ANALYSIS OF THE OPENING SEQUENCE OF THE CONJURING

In order for an opening sequence to be effective it needs to grab the audience’s attention and make them want to continue watching the film. The film “The Conjuring” displays a mixture of Camerawork, Sound, Mis-en-scene and Editing to help highlight this thriller genre.

Sound plays a very important part on helping create that tense atmosphere. To begin with all we see is a black scene but in the background we hear voice talking. This makes the audience feel quite uncomfortable because they don’t know where the people are. The people sound very scared and worried which therefore reflects this feeling onto the audience.  The dialogue continues for a while where they are talking about the doll. Their voices seem to echo and may even be on a recording. It sounds as though they are explaining a situation and they display some hesitation making their voices seem quite shaky.

To follow this it all goes silence then the sound of wind is heard. This creates a very spooky atmosphere where you are scared to watch on but the adrenaline inside you makes you continue. Long whooshes of wind are heard giving that feeling that wherever they are it is very empty and somewhere nobody goes.

Then there is the ambient sound of the door opening. This is a normal familiar sound but it seems to be projected and it makes the door sound very squeaky and noisy creating the feeling that it is an old building. As well as this when the setting is revealed the music becomes very dramatic and fast and the pace suddenly speeds up. This creates the feeling that something bad is about to happen perhaps even indicating that the answer to what has happened is going to be revealed. The music becomes very loud and contrasts well with the previous music. This is because it grabs the audience attention, maybe at the beginning of the scene they may have felt quite relaxed and calm but now this is making them take notice and listen to what is happening.

The scene begins with a plain black shot with nothing on it and then slowly fades into the first extreme close up of a face which we don’t know who it is. This black scene instantly makes us feel scared of what’s to come. The colour black we normally associate with death therefore creating that question in our heads that maybe someone has been hurt or an incident has taken place. Then as the first shot appears we believe it is perhaps the person who has been hurt when in fact it is the doll.

This then pans out and reveals a wide shot of the three people sitting down. It is a very tight shot perhaps suggesting that they want to stick close together with each other because they are frightened about what has happening. The shot seems to have very low key lighting to add to the atmosphere and make the audience more scared. It has that appearance of a very old fashioned film even a video where they are talking about a previous situation.  They have their hair down and baggy clothes suggesting they are trying to provide themselves with comfort and trying to hide away from what happened.

After this a close up of a note saying “Miss me” is shown which makes the audience feels insecure even as though someone else is around and is walking them. The note is on ripped paper and looks messy and is there to frighten them. It creates an eerie atmosphere where you are starting to hear your heat beat because you are anxious of what is about to happen to them. It becomes very uncomfortable because of the feeling that someone or something has been invading their privacy and into their room but nobody knows the exact answer.

There is then a long shot of the doll in the hallway. This is used to scare the audience and make worried about what’s to come. The doll isn’t very attractive and is something you wouldn’t want to walk in and see. It has very bold eyes that seem to stare right at you along with big thick black eyelashes and bright red hair. The dress looks old and messy as if it has been ripped apart and pulled around. Generally the doll looks like a doll that you wouldn’t want to give to your child to provide with comfort but more to scare someone. However nothing is revealed as to who and why the doll is actually there. A shot reverse shot is used between the doll and the two women expressing their frightened facial expressions. This speeds up the pace of the scene and starts making it seem more dramatic and intriguing. These are short duration shots and are trying to intensify the situation.

Finally we see a pan of the room. The room is messy where someone has destroyed it by smashing photos and drawing on things and generally ruining the room. It seems a very quiet place where nothing is heard and someone nobody would really want to stay. This is when we start understanding that someone has done this and may have something against these women. However the doll also links back in giving us the indication that is has something to do it. It is always low key lighting and the whole room is never completely revealed. This is because they are trying to withhold the information to keep up guessing and asking ourselves questions about what has happened.  The low key lighting also helps to reinforce that feeling that it is spooky place where you never know what is happening.