The house at the end of the street

The House At The End Of The Street

We hear the thunder before the opening scene to give the audience an idea of how the movie will be set, we are taking inspiration from this as we will start with sound before we show the characters to set the mood. The opening starts with distorted filming with a wide variety of close ups to create tension in the opening, to set the scene as a foreboding of what will come in the next few minutes. The camera pans out and in differentiating between a focused foreground and background to create an eerie feel as the audience doesn't know what to focus on as so much is happening in a few seconds drawing in the watcher as they want to know what happens next. This is shown in the lamp which will also further forebode the jump scare element to come when the lamp drops as the girl is walking.

There is also flashing lights to set the distorted mood of the opening sequence as we get quick shots of the girl to create tension. When the girl is walking slowly on the floor this creates suspense against the diagetic thunder and the slow tip toeing of her feet against the hard wood, contrasting as we focus to see what will happen if someone hears her. There is no one talking until the parents of the demonized girl say 'Can you hear something’, this scene is set in the parents bedroom, and shot using a birds eye view, giving them a vulnerable aspect, which represents the fear to come in the next scene. The lamp then drops which is stereotypical 'jump scare' in a slasher horror movie as the lamp suddenly drops to forebode a greater evil, a jump scare is stereotypical to excite the audience as they don’t expect it, and in this case the lamp drops against the background thunder contrasting with the thunder as a loud bang on the floor, as we don’t expect it as the girl seems to be so cautious as she’s tiptoeing on the floor, shocking the audience as it drops. The same medium shot is used between the lamp dropping and the girl walking to show a comparison of how sudden something corruptive could happen whilst the rest of the scene unfolds. Then the electricity stereotypically cuts off, darkening the scene which is another stereotypical movie convention.

The mother then gets up whilst the thunder flashes on her face, and you can hear distorted voices from the point of view of the girl, thunder is also a stereotypical horror convention that has connotations of foreboding and evil. The point of view shots are used to see the blurred and unclear sight of the girl, emphasising her dehumanised character as the audience gets to experience this from her view. There is then a slow zoom in on the door to create tension with the audience as they're eager to know when the girl or if the girl will murder the father also. Whilst this happens, the camera zooms into the fathers face creating suspense between the door handle and the fathers expression, and the violent thunder in the background starts to fade and quitten, as the audience starts to focus on the fathers expression which is reinforced through the slow medium zoom In as we see the fear and worry on his face grow. The flashing thunder also emphasises the evil in the scene as it shines on the father, almost giving him a spotlight created with thunder, labelling him as the victim. The silence creates tension between the audience, the door, and the father as we as the audience are being put through the situation as we also don’t know when the girl will burst through the door. When she does, it’s the second jump scare for the audience as the audience will be focusing on the door, and the girl jolts through leaving the audience shocked as it was so sudden, and then we as the audience relates to the fathers reaction.