Film Analysis
The Grudge (2004)"The Grudge" opening sequence is very simple but also very effective. Starting off with an unusual scene of a man committing suicide off a balcony it intrigues the audience and grabs their attention. It then goes through a number of titles, which have an interesting background of what looks like strands of hair swaying across the screen, which ties in with how the girl looks throughout the film. The next scene is the girl tidying up the old woman’s house; she then hears a noise from the attic and goes up to see what it was.
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The tension is built up very well in this scene mainly through the camera shots. After the girl hears the noise from the attic the camera shots then seem to have a long duration time, this gradually builds up tension and makes the viewer feel uncomfortable. The mise en scene in this opening sequence is very simple; with hardly any furniture in the house it already creates an unusual setting. With costumes, the girl wears simple every day clothes, and the grudge girl is only shown by her face which shows her make up of a white pale face, dark eyes and her hair is down and messy covering parts of her face. The lighting in this sequence is bright at the beginning when the shots are of outside, which clearly shows that its daytime. However on shots of inside the house; the lighting becomes very dull creating a gloomy atmosphere. When the girl goes up into the attic she only has a lighter to look around with. By using just a lighter it only lit up her face which works well as it shows her terrified expression. As the viewer was only able to see the girls face, it created a tense atmosphere as you are unable to see her surroundings, which then becomes great when the grudge suddenly appears. With no special effects used the sequence looks very realistic, which then makes it more relatable to the view. (AM)
Dead Silence (2007)The opening to 'Dead silence' is very effective and draws the audience into the film a lot. The opening title sequence to this film is different to most films. We are shown process of making the doll. We are introduced to many different drawings and previous failed attempts at making 'the prefect doll'. We see a woman actually making the doll from scratch and we then see many other dolls which have been made. We see her putting the doll together and making sure it looks perfect. The whole of this is made to look eerie and make the audience wonder what is going to happen throughout the rest of the film.
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We are introduced to a young couple, the man fixing the sink and the woman watching. The woman then gets on the floor with him and then there is a bit of a sexual part where they are being very flirty with each other. A package is then delivered to their door, with them not knowing who it is from as their is no card they open it. Inside is a ventriloquist doll, this is the one which is being made at the very start so this allows the audience to know that this film is going to revolve around this doll. The pair talk about how real the doll looks and then the woman remembers an old poem from her child 'beware the stare of Mary Shaw'. The audience then begin to realise that something is going to happen soon. The man goes out to collect a takeaway and that is when things start to happen. The woman puts the kettle on the oven hob, and the camera then changes to a shot of her putting the doll upright on the bed but it keeps falling so it ends up lying down. She talks to the doll jokingly and then goes into the wardrobe when the camera is placed inside so it feels as though we are stood in there. She turns on the light, and we then here a creek as though a door is opening, but when she moves you can see that the doll has turned its head so it is looking at her. She puts a pillow behind it so it is sat up, then puts a sheet over the top of it. She then walks back into the living room and everything suddenly goes silent, all the non diegetic sounds disappear the radio stops playing at the whistle from the kettle can no longer be heard. All that is heard is a small giggle which comes from the doll. She hears her name being called quietly and then walks back into the bedroom where the doll is sat. The lighting in the scene makes it scary as she is in a dark room with only flashes of lightning lighting the room. She walks over to the doll, as she reaches out her hand to pull the sheet off it is chucked over her, you hear the continuous sound of a knife slashing and then she is thrown across the room. We then see her lying on the floor with the sheet over her, she crawls out from under the sheet as she coughs out blood and is then pulled back into the bedroom by someone. The man comes home and finds her sat on the bed under the sheet then same way as the doll was, but she has had her tongue cut out like the poem which was mentioned earlier. (KI)
Dawn of the dead (2004)The 'Dawn of the Dead' opening sequence is shown very well. It begins in a hospital where two doctors are discussing a patient who has been bitten and is having a head x-ray and is curious why this is. The leading lady is then overpowered by the arrogant Doctor who is telling her to go find out why this patient is having an x-ray when she should have gone home an hour ago. The tired Doctor then goes on to do the job by asking the receptionist about it.
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When the Doctor is walking out of the hospital she sees an ambulance's back doors open with a male's legs hanging out of it, this part builds suspense as you think it is going to be a zombie to jump out at you and scare you when actually it was just the male messing around. The Doctor then drives home to the song 'have a nice day' this is very ironic because she wont have a nice day she's about to experience an epidemic of zombies. When she finally reaches her home she gets into bed with her supposed boyfriend or husband while this part goes on they find themselves in the shower together naked with these two in the shower oblivious to there surrounding the television breaks into a breaking news story about the Zombies but as they're in the shower they don't hear it and don't know nothing about what’s going to happen. It then goes to the couple fast asleep in bed. There is then non- diegetic sound which gets louder building suspense the camera then focuses on the door slowly opening with a shadow of a little girl in the door way. The man wakes up to find that the girl is a zombie the girl then bites the male turning him into a zombie. As the girl zombie is trapped the female then witnesses her boyfriend/husband turn into a zombie. The woman runs to the bathroom for safety to get away from the zombie and escaping through a window to find out the whole neighbourhood is chaos with houses on fire and zombies running around. when she goes on the highway to escape there is a convoy of traffic which she can't get passed then a non zombie policeman the opens her car door which shocks the women into driving into the ditch and crashing her car, after ten minutes we are shown the titles of quick shots of zombies and civilization with the government in the background making a statement on the virus with them saying they don't know what it is. (JW)
Scream (1996)To start the film the Killer first rings the victims phone in a house where she is home alone and the house is also in the middle of no where. The killer trys to speak the victim but she firsts hangs up on him. He then rings back and hears her making popcorn and then asks her if she likes horror films. The is ironic because as the audience we already know that she is in a horror film and she is planning to watch one. The killer then says I want to know who I'm looking at so then the audience is then on the edge of their seat thinking what's about to happen.
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She then finds her boyfriend Steve tied up to a chair in the garden and to save his life she has to answer questions that the killer is about to ask her. The Killer asks her questions all about horror films that is also ironic because obviously she is now indeed one herself. The killer then knocks onto the front door and the victim says who is there and the killer responds saying don't you watch scary movies you may as well go out inspect a scary noise. Mocking her because he is about to try kill her. She then escapes outside and then we see a car coming towards the house so it puts the audience on a high thinking that she is going to leave but then the victim then looks into and the killer is standing right in front. Its then a chase with killer chasing after the victim and its suspense to see if the victim will make it and leave. The killer then stabs the victim in the throat which stops her shouting to her parents. The parents then here her on the phone and hear that she is getting stabbed and the dragged along the floor. Her mum then opens the door to see the victim hanging from a tree with her insides out. In this horror opening sequence there are no titles except for scream after the beginning of the death.(AC)