louder and louder and it beats almost like a heartbeat and gets louder as a heart would do under adrenalin this makes the viewer get scared which is what a horror film is there to do, the piano music in the background gets louder and progresses as the scene develops, in the opening credits the sound starts and stops almost like a person following another person starting and stopping like someone is being stalked this shows that it is a horror film, the mise en scene used is a karaoke machine this fits in with the lifestyle of people in Japan as there are many karaoke bars and we can see this karaoke machine in the opening scene in a dark setting, the girls are being watched through a window and then the camera uses tracking along the side and this is from one point of view to give the impression that its one way you can see them but they can’t see you again this follows a convention of a horror film have found that this Japanese film has carried the same conventions as a type l horror film.

The Omen


Like you would expect form most horror films the film started with black and white opening credits so this automatically gives the sense of this being a horror film as they typically start like this, in the background you can see the theme of red this emphasises blood death fire hell so this gives the sense that this is a horror film, opera music is being played in the background and also church bells and the music gets louder as the credits progress the church bells may emphasise death as people have there funeral in a church also church bells are seen as scary which is what a horror film is there to do – scare also church bells like a wake up call but what is it waking up the dead?. we see a cross in the background does this represent religon - god or devil? we see a shadow with the cross so it gives a sence of something else another presence dark colours could be devil maybe symboling hell.The scene starts off dark with shadows which is a typical al convention of a horror film the buildings are dark and you cannot see the full picture of the buildings as they are cut off by the darkness. The scene develops and the camera is on top a stair case looking down focusing on two people this shows that the people are being watched and looked down focused upon maybe these could be the next targets this is re emphasise as the camera tilts down to show that someone has jus suddenly looked down. the music used is depressing and is not joy fukll as would romantic comedy would have and the scence is dark and not bright this shows how this film is of a horror genre

Sixth Sence


the sixth sence in its opening credits are black and white this pattern follows in all the horror movies i have studied so far so this shows that this is a nortmall convention of a horror movie, the credits fade away so thuis emphaises horror, the sound used in thje background is wind this empahises cold ness like death, the music starts off slow and then progresess to sort of scare the viewer it progresses slowly building up tension like a sence of adrenalin makes the viewer think more of what they can see builds up tension for the viewer, blank screens so emphaise darkness and sudden stop maybe like the heart that stops at death,The scence starts off dark which is how most horror movie starts then the camera is foucussed on a light bulb and zooms out into the full room and turmns into a long establishing shot and a focuys pull on something in the background, the stairs creek which another factor which can scare the viewer. In the back ground you can hear sound of a gun loading the camera is hand held when it foiucuse on the killer and when the man geta shot the screen zooms out again and the screen goes blank and develops into thwe next scene.




Fight Club


For my last film i looked at a thriller to see how a thriller differs from a horror, a thriller is made to thirill a person wheras horror is made to scare, the thriller i chose to look at was fight club.

like a horror the film had started dark however the opening credits where niot displayed black and white like any normall horror would it had flashing lights in the back ground, the camera moved very fast, it wasnt raining or just foggy and misty like normall horror filns it was thunderning which is thrillling and the music was not jus like a piano or an opera it had exciting music almost starting adrenallin which gives a person a thrill which a normall convention of a thriller a horrror normally starts of dull and slow but a thriller i jumping and fast. the music was fight music and went well with the flashing lights the msie en scene used where black clothes and a black gun which is what is normally used as a thrilling. these are the ways that thrillers differ from horror openening sequences.