Horror Opening Analysis

7/24/2019 Horror Opening Analysis

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Horror Opening- Close Analysis

Action:

Horror tends to introduce the setting of where the lm will take place to set the

scene, or even show certain events which are key to the plot, an example of this is

Alien 3 which showed the main character as well as the main villain (the aliens) in

space. n this opening scene the setting was esta!lished as well as the plot.

Although, in some cases the main character are introduced, and their normality in

the way their lives are shown contrast the danger the antagonist may face later on.

A!ove are some stills

from the opening few minutes of horror lms such as" #$sycho%, #nsidious%, &awn of

the &ead%, #Alien 3 and the #'men%. n #$sycho% the text seem to !e constantly cut

with slices of lines which can represent the sta!!ing within the lm, the lines are

short and sharp and slice the text in coordination which gives information a!out the

theme of the lm as well as !uilding tension to the audience, the audience can

clearly esta!lish the genre of the lm due to its fast pace motion. A similar opening

to this is #&awn of the &ead% which in a similar way to the psycho opening, the text

seems to spread away, !ut in this case like a virus his instantly provides the

audience a small !it of information a!out what the lm is a!out . However, &awn of

the &ead is fairly dierent to the opening of psycho, as it includes a variety of



snippets within the opening which conveys to the audience small information of the

plot as well as the evil forces in this lm. he opening within the snippets of images

also contains dialogue of *uestions !eing asked in a conference, which mirror the

*uestions the audience might have a!out the lms plot, it is esta!lished *uickly that

there seems to !e a crisis as the snippets of images and clips contain carnage such

as riots and the death of people from +om!ies. he images were never clear andoften had cracks and stains of !lood around them to show the violence within the

lm. he clips are changed *uickly which gives the audience a sense of tension as

they may not know what will pop up next.

n nsidious the setting and main characters are esta!lished, the opening action

consists of dierent clips of the house, although the transition within the clips are

slow and imposing unlike &awn of the &ead which had many fast clips and images.

he images were also in !lack and white which instantly gives the audience a

sinister sense, as well as this the images would slowly +oom in slowly to !uild

tension to the audience as they may !e preparing themselves to expect something.

he opening of delivering the lm of its genre (supernatural) is slightly esta!lished,

as the !lack and white images may have a ghostly feel on the audience. A typical

convention of horror openings typically esta!lish an isolated a!andoned or small

community to show the audience that there may !e no escape which !uilds anxiety.

n addition the fact it%s slow and imposing generates a ghostlike eerie atmosphere

and gives a sinister perception of the house. nside the house there are many

furniture and home !elongings which give information a!out the main characters

and at the end the !lack and white lter fades and the sinister perception of the

house are gone however the audience will still know it%s there.

-nlike #nsidious% and #psycho%, #Alien 3%s% opening !egins with action which

introduces the villain and a main character, this opening shows a important event

which eects the whole plot of the movie. As always the setting is esta!lished, and

the !ackground is space, this immediately indicates to the audience that it is a sci

horror lm as it also includes futuristic space crafts. /ithin the space craft there are

people sleeping within this glass cham!er, this may intrigue the audience as they

may want to know the reason !ehind this. he villain (an alien) hand is shown

reaching over the woman, although the alien%s features are not fully revealed, this

leaves the audience confused and hooked on what might take place. he

overreaching hand of the alien con0ures a menacing atmosphere to the audience

this instantly indicates to the audience that the alien is a menacing gure. he glass

cham!er shortly afterwards gets knocked down !ack to what seems to !e 1arthleaving the audience wondering if the woman survived and is the alien within the

craft too.

he 'men opening action is simple !ut eective, as shown in the still a!ove most of

the !ackground is in !lack, however, at the top right there is a pale red light and

within it is a silhouette of a young child and it%s a shadow a upside down cross.

he colors within this connote a sinister message to the audience, as !lack



represents the unknown darkness and the red can connote !lood and danger. he

iconography of the image of the child and the upsidedown can represent the

corruption of innocence, as the shadow is only a child, additionally the upside down

cross is a sym!ol of the devil and it relates to the 2hristian religion. any people

may !e shaken from this !ecause it may !e what they !elieve in as it is a religious

sym!ol.

Print styles:

$sycho texts consists of !lock letters in capitals which makes it standout,

furthermore the credits appear to !e distorted as they are constantly sliced up and

rearrange, this could represent the killer%s unknown identity or even represent the

distorted mind of the killer. /ith nsidious much like $sycho, the text is all in capitals

and in a red color, it is highly conventional for horror titles to include the color red

as it connotes danger and !loodshed. he words appear and disappear like smokewhich the audience can esta!lish that the genre will !e linked to the supernatural as

it seems almost ghostlike, similarly #&awn of the &ead% fonts are also in red !ut the

4ont looks more modern and seems to spread away like a virus which the audience

can esta!lish it%s a +om!ie lm.

Alien 3 fonts are all in !old white capitals, the letters are all spaced apart which

makes it stand out !ut also carries a message of the distance !etween space. his

ties with the genre as it is an alien Horror movie. he font almost seems futuristic

the audience from this can esta!lish that the lm is sci as the font look

computeri+ed. However, unlike the rest, #he 'men% has a simplistic print style, the

words are in !old, and however not all the cases were capitals.

Music/Sound

he sound of the opening extremely aects the lms atmosphere they want

to create. 4or example, in #$sycho% the music is tense as it is composed of

stringed instruments with !oth a high and low pitch. he sound !uilds

tension as it resem!les the sound of a cutting5sta!!ing motion. he pitches

of the sound create suspense, the two high and low pitch string, sound like a

chase, as it is fast paced. he high pitched almost sounds like screaming and

the low the sound of the sta!!ing which ena!les the audience to esta!lishthe genre of this lm.

However, with #nsidious% there is !uilds up of suspense as the opening

starts of *uiet and slowly starts to increase with volume. Again, similarly to

#$sycho%, there is a use of stringed instruments which gain in volume. here

is also a high and low pitch sound which sounds like the whaling of ghosts



which suggests its genre. As the tension !uilds suddenly it drops, then

shockingly the sound comes !ack again as the red titles appear, this creates

shock to the audience as the music is playing on the anxiety and tension

levels in the atmosphere the instruments then change into a traditional

piano sound which resonances the eerie nature of the lm.

4urthermore, interestingly, #he walking &ead, opening uses a old country

western music track which at rst doesn%t seem to conform with the violence

of the lm, however the lyrics do which creates a twisted view of the sound

and lm not everything is as it seems. 4urthermore, there are other

!ackground sounds of screaming where the audience can *uickly esta!lish

that the lm contains violence and death. here are also voice overs of

people that seem to !e afraid speaking this contri!utes to the tense

atmosphere as there are also sounds of mayhem and explosion. /hilst #Alien

3% also !uilds tension, the !ackground music also sounds like a orchestra

which increases with volume, increasing the tension.

n the opening, #he 'men% !ackground music sounds like opera, or 2atholic

2hurch hums. his sounds very sinister !ut also allows the audience to relate

to the religious context of the movie which then also makes it more

frightening to people who !elieve in 6od.



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Horror Opening Analysis