HM:Analysing opening sequence Amityville Horror (Douglas 2005)

Amityville Opening

Genre

• The slasher/ supernatural hybrid genre is clear from the opening sequence. The conventions of this can be seen from iconography such as the red writing of the title on the screen a scary house and violent storm raging illuminating the images. This is also seen in similar films such as Saw(James Wan, 2005). Visual signifiers such as lightening a gun are iconic. Aural signifiers such as scary music are iconic.
• In many ways the opening sequence totally fulfils that three second judgement we make of the film down to the blood red credits and foreboding music. A man potentially possessed man kills 6 people in his own home within the first 4 minutes of the opening film. This precedes our expectations as in many films that are horror such as the shining, suspense is built over a long period of time over the film and only then is someone murdered.
• The text leaves a distinct impression giving a strong set up of what the film is all about. Such as a cereal killer and a scary maybe haunted house and possessed person, very stock characters and set. An enigma is established of why he killed his own family.

Film Language 

• POV shot from the girl looking at the killer is iconic. Close ups of the gun and items such as a book titled tell the story and let the audience into more than just knowing a man kills 6 people.
• Camera techniques such as ECUs are used to capture small details of the action but not all of it to create visceral suspense.
• The varying angles of the character at a high cutting rate emphasise what he's doing. For example two shot over the shoulder and pov. Most shots were still working with lightening to give glimpses of action.

• Editing: The high cutting rate of flashes of action are used to build suspense which is iconic in many horror films such as shutter island( Martin Scorcese 2010).Continuity editing is used to follow the murderer in the opening sequence, which is iconic in building suspense to view the action scene.
• This can also be seen in The Shining (Stanley Kubrick 1980). Many camera angles are used to create a feeling of foreboding such as continuity editing and a fast cutting rate and cutting between action.

• Props are used typically, for example a shotgun that the killer uses is iconographic and is a stock prop. This sets up what is to be in the opening sequence and aims to build suspense because a gun is a weapon which can be used to kill.
• The set is typically iconographic, the old wooden big house detached conveys to the audience that the family is wealthy. Therefore we deduce that the murder is out of other reasons than money or a social predicament.
•  The lighting in this opening sequence is the key to making all the shots work. The flashing light illuminates the shot from many fade to blacks. This positions the audience where they only catch glimpses of the action. They  created lightning from a storm instead of using flickering bulbs. This was the only lighting used apart from a light in a closet where Jody was hiding.
•  This can ideologically represents how Jody was the light in the dark and good not evil.
• This may be because she was a small girl and represent how he could not bring himself to kill her, as he had everyone else in the house.
• Sound is interlinked between the storm with lightening and non diagetic music of deep drums and flashing electronic sound interlinked with titles to emphasise them. 
• Creaking stairs are iconic in horror and appear in most horror films setting the idea of the whole film. This anchors the images as does the lightening sound drawing the audience into the scene.  
• Titles are seen in the establishing shot of the house in a storm. They phase in with electronic sound and are in blood like red colour. This connotes how the film might be gory, scary and will probably contain murder.
•  The title appears right at the start of the opening sequence setting the scene, about 2 minutes before any dialogue. This is aimed to build suspense as the audience know the film is going to be a horror and there will probably be murder.
• The question is when and where?

Narrative

•    Plot opening sequence is iconographic. A man possibly a member of the family kills his own family at night while they are sleeping through a storm. The possessed man with a shotgun is a stock character in a stock situation. A big detached house in a storm. 
• The audience are positioned in third person watching the sequence unfold. Two first person POV shots bring the audience into the sequence to be part of it.
• The audience is positioned with the murderer at mid shot following him through the house. There are also shots of the small girl(Jody) about a minute into the opening sequence. This aims to make the audience sympathetic for her. 
• Using a small girl as a victim is iconic as many horror films feature a small girl such as Come and See (Mironova,1985).
• The sequence is asynchronous as the audience see Ronny(murderer) then Jody(small girl) before Ronny has completed the task of walking upstairs and loading his gun. 
• Murder is the main theme in this sequence.
• Tension is created through the post production affect of lightening. This aims to maintain attention by symbolising how storms are scary and that flashing light only allows the audience to see parts of the sequence therefore leaving the audience in the dark as to what is going to happen next.

Representation & Ideology

•  The key social group is the family. From the size of the house and name " High Hopes" the audience deduce that this is financially successful family. They are shown sleeping apart from a young girl and a man with a gun.  Families are ideologically represented with the future birth, life and good things to come. This makes the opening sequence all the more sinister, contrasting life with death.
•  We can tell the murderer is an educated young man, from the picture of him graduating university. This gives the audience to suspect ideological discourse as man in the prime of his life living in a large house would have to have very extreme motives to kill his family.

Media audiences

• The target audience is roughly 15 to 24. This is evident from the high action. For example shooting. The high cutting rate appeals to a younger audience who prefer much faster paced films than an older audience. Adrenaline is another key factor which contributes to influencing younger people to watch it as they are more adrenaline fuelled.
• The audience might be shocked by this opening sequence as they are not as used to seeing these things in film as films and see it as brutal murder. Other people may be more concerned for the little girl as they may have a daughter and find it tragic how she was killed. Another reading could be sympathetic for the murderer who was possessed by something and forced him to kill his family. 
• I read the text being traditionally American, due to the typical framework of the opening sequence. Scary house, man kills own family in a storm while they're sleeping. I view this as a simple way to gain the audiences attention by establishing murder right at the beginning of the film. I do not find the opening sequence particularly shocking due to the fact that, he has a gun right from the start and is therefore predictable as what he is going to do.
•  The violent graphic aspect is tame in compared to some films such as Saw. My age and gender(male) make graphic images and violence on film very accessible and commonplace among the films I watch with my peers.
•  Therefore my background makes me immune. The background of being privileged and educated allows me to access and be bombarded by media. This also therefore reduces the impact films have.

Institutional Context   

• Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George star in this film. They are significant due to the fact that they are both good looking and therefore appeal to the audience. They are also very innocent and kind seeming characters emphasising the point on the perfect family that would not harm each other. 
•  The film had a budget of 19million and way produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Dimension films, industrial producers.
• This is evident through the high quality editing set and plot.