Assessment 2 – Analysis of an opening sequence

Assessment 2 – Analysis of an opening sequence

 

The sequence opens with an establishing shot of woodland from a bird’s eye view. The camera then begins to zoom out whilst non-diagetic sounds of drum beats and banging begins to play. The camera angle then tilts downwards to be focusing solely on the woodland and the vast amount of trees below. This creates a feeling of isolation and a never-ending place, which means no escape. The music then becomes faster and louder as the cameras movement speeds up, this creates tension for the viewer.

 

This non-diagetic sound then becomes an overture to the dialogue in the scene. A shot of two people climbing a cliff is shown, again from a birds eye view but this time in a two shot, as the male in the scene makes it to the top of the climb. It then goes into a point of view shot from the female characters perspective as the male is heard shouting in pride.  The males perspective is then seen as he looks at the distance he has just climbed, showing the viewer just how high up he actually is. This leads the viewer into guessing what is going to happen next.

 

Next the woman is seen struggling to make it to the top, whilst in a panic.  She then falls whilst screaming for help, but the viewer doesn’t realise she has a safety rope which gives them a false sense of security thinking they could predict the outcome of what was to come. This is shown through a fast succession of close ups one after the other on both her hands and feet struggling to get a grip. This is followed by dialogue from the man being arrogant as if nothing can hurt him. He says “You know we’re 50 miles from anybody, who you screaming for?” this is a significant turning point in the sequence as it gives shows just how isolated and vulnerable the two characters currently are. The viewer as this point seems to know more than the two characters do themselves. The transitions from each of the shots shown so far are very swift and fast movements, which suggests the speed of the sequence itself. It could also relate to the fact that the two characters are rock climbing which is quite a fast paced sport.

 

An extreme long shot gives the next shot of vulnerability, this time solely focused on the female character. It shows how far she has left to climb but more importantly how far she has left to fall. She is heard screaming for the male to help her up but he is unresponsive which suggests something is wrong. As the female characters perspective is seen looking up, the mans body drops to the fall above her as a synchronous sound effect of the body dropping is heard with a bang. A shot reverse shot is then used from the male characters body to the female character and back to show her confusion in what is happening. Blood is then shown dropping down from the males’ body onto the females face as she finally begins to realise what is happening. The blood shows the first sign of the horror genre being present as the blood signifies death.

 

A close up of the males’ hand is then used as he begins to move as if not by his own movement. A diegetic sound is heard to indicate he is being dragged across the floor or something similar. The man is then flung over the cliff and hits the ground with a diegetic bang to the ground. The woman’s rope then begins to be pulled upwards as she loses any control. She begins to panic and this shown through a succession of fast paced medium close up shots from different angles. The synchronous sound of her struggling to get free is heard as she pulls out a knife to cut herself free from the rope. The knife signifies the horror movie genre only this time it is seen from a different perspective, as the innocent female needs it to survive. Her destination has now changed as she no longer wants to reach the top rather get as far away from the top as possible.

 

The female then struggles to keep her balance as she reaches for a different rope, resulting in her falling seen from a worm’s eye view. The synchronous sound of her hitting the ground is heard followed by her cries. A point of view shot is then given as she looks at the males’ dead body beside her. The camera then catches her reaction with a close up as the camera pans across the woodland with non-synchronous sounds of laughter and screams heard. The female begins to run and a multi take is seen as she struggles to get away and get out of the trees.  A close up of some wire on the ground is then seen as the female trips over and hits the ground. This is another convention of a horror film, just like blood and knifes. It is as if it was put there on purpose and the killer knew exactly what she would do before she did. Her point of view shot is seen as she hits the ground. She can see her car, which symbolises safety, and how close she is to being safe. The camera then transitions swiftly onto her being dragged away whilst synchronous sounds of her screams are heard. The screen blackouts to show mystery what happens next as the synchronous screams become non-synchronous. The screams become louder, almost crescendo like as the opening sequence ends.