What are techniques are used in film openings?

Camera Close up shots to show reactions or emotions of character. For example Long close ups may suggest the prop maybe of some significance to the film. E.g. in the woman in black there is a extreme close up on the tea cups with birds on and the dolls. As the shot is so close to the objects the audience can’t help but focus on the object or reaction/emotions.Sometimes establishing shots can be used e.g. to show a haunted house but like in Saw there wasn’t an establishing shot in the opening, the effect of this is that it raises more enigmas.

Editing • Cross cutting is an editing function which cuts between two or more independent actions/scenes to suggest to the audience that both events are happening simultaneously e.g. a group of people searching for someone and the someone being murdered in a field.

• Long take is another editing function used to make a shot last for a long time, this can be used to put emphasis on the action of a scene e.g. a long take on a shot of a figure in the dark.

• Eye-line match is a cut from one shot to another in which the two shots are connected logically by the character’s eye-line e.g. a shot of the character looking and then a shot of what they are looking at.

• Special effects are commonly used, especially in supernatural horrors. Example of special effects could be blood coming out of someone’s eye or some sort of contortion.

• Continuity editing is frequently used in horror film openings to edit a sequence so that time seems to flow uninterrupted from shot to shot cutting from one shot to another so unobtrusively, therefore the viewer is virtually unaware of the change in the camera’s position. A basic rule is to cut on action so the viewers are so involved with what is happening that they are unaware of transitions from shot to shot. It supports rather than dominates the narrative, as a result the plot and characters are the focus. In addition something else I’ve noticed is in the film openings they introduce the victim or the protagonist and sometimes the monster-but usually this is not the case as the big revelation of the devil happens in climax and this can be in the middle of the narrative or at the end.

However there hasn’t been any slow motion editing recently in horror film openings I have analyzed.

Sound Some horror film openings use synchronous sound, this is when the sound matches the action or speech in the opening. This emphasizes the action taking place.Whilst asynchronous sound can also be used. This type of sign doesn’t match the sound from the scene or action but is closely related to make an eerie feeling.Background music e.g. high pitched sounds of violin in insidious or animal sounds e.g. cats or batsNon diegetic and diegetic sound are use to accompany the sequence, as well as scores. Sting is used to punctuate a dramatic action e.g. a glass breaking. Sound motifs are used e.g. music box sound in the woman in black or whispering are common features.Overall sound builds up tension, mood, atmosphere to suggest an eerie feeling.

Mise-en-scene

Location is usually shot at somewhere it looks creepy or sometimes a normal place like a house. Or it could be in a studio to do special effects on the green screen e.g. sky going really dark and lightening. Costume and makeup is used is almost all horror films e.g. Nightmare in Elm street, Saw, insidious. Makeup can sometimes be even more effective than special effects or the narrative of the film. Other things used are props e.g. creepy doll, knife (these are horror film iconography).Studio or set design is mostly realistic but can also be stylized to fit the genre e.g. a normal house on the outside but dark and creepy inside. Or for example for the film Jaw, some of it they had to film inside a studio as it could be more convenient

Lighting Artificial low key lighting is used to create mystery and build the atmosphere. For example the darkness connotes evil, danger. As a result it makes the characters feel vulnerable and the audiences feel sympathy and apprehension for them.