Analysing film openings- Donnie Darko, The shining and Insidious

Analysis of film openings

DONNIE DARKO

Donnie Darko

Genre: Drama, Mystery, thriller film

Plot: A troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a large bunny rabbit that manipulates him to commit a series of crimes, after narrowly escaping a bizarre accident.

The film is a classic cult film and his based on a scientific concept of tangent universes.

The first 40 seconds are of company credits.

There is an audio bridge of a thunderstorm into opening shot (picture above) thunderstorm generally connotes the feel of horror films. However the sound is a contrast with the shot as in the shot there is no storm present, this could be connoting the time shifts of the film and also confusing the audience.

The camera pans the scenery, establishing the setting and with the use of lighting adds a hint of darkness to the film. The tense slow music builds the tension. How the camera pans the scenery, I get the sense it could be a point of view shot like it is something or someone searching the scenery for something possibly.

• Again the lighting adds a hint of darkness to the film because apart form the sky the rest is very dark almost looks like silhouettes.

• This is the first shot we see of the protagonist, the tense music and the panning of the camera creates the sense of mystery as well as the onscreen

play.

• The camera then zooms into the protagonist, the introduction of the keyboard it added an element of sadness to the character, which is added by

the camera panning the scenery again which could be a POV shot from Donnie’s point of view

• Donnie then faces the camera in a close up of his face and laughs which signifies the strange side to this film. The boy is also wear what appears to be pajamas suggesting which is creates a sense of mystery and unease for

the audience.

• After Donnie’s smiles he walks off and the title of the film appears (shown in the picture above). The title appears in the this simplistic font, the font

then expands and fades to white before entering the next scene.

• The keyboard is still playing up till this point. Now however the sound of the thunder is back with the title name. Again like the beginning there

establishing shots show no sign of a storm which creates ambiguity and confusion for the audience.

• At 2;20 it fades from white into a medium shot zooming out of Donnie (the protagonist) riding his bike down the hill in his pajamas. We also have the

introduction of a different song called ‘The Killing Moon’ this song also links to the genre, the music and lyrics connote horror movie. Also the use

of this 80’s song also suggests the time the film is set.

• Picture above= in this establishing shot we can see that the Donnie doesn’t come from a poor background he clearly comes from a well off family so it doesn't’t explain why he was sleeping in the middle of the road, this again adds to the element of confusion for the audience and the sense of mystery.

• Picture top right= here we see a medium shot of Donnie’s mother reading the book ‘IT’ by Stephen King. Using devices like this can hint to the audience the genre of the film.

Picture above= we see another medium shot of Donnie going straight the fridge without saying good-morning so it creates immediate tension between him and the other character’s. we also see a sign of the fridge saying ‘Where is Donnie’ which also adds to the mysteriousness of Donnie’s whereabouts. Also the lighting has become a lot brighter with contrast to earlier establishing a later point in the day.

THE SHINING

THE SHININGGenre- horror and mystery film

Plot- a family heads to an isolated hotel for the winter where an evil and spiritual presence influences the father into violence, while his psychic son sees horrific forebodings from the past and of the future.

TITLES

• The colour of the font is sky blue which a primary colour. For some people blue could be referred to sadness as it is related to rain or storms.

However this colour is mostly associated with

calmness however with the eerie non-diegetic music and

the screaming women, Kubrick creates a mysterious

atmosphere. The title also come up every 5 seconds which creates a pattern.

Camera and editing analysis

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Analysis Camera movement

This is a continuous tracking shot from high angle looking down on the car, the shots are not jumpy, the tracking shot is smooth and steady. This makes it easier for the audience to concentrate on the object, scene and the setting.

Framing of shots In this opening scene they are long shots and extreme long shots

with are very clear establishing shots so it is clear to the audience that this really is in the middle of no where. Also the picture 1 and picture 2 however the second screen shot is the shot a slight tilt which creates an sense of ambiguity. Also you could suggest that the mirror reflection is foreshadowing the double meaning of the film or that the story isn’t transparent. Also the locations is misleading as it isn’t your typical locations shots for a stereotypical horror film and it creates a contrast with the sound.

Editing

A shortening cutting rhythm is used to so that cuts between shots slow down to draw attention to the viewer to each detail in the scene. Also the titles have 5 seconds between them which also creates a pattern. You could suggest these patterns are foreshadowing the patterns of the caretakers going crazy and killing their family.

Mise-en-Scene and Sound In the opening scene the film is set in the mountains

and we can see wide roads, which suggest this is very big and the one small car makes it look very lonely and deserted. Lonely tells the audience that this place is empty and unwanted: it is barely visited by anyone which is shown to be correct in the following scenes.

The sound technique used is non-diegetic music. It is very eerie with noises that sound like a screaming women which also could be foreshadowing events later on in the story. The music starts off quietly and gradually gets louder and louder. By getting louder it suggests that dander is approaching.

INSIDIOUS

INSIDIOUSGenre: Horror and thriller film

Plot: A family looks to prevent evil spirits form trapping their comatose child in a realm called The Further.

Titles The titles for the film, main actors,

directors etc. is in a chilling red font.

First the titles appear in a harsh, unfriendly font which links to the

genre also with the colour as well.

Then the words then fade upwards and the writing becomes lighter.

The words then go into a pale and clouds out, making it seem more

ghostly which is a connotation of the genre.

The writing left then fades out letter by letter adding a sense of

mysteriousness.

SoundThe opening there is non-diegetic music. The

music is almost like a echoing ringing in your ear. The music gets extremely loud when the title ‘INSIDIOUS’ shows on screen which is after seeing the women, the music becomes a high pitch violin being played fast.

After the title the rest of the opening has a errie, mysterious feel to the music to give a sense of unease. It is very slow and quiet but is still high pitched.

THE TITLEThe title of the film is in the

same red font and the ends of the letters look round off which gives it a demon or devil like

feel. In the film opening we see that the title is flickering and looks as if there could be fire

underneath it. You can also see the shadow of the letters

behind it which all could link to hell, devil and evil.

Camera After the title we get an establishing shot at the new location to set the

scene, the house looks very dark and mysterious and because it is black

and white it gives a feeling of coldness and again like the title gives

the sense of unfriendliness.

There is a aerial shot looking down the staircase and a shadow at the the

bottom. It looks like they are watching something this gives a

sense of tension because we cant see their face.

The tilted shot of the clock gives a sense of confusion and unease

because it is at an angle.

EditingThe editing is slow, which gives the

audience the chance to take everything in shot in and a sense of

enigma.

After every shot they fade out form one shot into another, this makes it

look more mysterious, also when the shots are fading in at first they are out

of focus which creates a sense of confusion.

The film opening is in black and white giving a sense of unease. The

connotations of black is evil and mystery and white are purity and

goodness and innocence giving the idea that in this film there is a clash of

good and evil.

There is a long shot of the grandfather clock (top) and then they cut to a closer shot of the clock. This is the

third shot of the same clock suggesting that it is significance but we don’t

know why at this point.

Mise-en-sceneThe lighting throughout the opening is low key

suggesting it is mysterious. Also in certain shots parts of room is highlighted while the rest is dark, showing the importance of certain place but also suggesting something is hidden which links to the genre of horror.

The location of the opening is a family house, you see all the different rooms but no actors and because the house is shown in black and white it takes the life out of the shots and makes it seem fairly spooky and uncomfortable. You can tell the people have just moved in because there are moving boxes in some scenes.