Basic Film Opening Analysis: An American Haunting

20:02

(first 60 seconds of this film)


Sound
This starts opening starts off with a soft sound effect, very quiet as the camera pans down from the house. As soon as the camera hits eyelevel, suspenseful music abruptly starts alongside the whipering and panting sounds of the girl. This loud suspenseful music continues throughout this scene as the girl is running for safety. This creates a frightful atmosphere. Once the girl reaches a house, the rattle of the door knob is loud which emphasises her distress as she tries to open the door.

Shots
In the beginning there is a overhead shot that pans down. This could also be the establishing shot. Then we see a medium shot of a girl running. We see a series of POV shots between the girl and the chaser including left and right pans from the chaser as if he/she is looking around for her. Alongside this we see medium shots through the tree branches. The movements are very unsteady, almost like handheld shots. This is seen when the camera follows the movements of the girl. We also see a long shot of the running girl, this emphasises how much further she has to actually run. When the girl reaches a house, there is an extreme closeup of her rattling the door knob, this shows her desperation.

Editing
The editing here is quite simple, for the most part it is continuous as most of the suspense lies in the shots and sounds. As soon as the pan shot of the house meets eye level, there is a jump cut to a girl running in the forest. These two different settings are a reverse shot, indicating a link between the house and the characters.Whilst the girl is running there is a series of jump cuts between the girl, the chaser and the surroundings. As well as shot reverse shot between the girl and the chaser.

Narrative
There is no narrative in this scene as in order for fear to be created, the only sound effects needed are the music and the sounds of the girl. Because there is so much action in this scene due to the running, the viewer focus is on the girl and any narrative would clash with all the other effects as too much would be going on. If there was narrative, it would't make sense due to the fast paced action in the scene and would distract the reader from what was going on.

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