media evaluation of film opening

1. Evaluation of film opening
Question 1
Lucy Kingsman

2. 9 screengrabs of best shots in the opening
Mysterious black figure,
longshot, reveals location
Name of production
company, also reveals
location
Shows titles, high angle shot,
only reveals small part of
character
Shot from
through
trees,
extreme
long shot
Shows
titles, close
up of feet
Close up of
face, shows
expressions
and uses
effects
Long
shot of
black
figure
walking
into the
distance
Reveals character of little girl
using long shot and an effect

3. The genre of the opening
The genre of our film opening is horror. Our media opening suggests that the film is in
the horror genre in many different ways. One which we have done this is through the use
of sound in the opening. The non diegetic sound in the opening is a very spooky song,
you know straight away when you hear this music that the atmosphere is not a good
one. Also through the use of costume you can tell that it is a horror film as the clothes
that the little girl is wearing e.g. the white dress, shows how she is innocent and it
almost represents her as a ghost. Contrastingly, the male character in the opening is
dressed all in black and you can barely see what he is wearing, this makes the audience
feel on edge as they can not see who is it but they only know he is a dark character. The
way our film opening is edited also shows how the genre is horror, this is because the
editing is very fast paced and it includes a lot of jump cuts throughout. This fast paced
editing creates tension and makes the audience feel on edge like it is leading to
something bad happening which is usually what typically happens in a horror film.
Another contributor to making the genre of this film opening a horror one is the setting.
The woods is used in many different horror films as a scary setting. This is because the
woods are usually quiet with no people around which is where no one can be helped.

4. Story and how the opening sets it up
I think that the opening sets up the story very well this is because it
introduces the audience to the characters right at the beginning and we
know exactly what has happened because the first thing that the audience
sees is a news report which tells us the situation at the current time. We
know that the man is coming after the girl which is exactly what we see in
the opening of our film. This then sets us up nicely to what is about to
happen next which is the man going after the little girls mum. They are
walked at a very fast pace through the woods so this could suggest to the
audience that this is what they are on their way to do? From reading the
storyline the audience also knows that the little girl has been possessed and
some super natural activity is going to happen. We can also see this in the
opening of our film from the way that it has been edited because when
certain grainy effects have been used and when it turns into a fuzzy screen
like a TV would when it is broken we can see that whatever is happening
when the little girl is on the screen is not normal and she is not a normal
living human being.

5. How characters are introduced
When we first see the character of the little girl she is seen on the news,
Straight away she is seen as the victim in this film. After she has been shown as
an innocent school girl in a picture on the news, we see her in the middle of
the woods. In this part of the opening she is seen as maybe being a ghost? This
is because she is jumping from place to place throughout the opening very
quickly, and every time she moves she is completely still or moving very fast.
Also, whenever the little girl is shown on the screen this is when the grainy
effects are used so it insinuates that something is not right with the little girl.
When we first see the male character in the opening we can barely see who is
it at all. This character is made to look mysterious this is because all we can see
is a tall black figure and that is one of the only things that the audience knows
about the character. The audience can sense that he is a weird character as he
is seen on his own walking through the woods which is also very mysterious
and strange although we do not know much about this character yet as we do
not know what he is doing or where he is going.