Further Influences

We decided to watch the opening sequences of horror films and psychological thrillers. We decided to watch the opening of Scream, The Others and Flatliners. Although Flatliners isn't a horror film it still hold an element of gore and a macabre feeling. We looked at some films that were less successful and watched to see what ideas we came up with to make a better opening.

At Home I decided to watch the opening sequences from the following films to give me some ideas and inspiration for opening sequences:

• The Shining
• Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas
• The Scream Trilogy
• Flatliners
• Friday The 13th
• Lost Boys
• Little Shop Of Horrors

All these films will start with the production company and use an establishing shot to set the scene of their genre and create a macabre feeling through music, text or characters. These films vary from quite old films to fairly recent.

The Shining - 1980

The shinning opens with the establishing shot for the film alongside the eerie music. The first two minutes is a title sequence but to make this more interesting for the audience it has a variety of powerful shots of the landscape the camera also follows the route of a small yellow car through the mountain. This shows that this car has significance.

Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas - 1993

The nightmare before Christmas is an animation film. Although for our opening sequence we would not be creating a animation film, i thought that it would be interesting to see how an animation film sets the scene for its dark mood and atmosphere. The film opens with it soundtrack which reveals to us that its a fantasy with a macabre edge. Alongside the dark words of the soundtrack the shots of creatures associated with Halloween and being scared such as vampires, Bats, Pumpkins, and Ghosts.

The Scream Trilogy - 1996, 1997, 2000

The scream opening sequences are all very different. The fisrt Scream movie is the most dramatic and gory. This sets the scene of a typical horror movie. As you can see from the photo on the left the young girl is very distressed. I really like this opening as it draws you in from the very beginning. It captures the audiences attention leaving them excited for more drama.

The second scream movie opens in a very different manner. Prehaps we don't need the gore so much as we know that its the second scream movie and after watching the first one, your mind is going crazy thinking about what could happen next.  

The third scream movie opens in the Hollywood setting with a well known character from the previous films. straight away we are thrown in the action and drama and soon become aware that this character is some what distressed and we are yet again drawn into the storyline and know once more that the horror isn't over.

    

Flatliners - 1990

Flatliners opens in a very clever way ranging from the establishing shot.The opening seems to be very surreal and is paired with suspense and choir music. It introduces us to the characters in which one of them says " Today is a good day to die " This gives clues to the audience about the film and connects with the Title of the film. I feel that the opening of the film is powerful and portrays the
creepy feeling.

Friday The 13th - 1980

Although being a very old film and not having all the wonderful special effects of today's films I feel that Friday the 13th opens in a very clever way capturing the audience and leaving them wondering. It uses some really clever camera shots to create a feeling of suspense and mystery. The use of the hand held camera works really well for the beginning of the story. You have to introduction to the characters but little do they know they are not alone. The camera is used as a point of view shot. This is really effective because as an audience we can see that something is after them . It uses suspense music setting the scene. The beginning is a back story for the film and one of the actors addresses the audience while being attacked by the villain ( camera POV shot )

The Lost Boys - 1987

The opening of the film starts with the soundtrack the song Cry Little Sister by Gerald McMann. The establishing shot sets the scene showing us where it takes place. The introduction to characters is very key in the opening as it show them to disobedient teenagers that don't show any shame they are filled with attitude and you can  see  from their clothing that they different.

Although the music is not suspense music its a got 

a edgy feel.  

Little Shop Of Horrors - 1960

The opening to Littler Shop of Horrors uses the technique of Voice over I feel that this is really effective. The film is in black and white and is a title sequence with the suspense music supporting this. For an old film i feel that they have set the scene for the film in a very clever way, It makes you want to know more about the shop and what the horrors are that reside their.