Student film opening analysis

Student film opening analysis

 

 

We can analyse film openings in terms of the four micro elements; camera, editing, mise en scene and sound. "Succubus" a Thriller opening created and shot by a group of students, that uses intertexuatily to create the conventions of a Thriller film. It borrows aspects from the well known 1960 American release "Psycho" by using elements from the famous shower scene.

What happens?

We are shown a young man taking a shower within a changing room. A few moments after, we are shown a young woman walking slowly through a corrider. We are again shown a shot of the man continuing to take a shower, and again, we are shown the woman slowly walking through another corrider. She arrives at a door, proceeds, and enters the place where the man is having a shower. She removes her cardigan, removes her hair band, and then reveals a knife, which reveals that an act of violence is due to occur. The man is unaware of the woman as his view is obscured from the entrance to the changing room. The woman opens the shower cubicle and immediately stabs the man by surprise, several times, resulting in the murder of this man.

Camera 

During the beginning of the opening, we are shown a close up shot of the shower knob, which is turned by the hand of the man, indicating that a shower scene is going to be established. We are then shown a wide shot, which reveals the man to be inside the shower cubicle of what seems to be a changing room. This establishes the setting of the scene. We are then shown a behind wide shot of a corrider, where a woman is shown walking into the frame, and then walking down the corridor. This may suggest that she is travelling to a certain place in the building the scene is set in, possibly for a particular motive. We are then shown a close up shot of the shower head within the shower cubicle, and then the shot returns to the wide shot of the changing room, and the cubicle is shown to have steamed up, partially obscuring the mans view of the outside, in addition to his obscurity of view of the changing room entrance, and this builds emphasis on the fact that his view is blocked from the outside, which will allow the tension in the build up to increase as is revealed a few moments later to the audience. The close-ups throughout the scene increase the tension and draw the audience into the two characters.

Editing

At the start of the clip, we are shown an opening title, being the production company's name "Lionsgate Films".  The cuts have a particularly longer difference in time between them, which creates a slow-paced scene, and lengthens out the time it takes for each event to occur, from beginning to end. This has the possiblility of creating more tension within the audience, on top of the already created tension from the close ups throughtout the scene.

Sound

The natural ambient sound of the corridor has been enhanced, to possibly capture the audiences attention by allowing them to not only see the corridor, but also hear the ambience clearly, creating realism and the feeling of 'being there'. As the woman walks down the corridor, there is a slight undertone of sound, which may intend to suggest to the audience that there is a build up. Furthermore, music has been edited in during when the knife has been revealed to be in the possession of the woman, building into a crescendo alongside the building tension on screen. When the knife is lifted and about to be lunged into the man  in the shower, a hightened sound has been inserted in order to link the sound to the action.