Thursday 15 October 2015

Nightmare On Elm Street Opening Scene Analysis



Nightmare On Elm Street Opening Scene Analysis
(Watch up to 1:20)




At the very start of this clip, we are shown the 'New Line Cinema' title, which is in black and red - this already indicates that this film will be along the lines of a horror movie as the colors connote blood, death and darkness. The title soon fades out into the first scene of the movie, here the use of  a close up and mise en scene is included as we hear heavy footsteps and see someone wearing boots and baggy jeans, the audience would make the assumption that this character is a male, as this is stereo-typically worn by men. However, we are unable to see their face at this moment in the film, we can also hear heavy breathing which can cause suspense making the audience feel on edge. We soon see another close up but of the mysterious persons dirty hands unloading tools from a small bag onto what looks like a tool box filled with sharp blades, he then soon picks a few of these blades out of the toolbox and has tested how sharp  each one is - this has created an unsettling and tense moment as this will make the audience question why these are being chosen and what they could be used for. Sharp objects are usually associated with horror characters which indicates that this character is in fact the antagonist in the film.

The room in which this scene is set is like an industrial location like inside a factory - the colors are red tinted and the room is very gloomy connoting the typical horror genre scene. the room is also filled with cluttered objects which leaves the room with little structure which is again has a horror feel to it, this will leave the audience unaware of what to expect as there are many things that could happen from here. We then see the antagonist sharpening the blades and creating a metal cover on the  top of the glove - soon after we see a close up of the antagonist putting their hand in the glove and attaching the blades on the end of it - the heavy breathing almost turns into growling which keeps the audience on the edge of their seat, but also making it incredibly unsettling for anyone watching this.

The next scene we are taken to the title of the film 'Nightmare On Elm Street' the title is mostly in red with a black background which again creates the generic convention of the horror genre, the non digetic sound is a loud eerie sound which will make the audience feel very uncomfortable, the title almost immediately changes to the claws of the antagonists gloves cutting through some material which indicates that this is definitely the antagonist of the film and how he is a serial killer/murderer of some sort. This leaves the audience with fewer questions as they now have an idea of what is going on in the film, however they still want to know who this man is.

The director - Wes Craven has used  mainly close ups on this part of the film to really focus on the antagonist without showing their face, this will mean that we still have many questions that will be answered later in the film leaving the audience unsure yet still uncomfortable.








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