In this essay I will look at the first two and a half minutes of three horror movies. The Movies which i looked at where "Dead Wood", "Dead Mary" and "Wrong Turn". All these films have similarities and differences which can be identified, and decoded to translate to the audience that the films are horror films.
The first film which I looked at was Dead wood. The opening two minutes of the film are set in, a typical secluded forest, and is basically a man getting chased through the forest by some sort of villain and is killed, then leaving his vulnerable partner on her own. This opening two minutes can then be dissected in to the technical codes. The film starts of with slow edit, with a high angle shot which slowly pannes down until it reaches the forest floor, in to the puddle. This is meant to calm the audience before they use a false scare, with the splash when the man runs in to it. From this point on, the editing then speeds up dramatically with quick cuts, from close ups to show the emotion on the man being chased (which is typical for a horror), to him running away. This is a fair contrast from the slow start as this is meant to entice you and get the adrenaline flowing in the audience. During this chase the camera shots and angles constantly change, from crane to low angle, panning the point of view of the man being chased and the killer, and these are all done with a hand held device which gives a shaking effect, and this distorts the picture and adds to the confusion and anxiety in the audience.
The chasing stops and the man reaches an obstacle which he has to jump, at this point the action slows down, to show the thinking processes of the character. the character then jumps this obstacle and there is a low angle shot which shows the height at which the character is jumping. Eventually the man doesn't make this jump, the editing then speeds up to show the stress in the character as he nearly makes it but fails at the last hurdle. The angle of the camera shot changes to a high angle shot to show how vulnerable this character is at this moment, and then the character dies, and during this death, the film sustains this high angle shot and the killer never appears in the frame of the camera. When the commotion is over the edit slows down again and goes to a high angle shot of the women who is getting out of her tent and slowly gets higher to show
her vulnerability.
The film opening has a large amount of non diagetic sound as the piano starts of slow as the film starts calm, and then when there is the false scare the violins and piano speed up to show the danger and this also reflects the speed of the editing. Before the actual film starts during the titles there is some diagetic sound of birds, this reassures the audience of the location. The other noticeable sounds in the opening are rustling of the leaves as he is running plus the heavy breathing, these both show the struggle of the character.
The second film which I analysed was Dead Mary. Like dead wood this film also starts very slow. The opening two minutes is a women sitting in a car, again in a secluded forest which is a highly common convention in the horror genre. This women is sitting in the car, fidgeting looking in the dash board tapping on the car etc. then eventually a man comes to the car with fuel, and we assume that this man is her boyfriend. Unlike dead wood the hints that this film are more suttle. Despite this the technical codes used are very much similar. the editing is quite slow and there are a lot of close ups, but fear is not shown in these, it is just to show how bored the female is. When the female is scrimmaging there are also a lot of close ups to the objects which is picking up. One key example of this is the flair gun which she picks up and the keys, these are shown as close-ups to show their importance and to tell the audience that they might be in danger later on. the high angle shots which are used are not used to the same effect as dead wood, it is more or less to show what she is sitting in and what she is wearing. One thing which is noticeably different from dead wood is the play with depth of field, they use this to show everything in the frame, but they want you to focus on certain aspects, they have do this instead of close-ups.
On shot which the used well was the POV shot, they use this shot to make it seem like the is something watching the women in the car, they use this shot to make the audience suspect something is happen, this is the only sense of horror which we really see with in the first two minutes of this
film.
The diagetic sound in dead Mary is used better than dead wood, as when it exits in to the main film out of the titles, you first hear, the squeaking of the chain, combined with the close-up, this makes you wonder what is hanging on the chain, and the rusty squeak also rings and stays in your head, this gives the fear factor without using the music. When the camera moves away from this there is not a large amount of noise, as it wants to create tension. Another event when diagetic sound is used well is when the radio is turned on, on the radio you hear almost a laughing possessed noise, and a lot of white noise, this scares the audience, as they fear whats making that noise, meanwhile also showing the audience that they are in a secluded location.
The third film which was wrong turn, starts of in another secluded area, which is again the forest, the opening two minutes show a couple who are rock climbing then the male reaches the top while the women only manages to make it half way. The man meats something at the top and is killed. The women then falls when she is attacked, and she then runs away from the attackers, she nearly makes, until she is tripped and dragged away.
In wrong turn the technical codes start during the titles, as the text for the title are in capitals and are slightly blurred, and the letters are spinning to resemble the "Wrong Turn". The film starts with a helicopter shot, which gives a bird eye view of their location. During the birds eye view there is some non diagetic music being played, which sounds like it is being played on stringed instruments like violins etc. The music is quite dark, to show intensity and mysterious, this creates a sense of danger already in this opening. The camera shots start slow like the other films, and stays with this high angle shot when it is showing the couple climbing, this shot makes the characters seem small and weak as it looking down upon them.
