Horror Film Opening Scenes Task

The Babadook – From the opening

sequence of the film, it is clear that the film

is taking place during the modern day world

in a city, which is apparent from the fact

that a woman is driving a car with

streetlights and headlights seen in the back

window of her car. Drawing attention to the

rear window also highlights the tension in

the film because maybe someone is

following her, which would answer the

question as to why the woman driving is on

edge. We can also assume that she is either

in America or Australia from the fact that

she is driving on the left side of the car.

Despite the women being thrown around in

the car in the crash, the camera stays

steady on her instead of the canted framing

that it should reasonably have. The echoes

the instability and unnerving events that

are to happen. This scene doesn’t have an

establishing shot, but rather it suggests that

there is off-screen space in the diegesis that

is not visible on frame (i.e. she is in a car,

but because it only shows you her side of

the car doesn’t mean that there aren’t

other people in the car too).The shot-

reverse shot in this sequence is when the

woman looks over at the man, the camera

shows the man, and then it goes back to the

woman. During the stage in the scene

where the women falls onto the bed the

camera level is poised above the bed

(rational thinking would assume on the

ceiling) which is used to signify the pity and

condescension of the woman. Since this is the first character with the shallow focus and frontality on

screen it is assumed that she is the main character in the film. For most of this opening scene her

face is shown as a close-up and in high-key lighting with a shadowy and dark background behind her.

The high contrast between light and dark in this opening sequence is usually associated with the

dark scenes in film genres such as horror. The performance of the woman has also a huge

impression on the genre’s impact of the audience. Her face when being tossed around in the car is

that of how a face would look if being turned upside-down, it is clear that gravity is taken control.

Despite the audience knowing that she is being turned upside down, the frontality of the camera

angle is held still of her face to capture the fraught emotions that appear on her face. When she is

falling onto the bed her movement are jittery and her arms a slightly flailing as if she has no control

over them. The thought of loss of control can be found constricting and claustrophobic, making the

audience feel tense and uneasy. She looks to be a middle aged who is wearing her nightclothes so

she has left the comfort of her house/living arrangement in a hurry suggesting that it is not safe. This

scene is a dream sequence, with impossible things happening such as hearing her boy crying her

name without him actually being there, or the man who appears by her side out of nowhere. This

dream sequence also appears to be a flash-forward of the films events. The sound in this scene is

almost diegetic. The sound that is heard on the film coincides with sounds that should be heard by

the woman. For example, when the glass explodes it is expected that you should here the crash, but

instead you hear a scream. This would suggest that the woman on-screen is having phantom

hearing, which agrees with the abnormality issued in horror films. However it seems to miss clear

and vital sounds, such as the woman’s breathing at the beginning of the scene. It is clear that she is

taken deep but fast breathes to calm down, however there are no sounds to comply with this

motion.

Evil Dead – This example has the storyline

told more clearly than in ‘The Babadook’

opening scene. It is unclear from the

opening scene what era/ generation the

film is set in. The young woman and her

father’s clothes are all modern, but the

setting and other characters have an age

surrounding them. There are props of

rusting torturing equipment and ram’s

heads hanging from the rafters which you

can see in the upward low angle of the

camera when it shows the father walking

towards his daughter. This angle is used to

create a striking visual composition of

demonic rituals. The scene is set at night as

shown by the surrounding shadows around

the people in the room, using the imagery

of low-key lighting to create strong contrast

between the light and dark in this scene

which are often associated with creating

suspense in horror films. The use of the 180

degree rule is shown here by the father

slowly walking up to his hooded daughter.

The tension and awareness builds up by this

walk, as will do in horror films. The deep

space in the frame when the father and

daughter are conversing shows how close

they are spatially, but also their relationship

before this scene in the diegesis, which

makes the understanding of the father’s

actions distressing and disturbing. The

music in this scene is mostly gradual

towards a peaking moment, it builds up to

an anticipating moment in the scene, e.g.

when he takes her hood off. The music

stops however after the man has attempted to

light the match twice so that the full effect of

what the daughter says ‘I will rip your soul out

Daddy’ is emphasised greatly. His laboured

breathing is also exaggerated here to show his

terror of his situation. The off-screen space in

this scene is mysterious to the audience which

also formulates wariness of the upcoming

events of the scene (for example whether anything is going to pop-up and come out of the

shadows).

The Conjuring – This film has more of the

traditional atmosphere for a horror movie ie

without the gore and graphic features. At the

beginning of the scene, before the film actually

starts, non-diegetic sound of a string orchestra

with low undertones can be heard which puts

the audience on edge. Straight after this the

screen immediately cuts to black with no music

which makes the audience tense with

anticipation, waiting for something to jump up

or a loud noise to scare them. Instead, a young

woman’s voice is heard having a convocation

with a man, but from off-screen because the

film is still without any images. This man is

assuring the woman which suggests that he is

informative about her situation and is assumed

to be the main character in this film. The first

image to be seen is the doll. The partial

frontality of the doll shocks the audience, even

though the doll is old and has little detail left on

it. The placement of the lights in this scene

make the room to look darker than would

probably be, which adds to the dark and

supernatural element of the film. The contrast

of the lightness of the outside world compared

to the darkness of the inside, where the

supernatural activity has been happening. The

close-up of the three people that are talking

show that they have the main focus of this

scene and that they will tell the story of the doll. However, with the over the shoulder shot with the

three people of main focus, the camera begins to zoom out, with two other people with their back

to the camera. They now dominate this shot, proving their characters have more importance than

the three people on the sofa. The layout of how the two people (one at either side of the screen) are

positioned gives the impression that they are protecting the other people in the room, which offers

the characters personalities quite quickly; the three people are naïve to this situation whereas the

other two people have experience.