Horror Genre Opening Analysis ‘Sinister’

Analysing the opening scene of ‘Sinister’:

The first few seconds are of a blank screen but then it changes. The opening scene is just one long shot, the shot is also establishing as it is shows in a forest in the middle of nowhere. There is just one big tree in the middle with four characters.

The characters have brown sacks on their heads and ropes around their necks therefore creating from the audience an assumption that they’re going to be hung.

The music is very low and quite rough sounding, when there is a blank screen, it creates tension within the audience as they don’t know why the screen is blank for why there is nothing on the screen. When the screen comes on there is a mixture of the off screen non – diegetic sound of the background film score, but also then sounds of the wind in the trees.

The shot is shown through another camera. The film is shown as another screen being watched. The border of the outside area of the screen suggests this. This also suggests that they’re being watched. The audience can infer that the viewer of the murder is the kill itself.

The tension within the audience builds as the murder takes a long time to happen. The clip is 1:11, and only at the very end do they die.

The audience can see that as the bodies are lifted off the floor, a branch is being cut off, this therefore shows that this has been planned and it is set up ready to murder. An enigma is created as the audience don’t know who the characters are or why they’re being murdered or how they got there. The enigma is a horror convention as many horror movies make the audience question.

The characters are seen to be struggling as they’re being hung, the log shot reveals everything that is going on. As there are four victims, the audience can infer that they’re a family which have been targeted. This is also backed up as there seems to be two adults and two children, yet this cannot be confirmed as the faces cannot be seen. However it can be inferred due to their heights.

The camera, once they’ve died just holds on them. The whole screen has no action or movement. Then at the end of the clip, the word sinister appears at the bottom, as if it was a movie, as there is also a off screen sound of film tap being clicked.

The colours used throughout are quite muted tones and are quite dark with mainly browns, blacks, greens and blues. The only brighter colour is the white which is from the word ‘sinister’ at the bottom of the screen.

The whole opening scene is quite calm however from the audience it raises many questions and is quite tense as they don’t know what to expect from the film. 

Analysing the opening of ’Don’t Look Now’

Analysing the opening of ’Don’t Look Now’:

(Analysed until 2:05)

In the opening scene of Don’t Look Now, for a 2 seconds at the beginning, there is a blank screen with non-diegetic background music, the scene the starts with a long shot of a blond young girl in a red coat with a wheel barrow. The camera zooms out so the audience can see a horse canter past, the girl is walking away from the camera. This would create an enigma in the audience as they don’t know what the girl is doing or why she has a wheel barrow, however they can presume that she is on a farm.

This presumption would be made due to a partial establishing stop of the trees and the field. There is off screen non – diegetic music, it is quite soft, and high pitched piano music but very bare as only a few notes are played at one time. There is also on – screen sound of a horse ‘neighing’ as it goes past and also birds tweets from the trees.

The shot then changes to an establishing shot of more trees and a field, from the corner of the screen, the audience can see someone riding a bike, the audience can tell that they’re very young as they cycle across the screen. The audience can tell this due to the poor cycling skills of the child.

There is then a long shot of the girl in the red coat again, the girl cannot be seen completely as there is over grown hedges in the way and she is just a silhouette. The camera shot is quite wobbly from this the audience can infer that it could possibly be a point of view shot too however the audience don’t know who from. 

A low angle shot then reveals the girl, still as a silhouette, this create enigma in the audience as there hasn’t been any dialogue therefore they don’t know who she is. The low angle shot shows the girl but again there are twigs in the way. During the background music, there seems at one point for there to be a woman but it is muffled and the audience may not be completely sure onto what she’s saying.

As the girl gets closer to the camera it shows that she’s holding a doll. This is a convention of a horror movie. The voice during the music is then revealed as there is a close up on the doll. The doll is creating the speech over the music therefore making it on-screen diegetic sound. The doll is dressed as an army officer. This reveals that the film could be set during the war time.

When the girl picks up the ball, she throws it which is then tracked by the camera. The camera follows the ball into a little pond, as there is a focus on the ball, it creates an enigma to see if this is a significant prop.

The camera then shows the girl in a red code through a long shot as she tried to find a way to retrieve the ball, the camera tracks her path. The camera then has a panning shot of the child on the bike, as they cycle from side to side. The audience don’t know who they are therefore creating an enigma for the character.

