Analysing the opening of ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’

Analysing the opening of ‘Nightmare on Elm Street’:

(Analysed until 2:00)

The scene opens with a section of the screen showing the action and then a black border around it with white text about the production company. The shot of the action is a tracking shot of a close up on feet walking, the lighting is very low therefore lots of shadows are created.

The feet stop moving and a hand appears as though the person is bending down to pick something up, this is match on action as it is a close up of the action. The camera is then still whilst the feet move off the screen. The non-diegetic music is very low and sinister.

A high angle shot shows the audience hands emptying a bag onto, what looks like a messy work bench. The colours are very warms as the person is wearing red top, which is show through the sleeves, and as the lightening is low, there is a warmth of orange in it. Again the shot is match on action as it is a close up on the hands and the activity.

The shots used creates enigma as the audience don’t know who it is, who is moving around, also they don’t know what he’s doing.

Another match on action is the character grabbing gloves. The close up shows his hands and tatty fingers, the actions create an enigma for the audience as they don’t understand what is happening. A montage of actions and activities that the character is doing creates a faster pace, as the editing between each action gets faster it creates tension and excitement for the audience. The low lighting still creates mystery as not everything on the screen in clear.

During close up action shots, there is always at least one object moving. That immediately draws the attention of the audience so they focus on that object.

As the character, who the audience can presume is bad considering the props that he uses and is in possession of, slides his fingers into the glove, the match on action shot is focused onto this one movement. This creates tension within the audience as they haven’t a clue what the glove is used for.

The sudden movement of the reveal of the glove, minimises the enigma of what he was making as it is revealed. Then a loud non – diegetic sound of music with the title of the film coming up on screen. The loud noise would shock the viewers, therefore giving them a taste of what is to come.

The off- screen sound of a scream as the blades of the glove cuts through a curtain, hints to the audience, what the movie is going to entail. The shadow through the curtain creates a creepy atmosphere as the audience cannot make out a shape.

A woman with short hair looking confused, worried and scared, is shown through a close up shot with a white background. She looks around as the non-diegetic music plays. An extreme close up shows the audience her facial expression of scared and confused, it also shows all her features clearly, so the audience can view the character.

The shot then cuts to a long shot of the woman as a silhouette running down towards the camera. The setting looks like a dark and wet tunnel with a light at the end. Smoke or steam at the top of the screen supposedly coming from the roof makes the audience suspect that the scene is set in an abandoned factory. At the bottom of the screen it is visible to see that it is raining, therefore giving the impression that she’s found a way out.

Another close up shot shows the woman character as she stop as a sound with is diegetic but off screen. This shows she is frightened and doesn’t know what to do. The lighting is low and the editing has slowed too which builds tension.

An extreme close up show shows the woman but as the lighting is very low, it is hard to make out her facial expression.

Medium shot zooming in as she turns around, makes the audience suspect that it is a point of view shot of the scary character from the beginning, and therefore it creates tension. However as she turns she realises it’s a sheep escaping too, running towards her. As the sheep appears you hear the woman gasp and the sheep ‘baa’.