The Conjuring AnalysisThe opening scene of The Conjuring begins with a still long shot of the Perron family. The monochrome lighting is quite low key, which is a common feature in horror as it creates a sense of mystery and impending doom. It also makes the image appear very dated, perhaps to indicate that the characters have now deceased. Horror films often revolve around a brutal murder of some kind and the culprit can take the form of any number of roles, such as a psychopath, a ghost, or a monster. This links in to the primary aim of a horror film, which is to unsettle the audience’s primal fears, including their terror of the supernatural.

The non-diegetic music sounds like a low-pitched horn that doesn’t settle on a particular note. This creates a feeling of restlessness and insecurity, which engages the audience as it makes them anticipate what will happen next. In addition, the volume is quite low which forms the impression that danger is lurking around the corner, making the audience apprehensive of an imminent disaster. Joseph Bishara incorporates reverb in this section; this creates quite an eerie sound which plays on the audience’s fear of the unknown. This music could be described as resembling a swarm of flies, a noise which many people consider to be displeasing. The use of discordant sounds to evoke negative emotion is a common technique employed by film composers. Hans Zimmer, for instance, experimented incessantly with unpleasant audio when scoring The Dark Knight, particularly when creating the leitmotif for the Joker.

The start of the film incorporates a written narrative in the form of newspaper articles. The subtitle “ghost hunter gives second lecture here” provides a clue as to the film’s main themes without giving away too much detail. It also forms the impression that the film is recalling events that have already happened, which allows the chronology to be manipulated in order to engage the viewer’s interest. Even though the audience doesn’t

know what the film is about they catch a glimpse of the aftermath in the press, which intrigues them to find out what it was that caused such a stir. This could be described as obscuring the narrative as it is not in chronological order and is a common technique used in horror films to keep the audience hooked. The omission of key details is continued throughout the film’s introduction, for example, when the character of Vera Farmiga is shown on the screen. Although the full newspaper article is not visible words such as “dead boy” and “demon hunters” encourage the viewer to find out more as no background information is provided.

The introduction compromises of slides which appear to be beaming from an overhead projector. This has conotations of detective work, perhaps reflecting ideas being bounced backwards and forwards in the light of new evidence. The characters are typically presented in the style of family portraits. They often appear to be taken from a distance, as if they were just ordinary people who met with very unfortunate circumstances. This is effective in unsettling the audience as it ties in with the underlying message of horror films: that this could be you.

In one long shot, the characters almost appear to have been decapitated as the opening credits are pasted over their heads, perhaps to indicate how they will meet their untimely death.