A medium shot of the girl but also an establishing shot shows a large house in a large field. The house looks quite old and isolated which is another convention for a horror film.

The shot is then quickly changed to a different angle of the girl but then pans down the screen to the floor and under a little bridge. This creates enigma as the audience don’t know why the shot is changing or what is going on. This would make the audience feel uncomfortable and tense.

The scene and shot then changes to a close up of a fire, there is on – screen sound of the fire crackling. The camera then zooms out to view a room with two adults sitting in it. It also shows a slide machine. There is also on – screen sound from the clicks too.

A close up shot of the man’s face, displays the concentration on his face, the shot quickly changes to a shallow focus of one of the slides, however the audience can also make out that there is a woman in the background.

The audiences focus is on the slides mainly, in the slides there are pictures of a church, and a person in a red coat sitting at the front. During the time the man goes through the slides, there’s only two out of three slides with the person on it, only from slightly different angles, therefore creating an enigma of what happened to the person in the second slides to then come to the third slide then for them to be there. The audience may relate the colour of the coat to the colour of the coat the little girl was wearing in the beginning of the scene therefore creating another enigma.

A close up on the man’s face shows his expression of confusion, he then looks towards the woman sitting by the fire. The shot changes to a medium shot of the woman by the fire, then goes back to a close up of the man again.

There is then diegetic on screen dialogue between the characters, the man then looks back at the slides and looks quizzical again.

A tracking shot shows the man’s arm as he gets the slide out of the machine. This shot would also be match on action as the shot views his actions. There is also on screen sound of the slide, this would be exaggerated for the camera to enhance the sound.

A close up of the slide with a person in a red coat which is then zoomed in. The off screen non – diegetic sound is also used which creates tension as it is a weird sound to the audience. 

Film Institution: DreamWorks Animation

Institution Research
Mini-Major Movie Studio
Film Institution: DreamWorks Animation

DreamWorks Animation, is a smaller film institution which specialises in animated films. It was founded in October 12, 1994. The founders of DreamWorks were Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. The headquarters are located in California in the United States where they have 3 different facilities. Not only do they produce theatrical animated feature films but they also produce television animated series.

DreamWorks ‘parent’ company is Universal Studios where it has 6 divisions for example, DreamWorks Press, DreamWorks TV and DreamWorks Channels. DreamWorks also works with DreamWorks Classics, Oriental DreamWorks and Awesomeness TV.

DreamWorks Animation is an American animation studio where it creates films, television programmes and online virtual worlds.

October 26 2016, DreamWorks films are marketed and distributed by Universal pictures. Before they were distributed by live-action DreamWorks studio and then by Paramount Pictures and in the early months of 2013, 20^th Century Fox took over theatrical distribution.

The studio has released a total of 32 films including franchises of; Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon. The studio has received three academy awards, this also is alongside 22 Emmys and many Annie Awards. They have also won multiple Golden Globe and BAFTA nominations.

A DreamWorks Experience was created on the Royal Caribbean Cruise line in 2010. This DreamWorks Experience Package included character interactions and experiences which also side was assisted by shows such as Ice shows, Aqua shows, Sail away parties, parades and meet and greets.

Films that DreamWorks Animation have produced or were part of producing include: Rise of the Guardians, Shrek, Home, and Puss in Boots, The Prince of Egypt, Turbo and Megamind.

Film Institution: Columbia Pictures (Sony)

Institution Research
Film Institution: Columbia Pictures (Sony)

Columbia Pictures. Was formally known as Columbia Pictures Corporation and CBC Film Sales Corporation. Columbia Pictures in an American Production and distribution studio of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group. This is a part of Sony’s entertainment of Sony Pictures.

This film industry was founded in June 19^th 1918, and was founded by Harry Cohn, Jack Cohn and Joe Brandt, the headquarters are based in Culver City, California.

In the 1940’s, their film industry boomed due to their film’s surge in audiences during the war. The studio was mainly benefited from their biggest star Rita Hayworth.

In the 1950’s, Columbia has discontinued most popular series films including ‘Blondie’, ‘The Lone Wolf’ and ‘Rusty’.

Columbia Pictures movies include: Almost Famous, Spiderman, Stuart Little 2, and Lords of Dogtown.

The film ‘Almost famous’ was created in 2000, alongside other production companies such as DreamWorks and Vinyl Films.