Film opening research - Sinister (2012)

Sinister (2012)

Sinister is an American mystery horror, originally released on the 12^th of October 2012 in the USA. The film was highly successful with a total box office gross of $18,0007,634 on its opening weekend in the USA alone. In some ways, the low budget of $3,000,00 meant that the film was effective in the fact that it takes place in a normal residence and the film wasn’t over produced. The film was written and produced by Scott Derrickson

With the genre of the film being mystery horror, the target audience of the film will be primarily males aged between 15 (the official age certificate) and 25 due to the horror aspect of the film. The audience must be entertained by horrors due to the extremely high levels of tension throughout the film, with multiple ‘jump’ points that are there to scare the viewer.

The narrative of the opening scene if very basic, however, this is very effective in setting the atmosphere for the rest of the film. We’re presented with four unknown character hooked up to a tree with bags overreach of their heads. Very slowly, the large branch on the right begins to fall, resulting on the four characters being hoisted up into the air by the ropes, while in slow motion they flail their legs around. This sets the atmosphere and mood of the rest of the film being extremely dark and disturbing.

At the very beginning of the opening, were presented with what appears to be the beginning of and old-fashioned film with the diegetic sounds that are herd as the screen flashes. And once the actual scene is presented to us, there is a filter, which gives the impression of the tape being old-fashioned giving a connotation as to the film being set some time in the past.

The film is an effective horror mystery opening, due to the fact it fits in with the codes and conventions by leaving the viewers in the blue as to what is actually happening in the opening scene. For example in this opening, the four characters we’re presented with are dressed in a way that of an ordinary family. I say family die to the range in height of the characters. Also the costumes help to establish this with the viewer due to the fact that the appeared mum and dad in the scene are dressed like stereotypical parents, with the mum wearing a pair of jeans and the dad wearing khakis, both fitted with basic t shirts.

The atmosphere of the film is set in many ways in this opening. Firstly, the location of the opening is in a seemingly abandoned wood, this is stereotypical of the horror genre. The shot type we are presented with is an extreme long shot, which draws our focus from the characters to the background too, establishing the location to the audience. And by having this same fixed shot for the first 28 seconds of the film adds an element of tension, one of the codes and conventions of the genre, with the way that the audience can easily foreshadow what is going to happen with the characters, due to their positions in the scene, but it’s the tense anticipation as to then the event in the scene will occur.

The next successful part of creating the atmosphere in the opening is the sound element. In the first few seconds of the opening, we are presented with appeared diegetic sounds through the use of the, what we get the impression of being, a tape being played. We get the impression of the tape through the lighting being high key, but the contrast being low, showing that is isn’t from a conventional movie camera, but instead it’s some kind of old recording. Also the quality of the scene if low, which is unconventional of a Hollywood film, but gives the audience hints as to the film. The general mise en scene from all the elements of the opening points to it being filmed on an old video camera. But as the opening scene carries on, the sound appears to become non-diegetic with ambient sound, while in the scene; we are presented with the disturbing sight of the family being hanged. The sound being ambient isn’t usually conventional of a horror film, which means that the audience has the connotation that the film isn’t going to be a conventional horror that they’re used to saying day in day out, but something more original and different.

Overall the opening of the film is very effective in the way that is fits some of the codes and conventions of opening of other films of the same genre, but also breaks the conventions at other points, which grips the viewer, making them intrigued as to that is going to happen in the duration of