The camera shots start going in a series of POV shots where the women is looking up to the man, and the man looking down at the women. These shots clearly show the audience which of the two are more powerful and stronger, making the women vulnerable. When the film goes to the false scare of the women falling down the rock face, the editing speeds up to show the increase in action and the speed of which the women is moving, plus this sudden burst of editing shocks the audience, helping to create this false scare. as the women is falling down the camera also follows her down very quickly, and then slows down again to show that the panic is over letting the audience recover.
After the man is thumped and killed the camera takes an establishing shot where we se the women on the rock face also and we really see how small she is. after this we see a lot of high angle shots and POV shots of the women as she see her partners blood fall on her face, and this kick starts another section of quick editing as the man is then pushed of the rock face edge and falls to hit the ground. the editing stays at this pace to show the women's struggle as something is trying to pull her up and we start to see a lot more close-ups, of the climbing gear and her face, to show her emotion and stress. when the women falls we then see a two shot of her landing next to her husband, and then close-ups of them both, then it quickly switches to a, panning shot of the killers running through the forest chasing the women. As the women starts to run the they switch to hand held cameras, this is used to show the confusion of running though the forest as its very unbalanced and distorted, with in this there is a lot of POV shots and mid angle crabbing shots. when she is tripped over we then go to a POV long shot of the car which, which is a crucial shot as it links to the conventions of the women seeing her means of escape but she can t reach it.
During this we hear a range of non/diagetic sound. to start of the music is slow, but when the speed of editing speeds up so does the intensity of the music, this increases the sense of fear. There is also a large amount of diagetic sound like the birds which are used to establish the location like in Dead Wood and Dead Mary. They also make sure you can hear the dripping of the blood on women's face as hits, as this is an important element in horror, to create fear through the site of blood. Another key sound we hear is the sound of the man being hit. This is also important as we do not actually see the man being hit, this is used to tell us something has happened to the man.
Also alongside the technical codes, the film opening also have a various amount of symbolic codes, also known as mise-en scence, these are basically what you see in the frame, things like props, costume, location and make-up.
Dead wood is set in a dark isolated thick forest, this shows us that if the victims where to try to escape from anything they would find it very difficult as they would have to run through this forest making escape less likely. the characters in this opening where not really dressed for camping and where not really prepared, this means they where already vulnerable in this environment. The male was wearing a bright red shirt with flowers on their shirt, this shows the man to be a cheerful character, this creates a bond with the audience as he is then likable, meaning when he does get killed it has a greater effect on the audience. Despite the mans shirt being cheerful it was also red, and red is usually used to represent danger, which we soon find the man to be in. while the man is being chased we see that he has blood and sweat on his face, this shows us that the chase might have been going on a lot longer than is shown on screen. when the character finally dies there is blood coming out of his mouth, this could show he has bitten a blood capsule in his mouth, there for showing the amount of stress he is under. Unlike the other two films, this one does not seem to have a car in it, this might shows there are very limited ways of escape, making the couple furthermore vulnerable
Unlike dead wood dead Mary also is very limited in the amount of symbolic codes, this seems to be the case for most, as these symbolic codes usually have specific messages. The first major symbolic code which we see in dead Mary was the, rusty chain swinging, as we see it we don't really know whats hanging, on the chain and this creates an image in our mind of whats hanging on the chain, this is a sign of danger, and we think that this might be a key part of the opening scene. Another crucial prop we see is the flair gun. this gun is coloured red, this is a crucial colour as it represents danger, and flair guns are used to call out for help, these are some suttle little hints that show the film is a horror film. The location where the girl is stranded is also very secluded, and we see this when she turns the radio on (which is another crucial prop), this shows us that its a secluded area as there is no radio signal and its just white noise, meaning they are far from any town or cities. the seclusion of where they are, is also shown by another prop which is the mobile phone she has. when she tries to call someone she seems not to be able to find any network, this shows us that she is very far from anywhere.
Both the male and female in the opening scene are quite young, the female is wearing a small amount of clothing and has painted nails, but limited amount of make up, this female is also very attractive, these features show that the film target audience is very young because of the characters they use and how they dress. The male is wearing normal clothing and does not attract as much attention as the female, this could show us that he is a lesser character in the film.
