Opening Sequences - Horror Movies

AS Media Project

Opening Sequence Of A Film (Horror)

Horror movies are movies that strive to elicit fear, horror and terror responses from the viewers. By watching various horror films in Media Studies, we have learned about the various conventions on a typical horror movie,. The Conventions of a typical horror movie include; blood, death, killing, villains, victims, haunted houses, isolated settings, monsters, evil, weapins, darkness, storms, chase sequences, gore, violence, screams, ghosts etc. The lighting is generally low-key, to create a dark atmosphere and elicit fear in the audience. 

The opening sequence of a film plays a valuable role in establishing the whole film, generally an initial equilibrium is established to later be disrupted. It must set up enigmas to keep the audience 'hooked', to watch the rest of the film, to see the enigmas answered and resolved. The opening sequence establishes the place and time, usually by establishing shots but also narrative devices are used, such as a voiceover.

During the first 5 minutes, characters are introduced and established, primarily the protagonist/s. To reassure to audience, conventions of the films genre are demonstrated, through the use of setting, characters etc. The opening sequence also introduces any themes and motifs linked to the ideologies in the film.

In order to understand how horror movie sequences invoke fear into the audience, we will analyse several opening sequences;

OPENING SEQUENCES OF HORROR MOVIES
The Ring (2002)
The film focuses on a mysterious cursed videotape which contains a seemingly random series of disturbing, grainy, black and white images. After watching the tape, the viewer receives a phone call in which a voice condemns the viewer to death in exactly seven days.

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The film begins by establishing the location, a secluded dark house. It is set at night, a common convention of horror films, with rain to make the setting feel more eerie. The two characters shown are Katie and Becca. They are dressed in what appear to be school uniforms, which have the connotations of youth, naivety, innocence etc. They are sat in a dimly lit room, which gives the feeling of seclusion.

Becca begins to tell a ghost story, this is used as a narrative device (without breaking the fourth wall) to address the simple plot basis of the storyline. A videotape which kills the viewer is apparently in circulation. This creates the main enigma for the digesis. The story is told by Becca in a creepy tone and an evil stare in order to scare her friend Katie, as well as the viewer.

Katie's response is obviously noticeable, fear spreads across her face which makes the viewer worry about her, however this is just an act, when Katie fakes her own death in response to the killer videotape story. The girls don't take the situation seriously, which is a typical victim stereotype, often seen in slasher horror films.

The phone rings, and the camera zooms in on the clock, 10pm, the same time Katie stated she watched the video. The fear is apparent from both characters now, with Becca simply stating 'there really is a tape...'.

Due to popular horror films such as Scream, a ringing phone now has connotations of fear, suspense, murderers, because of the killer ringing the victims before he kills them.

Becca laves Katie alone, this presents opportunity for something bad to happen. The TV suddenly turns itself on, only static is played however, this insinuates paranormal activity. The reaction of fear from Katie creates an enigma, why is the static so frightening to her? An extreme close-up shot of her face emphasises the fear response. The camera slowly pans into the TV room, normally viewers of horror films would expect something or someone to jump out at this moment so the shot instils fear in the viewer. The room however, is empty so something is obviously wrong.

A close-up shot of Katie's face and the static emphasises the battle between them, she is disturbed and doesn't know what to do, when she unplugs the TV the static finally stops. She thinks she has won and visibly calms down until she hear a loud noise which causes her and the viewer to think that there is someone in the kitchen. She is very slow and cautious, inhibited by her fear. The slow pace of the sequence keeps the viewer held in suspense. Upon returning to the kitchen, the fridge door slowly opens, again, associated with paranormal activity. Another close up of her face and the sound of her breathing heavily is heard, she is getting more scared by the second, the tension is building and the viewer knows it will only get worse.

She returns upstairs. A high camera angle shot of her at the bottom of the stairs makes her seem even more fragile and terrified, a typical victim.

At the top of the stars, a low angle shot provides an enigma; why is water seeping out from underneath a door? She cautiously walks to the door and stops before opening it. The final extreme close up shot of her face shows her looking terrified and pale and her breathing has gotten deeper. The viewer would be gripped by suspense as they want to see what is behind the door she is about to enter. As she enters, speedy camera movements from Katie to the TV screen cause the viewer to feel disorientated as what is happening is not clear.

A high pitched noise, emitting either from the TV or from Katie as she visibly tries to scream plays, making the whole mise-en-scene seem disturbing. The camera quickly zooms to her face as she tries to scream and her face visible deteriorates, and the scene presents many enigmas to be solved; what happened to Katie? What were the images on the TV screen? What happened to Becca? This scene works very well to shock the viewer; it is opposite to the slow, tension creating earlier scenes, it is fast paced, and the transition shocks viewers and leaves them with the enigmas set. A horror film generally sets various enigmas, in order to elicit suspense to the viewer,

The static returns to cover the entire screen for a few seconds, implying Katie's death as the whole shot is cut out.

;Jack Tomlinson