RG: Technical analysis of 'Amityville Horror' Opening

 

 

Camera	Duration	Mise-En-Scene and Sound
Black background behind the white text ‘Based on a true story’	0.00-0.06	The font and the text colour used of black and white is very conventional of horror films. The use of the words "Based on a True Story" are also stereotypical of the horror genre. The reason for this being that the ideology of a story being true and believable automatically fears an audience more about the story.
"November 13th, 1974" Text	0.06-0.13	The use of the colour is again the same as above, conventional of a horror movie. Also, the use of a date places the audience in a certain era and makes them aware of the background narrative of the plot.
Extreme close up of the protagonists face	0.13-0.18	The protagonist is shown to have his eyes closed and he moves across very slowly. This conveys the possibility of him being either under a spell or the curse of something of the supernatural. This therefore leads the audience to believe that he is unaware of what he is doing. The shot is blurred, this means the audience are left unaware and not fully revealed the identity of the man.
Montage	0.18-0.19	It begins with a short flash of light, disorientating the audience and shocking them before the montage begins. The audience are then given a sense of location as you see the building which he is, along with a television. In horror films it is conventional for a flash light at the beginning of a shot to represent a flashback. This could be a possible technique used here.
Extreme close up of the protagonists face	0.19-0.24	The face is yet again blurred reinforcing the technique mentioned previously. Also, in this shot diegetic sound is used. The sound is heard to be whispered and quiet. The reason for this being is that it leaves the audience in the sense of the unknown and being unsure of what is occurring. In doing this, it creates mystery. Possibly, the character being told what to do by a curse.
Extreme close up on face	0.24-0.27	This shot is in focus now, creating a contrast with the previous shots. This happens as the character opens his eyes. This can therefore link the opening and closing of the eyes to the blur. The whispers then become more clear and we are able to realise the plot as the whispers speak the words "Kill them."
Point of view shot of television	0.27-0.30	This shot places us in the characters position and creates emphasis on the power of the television used.
Close up of a clock	0.30-0.31	The diegetic sound used of the clock changing emphasises the time of 3:15.
Mid shot of the protagonist	0.31-0.33	The protagonist quickly moves to facing the clock. He moves sharply and this leads the audience to believe that he is psychotic. There is also the diegetic sound of rain and thunder being heard. This connotes danger and fear as this weather is dark and normally in horror films introduces the idea of the upcoming horror that may occur.
Mid shot of a desk	0.34-0.36	The shot begins to reveal a religious book on the desk that is titled 'Evil is proof of God'.
Long shot of the back of a man on a bed	0.36-0.39	This shot reveals the character to be holding a gun. Connoting again the possible oncoming danger.
Long shot of the front of the man	0.40-42	His expression is a smug smile, showing he is careless as to what is occurring.
Close up of the gun being loaded	0.42-0.45	The close up on the gun also places emphasis on the power of a loaded gun, along with the danger that comes with it.
Close up of a shelf	0.45-0.47	One of the objects on the shelf is a picture of his graduation photo. This shows that the character is in fact an intelligent person. This leads the audience to sympathise with the character as they have seen his change in state to what he is like now.
Long shot of him standing, from behind	0.47-0.49	This reveals the room he is in even more. Again creating verisimilitude as the house is realistic.
Close up with a pan shot of the man walking up a set of stairs.	0.49-54	The diegetic sound of a creaking stair case is used. Very conventional of a horror movie.
Mid shot, close up of face and extreme close up of eyes	0.54-0.57	At this point the cutting rate increases and becomes much faster than previously. There is low key lighting apart from the occasional lightning flash. There is sound of the wind and banging noises, which contrasts to the very little sound that is heard earlier.
POV	0.57-0.59	This gives the audience the viewpoint of the character, showing the minimalistic set used in the house.
Mid shot	0.59-1.01	A jump cut is now used to cut to the gun which is being held by the man, this puts emphasis on the weapon.
Long shot	1.01-1.04	The lighting used is similar to a strobe because as the character gets closer, the flashes appear to make him move quickly and leave the audience uneasy as they are unsure of where he is walking to.
Mid shot	1.04-1.07	The lighting is positioned behind the character to create a silhouette of his body. This leaves the audience unable to see his facial expression.
Mid shot	1.07-1.11	A high angle shot is used to show a couple laying in bed together. Through the dark lighting and non-verbal language the audience presume they are asleep, therefore unaware of what is occurring.
Close up	1.11-1.12	The cutting rate begins to increase, this creates tension for the audience as they begin to feel as though something horrific is going to happen with the gun.
Close up	1.12-1.13	The focus of this scene is yet again on the gun as they aim to emphasise the fact he is loading it and is aiming to kill. This is shown clearly through the diegetic sound which is of a gun being loaded.
Mid shot	1.16-1.17	He takes aim with the gun and through his use of non-verbal language it is clear that he is used to holding a gun and knows exactly how to aim it, creating a narrative for the character's background.
Close up	1.17-1.18	A loud gun shot is heard through the use of diegetic sound. This is selective sound as the noise is clearly amplified to yet again place emphasis on the gun. Blood is then used to show to the audience that the couple in bed are dead.
Montage	1.18-1.19	The montage of photos here is used to convey the idea of a crime scene. The flashing lights connote the flash of a camera, along with the red blood on the images which indicates the significant tragedy which has occurred.
Mid shot	1.19-1.20	The girls face shows fear which indicates she may be aware of what has occurred.
Long shot, low to high pan	1.20-1.22	The fast paced walking (non-verbal language) suggests he is either to escape the scene or hunt another victim.
Mid shot	1.22-1.24