Title sequence analysis (horror)

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Title Sequence Analysis (horror)

By: Klaudia Gil

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Enigmas Enigmas raised in this title sequence could be what is the significance of the silhouettes you can see through the door as the camera comes closer to the house. There is no significant action but the soundtrack plays a key part because audiences would begin to develop and wonder how sound along with visuals will change as the film progresses.

Target Audience We can see that the film is aimed at teenagers/young adults through mise-en-scene. The use of low key lighting creates a dim and darker scene – trick or treating is associated with younger audiences, it’s likely to be teenagers since children would go with there parents, they’re too young to go by themselves. We can hear that these people are by themselves, we can tell that this is happening not only through the title of the film but by the dialogue of the children singing.

Mood and atmosphere Non-diegetic music in this film is changing slowly to a higher pitch which puts the audience under pressure that there will be a jump scare and release of action. At the music descending and children's singing, it becomes the main sound - it would make the audience feel uneasy because there are no visuals at the beginning to accompany the dialogue which means that something will suddenly appear on the screen.

GenreThe use of pumpkin symbolizes the time of year since that would be the only time you would carve a pumpkin – the uneasy music accompanied with pumpkin suggest the it could be Halloween because of the scary idea which goes with Hallowen. The hand held camera approaching the door would be used to create and uneasy feeling where the audience could feel slightly confused. Low key lighting creates a ‘spooky’ feel and connotes that it is a horror film.

Halloween (2012)

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Enigmas What are the noises in the background, audiences could wonder why is there a pen (noise )that is scribbling circles on the paper– what happened, is anyone taking out there anger in that way? What is the significance of the small circle filling up the space of the bigger scribble? What role does the phone play in the film, why is it ringing, who wants to contact? The music makes the audience suspicious and wonder what is going on.

Target Audience The title sequence appeals to audiences who are interested in the horror genre, there are tension moments which would be too scary for a small child and it would give a young adult/adult a thrill and adrenaline that will attract them to continue watching. it’s hard to draw any conclusions at this point since there are no visuals except text.

Mood and atmosphere The atmosphere is confusing, it’s like there are different elements from the film in the title sequence. Sound is a mixture of high screaks, weird buzzes, and as if someone is opening the sewage as well as a phone ringing. There is a tension feeling that there will be a jump scare while credits appear, every time a credit name appears the audience could wonder what the significance of that is. The font is quite ‘normal’ and would be said to not be typical font you would expect in a horror film, since all words are easy to read but not out of blood or gory like you would expect.

Genre You can tell that this title sequence is in the horror genre because of the rather uncomfortable feeling and the weird combination of sounds that at least now don’t seem to link to each other any how, it will probably develop once the film starts. The title sequence is in the colors black & white which suggests a gory and mysterious setting. You would expect it to be like that because it creates a darker and creepier setting. It’s a good way of creating a setting through mise-en-scene as well as music without giving too much away but having the feel of the film.

The Ring (2002)

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Enigmas • What the girls are looking at – there is a ‘mystery’

person created, audience can tell that there is someone there but don’t know who? It’s shown where the girls have direct contact with the camera and follow their eye sight at the camera, it gives the audience a feeling that they are there.

• What happened to the girls, they looked ‘possessed’, they put everything they had down and jumped out of the window? There are a lot of close ups, showing great detail – helps audience understand the situation and establishes the scene, shows these objects could be important later on in the clip since they are focused, camera deliberately ‘pointing.’ The audience would wonder why they did such things.

• Why did the girls jump out of the window?• The scream at the end makes the audience

intrigued by why the girls jumped out of the window and who is “the baby”?

Target Audience The audience of this film would be teenagers/young adults, there is nothing gory in this opening scene that would need to be censored, it gives a feel of more of a thriller because there isn’t much blood or unpleasant action going on, this could just be a build up scene to create tension which will develop into more of a horror film later on in the sequence.

The Woman In Black (2012)

+ The Woman In Black (2012)

Mood and atmosphere The music begins to add instruments as the opening scene progresses, the more instruments there are the more suspicion is build up. It creates tension and a build up of action which is released when the girls jump out of the window and we hear dialogue with a scream, "MY BABY!”. Close-ups create a feeling as if an ‘interrogation’ is taking place, and those are the enigmas the audience ask while watching the opening scene. The imagery is as if color has been ‘sucked out’ of the frame creating a darker,/duller scene - since children the same age as the girls should be more happy and colorful. When the music gets dramatic and it stops, tensions is dropped through the imagery when the girls jump out of the window.

GenreThis opening scene can show genre through different parts of mise-en-scene like costumes, which are quite unusual for a horror film because the costumes are significant of the time frame the film is set in. however, low key lighting creates shadows and dims because of the features it creates. The 3 girls behaviour is unusual making them seem quite peculiar which is outstanding of the horror genre because it’s meant to take audiences from reality (Blumler & Katz).