Wrong turn also has a very limited of props and symbolic codes, even though they are in very similar locations, as dead wood and dead Mary, on the other hand, they are doing very different activities. unlike dead wood the couple in wrong turn look very prepared for what they are doing, where as in dead wood the couple, which are are camping and are in more casual clothing, in wrong turn they are wearing climbing gear, and have clearly prepared. Despite this the women is still wearing a small amount of clothing and showing a lot of flesh, this indicates that the film will attract a lot more males in the audience. Like dead Mary wrong turn also has a car. The car in wrong turn is used differently to the one in dead Mary as, in wrong turn the car is used to show safety, as that is where the women is running toward as she is being chased, where as in dead Mary it is almost used as a location and the women never actually leaves the car. Wrong turn also uses other smaller props like the barbed wire which the killer uses to trip up the women and drag her away, this barbed wire shows us that the killer is very ruthless and wants their victim to feel pain.
During the two minutes opening you also see the typical symbolic codes like the blood which drips on to the women face when her husband is killed, or the sweat on the man and the women have as they are climbing, and when she is running away, which shows that they are tired, and already weakened by the activity they are doing before they are killed by the villain.
The films are also filled with a lot of horror film conventions, which are things we would expect to see in horror films, so it is easier to identify the film and link it to its genre.
In dead wood the film has the typical horror conventions like, a clear threat is established with in the first five minutes, as the man is being chased. the films also starts with a false scare at the start, when the man steeps into the puddle when being chased, false scares are widely used as they are surprises, and are not expected as they happen, when it is still calm and nothing dangerous is really happening. the film is also set in a secludes area, which is also a key as a location for horror films, as this pre-empts that there is no escape from where they are. dead wood also uses conventions like the victim tripping over when being chased, then they meet a nearly impossible obstacle, and they nearly over come it giving the audience hope, then inevitably they die anyway after all that hard work, an the character killed is the male who then leaves the poor defenseless women to defend herself.
Dead Mary has slightly less obvious conventions compared to dead wood as it is a slower start without much action, but the ones which are there are very important to the opening scene. the most obvious conventions is the, lightly dressed female alone in the middle of nowhere alone, and we know she is in the middle of nowhere, because of the other conventions like no phone signal, or radio signal, meaning she has no way of contacting nobody, and these two are used a lot in horror films to show the clear hopelessness of escape when they are being chases by the killer. there is is also a scene of anger when it seems like there is something watching her, but we do not actually know if this is whats happening, or if its just a different view point of the camera
Wrong turn differs from the other two as its completely filled with obvious conventions. it starts with showing us their location of a large thick secluded forest, and if this is not enough one of the actors lines is that they are miles away from anyone. after the location is established they move on to show that the female is the weaker sex and needs help from the man, to climb up the rock wall, this is to show that the women is vulnerable. after the man is killed,(which is another convention, someone killed in the first five minutes) he leaves this women alone. The women is then chased but she first falls from the rock wall and some how survives without sustain to much damage, meaning she overcomes the first obstacle, giving hope to the audience. during this there is also a creepy laugh from the villain which is a classic horror convention.After running through the forest she sees the car, her route of escape she is suddenly tripped over with barbed wire, and dragged of, after all that effort she comes so close to escape but the villain always comes of best. these are just some of the many conventions used in wrong turn, and wrong turn has taken these conventions to full advantage in the opening scene to fully establish this film as horror to the audience.
overall we see there are a lot of similarities between the three openings of each film, and these are elements which allow the audience to fully engage in the film and allow them to identify the films as horror. From this I can also see that the codes and conventions can bee mad extremely obvious like wrong turn or suttle
like the ones in Dead Mary, and it is sill easy to distinguish them as horrors.
The first that will appear to the audience is a non-diegetic sound of a mother’s cry, in a ghostly and sinister way; the cry is very distant and as the opening titles appears which include the production company name. The font type for the title will appear in white and change colour to red with blood for a split second, which will get the audience in the right frame of mind that they are watching a horror movie. As the opening titles are playing we hear a diegetic sound of rain banging against a window. Then we get our first code of a camera shot panning from the ground to a boy who is laying down on the bed, his on his phone when we first see him and his about to go to sleep, as that shot place through we get the titles of the people who are playing a major part in the movie for example, the directors, producers, music by and the actors. These titles will play for approximately 20 seconds of the opening. Then we cut to a point of view shot of him putting down the phone because it’s raining and there is no signal, when he puts his phone down he goes to sleep. As we get those first two shots we don’t hear and non-diegetic sound the only sound we hear is all diegetic, the rain on the window, the boy moving on the bed and him placing his phone on the table near his bed. We then cut to a close up of the boy closing his eyes as his sleeping, then the camera shot will zoom out to show the room in a bit more detail, his room is dark and gloomy and you can sense that his not the only person in that room because there’s a shadow that moves really quickly in front of the camera, the reason why there is a showdown that will move fast across the camera is so that we can get the audience to jump so in other words a false scare.
