DF - Analysing an Opening Sequence

'The Shining' (Kubrick, 1980)

'The Number 23' (Schumacher, 2007)

'Se7en' (Fincher, 1995)

Genre: 'The Shining' (Kubrick, 1980)

1. This film is a psychological horror, which can be seen in the way that the plot develops by following the increased psychological damage seen in the antagonist and the child and the man becomes insane and the boy hallucinates.
2. The opening sequence shows extreme long-shots of a car driving in a clearly isolated location with a dark, suspense-building minor key soundtrack. This fulfils the conventions of an isolated location and fitting music. Furthermore, no characters are introduced and no hint of the plot is conveyed. This is quite unusual within film openings however is does display the convention of mystery, as the lack of direction alongside the music helps raise questions in the audience's mind.
3. The text does conform to the majority of the genre's characteristics in that there is no element of parody or satire to be seen.

Film Language: 'Se7en' (Fincher, 1995)

1. Mise-en-scene is used to convey meaning in this sequence by suggestion of links between the protagonist's actions in crossing people faces out and crossing words out and the possible development of the narrative. Enigma is created when the audiences questions the reason for crossing out the people and words.
2. Camera shot size affects meaning in the way that a lot of close-ups are used which serve to omit a large portion of the scene creating mystery as to what else is going on. Similarly, the camera's jerky and glitchy movements create a sinister image in the audience's mind that suggests that something is wrong.
3. The sound anchors the images in that the camera's jerky and glitchy movements are synchronised with the glitchy music. Furthermore, the ominous, atmospheric nature of the music reinforces the dark feel of the opening.
4. In this opening sequence we learn about the character through his lack of dialogue and his non-verbal language. His silence creates an enigmatic attribute to his personality and similarly his non-verbal language involving him crossing out people's faces and names connotes his investigative characteristics as well as the film's mysterious plot.

Narrative: 'The Number 23' (Schumacher, 2007)

1. The narrative in this opening sequence has no specific structure, but rather portrays the structure as being scattered over time as references are made to King George I, Hitler as well as more modern characters. This is told through typography and animation of the text to show a link between all the referenced characters.
2. The audience is positioned with no particular character - as the opening sequence shows no characters - but rather the audience is placed in a detective-like position as we are given a small amount of evidence and suggestion of a link between them. Similarly, the audience would be placed with the protagonist immedietly after the opening sequence in that the protagonist will know as much as the audience and this links them together.
3. Identification is highlighted by the text on-screen and the highlighting or crossing-out of names suggests to the audience characters involved to characters to be referenced or investigated. However, a key convention of horror utilised in this example is enigma and mystery, and this can be achieved by not outwardly specifying the protagonists and antagonists but rather leaving that as another mystery to motivate the audience to continue watching the film in order to find the answers to the questions raised.
4. It is clear that conspiracy is a major theme in this text. This is shown through the statement of seemingly unrelated facts in text that are given a ficticious yet convincing link (the number 23). Similarly it can be suggested that mystery and discovery are likely to be key themes of the film which is implied by the enigmatic feel of the opening.
5. Tension is created by use of the atmospheric, droning non-diegetic music in a minor key which, adding onto the text, suggests that the link between the ideas introduced is a negative one and possibly one to be feared. This is maintained by the consistancy of the music as well as the ominous omitting of seemingly random pieces of text which hints at a sinister backing.

Representation & Ideology: 'The Number 23' (Schumacher, 2007)

1. It could be suggested that conspiracy theorists are represented in this opening sequence in that way that somewhat vague links are being made between seemingly random facts and this is a common practice of conspiracy theorists, however, since the opening portrays no characters it could not suggest further than this.
2. The ideological discourse evident is the notion that what you think you know is not true and there is a sinister 'puppet master' controlling these events without your knowledge. The values and beliefs portrayed are that of the links between events and the number 23, such as "There are 23 letters in the Latin alphabet." and "The witches sabbath is June 23rd.".
3. I would suggest that the characteristics of the genre are not treated playfully or ironically as there is no element of 'spoof' present. The narrative follows similar conventions to similar films but is not twisted to seem too different to the standard.

Media Audiences: 'Se7en' (Fincher, 1995)

1. The target audience is the core audience, but is also skewed towards the more masculine side due to the nature of the film (horrors are more typically associated with males than females).
2. Due to the conventions of psychological horror opening sequences it is difficult to gain audience readings as mystery is a key element. However, the preferred reading of this text would be to side against the characters seen in the opening sequence as it implies they are murdering people due to the way they cross people out. On the other hand a negotiated reading might take no side due to a lack of information.
3. As a British teenager I read and evaluate the text as one of building mystery as its primary function and of setting the scene for the narrative.

Institutional Context: 'The Shining' (Kubrick, 1980)

1. Although a star is used in the film (Jack Nicholson) they are not seen in the opening sequence. This is likely a decision made based on his previous facting career, which includes very little horror. Thus, it could be said that the reason the star is not shown in the opening sequence is so that the genre of the film can be set up before the star makes his appearance, so as to not put confusion in the audience's mind about what kind of film they're watching.
2. The studios that produced this film are Producers Circle and Perrigrine Productions, and it was distributed by Warner Bros. This is an example of industrial cinema which can be confirmed by its budget of $22 million (in 1980).
3. The film war marketed with use of Stephen King's novel that it was based on. It was also marketed by Warner Bros. who took quite a traditional approach (due to it being the 1980's) with standard use of trailer, poster, etc.
4. The institutional context can be seen in the way that the entire opening sequence is shot from a helicopter following a car in an obviously isolated location.