Wednesday 28 March 2012

'A Nightmare on Elm Street' Opening Scene Analysis


The scene starts off with a tracking shot of someone’s feet walking. You do not see the persons face in this part; this is done purposely to build up suspense of who the character might be, and also to give an indication that this person could be an evil character, this is typical of a horror genre.  It then shows a close up of a woman, this clearly shows he facial expression, that she is scared. It cuts to a long shot of the woman running down a corridor. More tracking shots are used to show the woman’s path as she is searching for a way out.


All you can hear at the start is the diegetic sound of the man constructing his glove, and also the water drops from within the factory. There is also non-diegetic music that kicks in near the start, this music is tense, and eerie, and is designed to put the viewer/audience in a state of unease. There are random diegetic sounds such as cackles of laughter here and there, this is a cliché and is common within the horror genre. You hear the noises of the factory throughout the scene.


The scene is set in what seems to be an abandoned factory, this is stereotypical and is a cliché of the horror genre, as scenes are often set in places where the victim in the only one in the building. The clothing of the woman in the scene is in keeping with the storyline as she is supposed to be asleep and she is in her pyjamas. There is an indication near the start of the dream that it is just a dream and not reality, this is due to the fact that the woman starts off in a white room, which is unrealistic and is a clear indication to the audience.


At the start of the opening scene there are a mixture of long shot durations and short shot durations. The short shot durations are used when the cuts are quick; this is to show the different steps of the glove being made. A number of different match on action and POV shots to show what the person is doing are also used near the start.

In this opening scene, overused horror conventions have now become cliché’s.

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