The shining opening 2 minutes
This is the first scene in this film, this is the establishing shot which helps the viewers of the film to get an idea of where the film is set and how this links in with the rest of the film. This shot shows a peaceful river with almost two different sides to it. It is a good way to set the tone of the film, it represents the two different sides to the film and shows that there are good, light parts to the film but overall it is a dark, mysterious film because the majority of this sort is the dark side which represents the horror genre well and this is consistent throughout the rest of the opening. This also shows that some parts of the film will be clear and visible and easy to follow but other parts of the film and dark, unclear and mysterious, This scene as a whole contrasts with the rest of the film because it is quite a peaceful scene of a river. This first shot also contrasts a lot with the music because the music is quite sinister and makes it obvious that this is for the horror genre. If the music wasn't there then it would be a lot more difficult to know that the is a horror film without looking into the scene in a lot of depth, the music makes the horror opening really come alive and make it clear that it is a horror film. The reflection into the water is also very interesting, the actual cliff shows the reality of what the cliff and the scene is and then the reflection of the cliff into the river shows the illusion of reality and that it is slightly changed throughout the film and shows that there may be some illusions this represents losing the grip on reality because the illusion is in the foreground of the film opening rather than in the background, this makes it look more important than reality.
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This scene is an aerial shot of the woods and a long winding road in the middle of it. It again shows a peaceful countryside but this time there is one thing that grabs your attention and that is the single yellow car driving on it's own, there are no other people around which shows that this person must be very isolated which could almost be seen to hint what the film is to do with. The car is the main focus of the opening scene, it is the only thing that is in all of the following scenes, everything else changes because it is following the car moving which clearly shows that this is an important part to the film otherwise they wouldn't concentrate on it as much as they have. This doesn't shows the characters still but it shows something to do with the character that is in that car, it shows where they are and where they go, it gives you quite a bit of information about the person in the car in a subtle way without showing you who the actual person is. The lighting in this scene is key as it was in the last scene, this is more subtle but there are still bits of light but mainly dark bits of lighting in this scene to represent the genre again, the car is in the light part in this scene to show that everything is okay at the moment and it is calm, you know what is happening in the scene and it is clear that they are heading somewhere.
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The transition from the last scene to this one was very sharp and quick to show that the location has changed and this represents things in the film changing quickly, the transitions give a hint towards this. The yellow car is quite obvious in this scene, the car tells us things about the character in the car who I would assume is the main character, yellow is quite a bright and vivid colour that stands out, the character in the car could be quite an abstract character that is very outgoing and stands out because yellow the yellow grabs your attention. This whole shot is full of nature and calmness to show that everything at this point in the film is neutral and calm but that they are heading to the cold mountains. The nature represents life and things working together in peace, this is a misleading part of the shot because the film doesn't carry on this way.
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The car is quite on the edge of the road and you can tell that it is high up on a mountain because it is surrounded by mountains and water. This shows the danger aspect to the film because it shows the he is almost living life on the edge an that he is alone whilst doing this. It also makes it clear that the rocky mountains dominate and the fact that the car is so insignificant compared to the amount of danger surrounding the car and the person inside it.
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The typography for all of the institutions seems to all be in capital letter, this is done to make the institution stand out more in the scene because it just comes on at the bottom of the screen and then travels up to the top of the screen at quite a fast pace so it needs to automatically catch someone's eye. The typography is also in a light blue colour which is nothing to do with the horror genre so this could be slightly misleading however this is clearly another technique used to make it stand out in the scene because the actual footage is quite dark and plain colour wise. This scene also shows the car in the lighter section of the mountains where the sun is shining to show that everything at this point in the film is fine but that the character in the car is heading towards the darker part of the mountains to show that danger is only around the corner.
Straight after the first couple of institutions there is this institution which is informing people what actors star/feature in the film so that if any actors appeal to them they are more likely to carry on watching the film. When this actors name comes on the screen there is a lot of light in the shot behind it and a lot of nature, this shows that the person who plays this character is a good character and they have only a little bit of evil/darkness in the because of the darkness/shadows on the road and in the top left hand corner of the shot.
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These scenes are dominated by the colours white and blue mainly with a slight patch of green and nature. The colour blue symbolises masculinity, knowledge, power and seriousness, the majority of this shot is in this colour because it's showing that power is a very important aspect of this film and that power and knowledge always wins. However the colour blue also represents calmness and tranquillity which also makes it quite misleading and doesn't link to the theme of this being a horror film opening. The colour white is associated with goodness, purity, innocence, and is considered to be the colour of 'perfection'. This again is very misleading because horror films aren't innocent, in fact they tend to be the opposite of that, this whole first 2 minutes is very misleading in the sense that it makes everything seems calm and like the rest of the film is going to be that way because the opening of a film tends to set the mood and feel for the rest of the film, this doesn't represent the horror genre either.
Scream Opening 2 minutes
This first institution is of the title of the film. The font is quite messy but still readable. They have written the name of the film 'scream' in capital letters to show that it has a big importance to the film. The name of the film says a lot about the film in general because screaming is something people do when they are scared, this name represents the horror genre very well. However the colour of the font is slightly strange because it is in white which is a colour that represents innocence and purity which is the opposite of what a scream represents. The black background contrasts with the white typography, this colour represents the horror genre because the colour black represents darkness and mystery because you never know what is hiding in the darkness black against white also represents good vs evil and in this it shows that evil is dominating. Also because scream is in white it is a small part of 'innocence' that stands out in the darkness that is screaming for help.
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The typography that was originally white then changes to this blood red colour, this represents all of the bad things that are going to happen and all of the gore that is going to be included in the film, red is typically used in the horror genre because it is associated with blood and death. The typography also gets bigger as you can see slightly but then goes back to its original size, this happens when the non-digetic sound of someone screaming is put on the background of the scene so as the scream gets louder the size of the title gets bigger and redder. This represents the film by showing that it is about innocent people who get hurt/killed and they scream out of fear of the villain. There is also a sound before the scream that sounds slightly like a gunshot which represents some of the murders that will happen.
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This is the first thing that we see after the title of the film. There isn't really much going on in this part of the opening two minutes. it is just someone on the phone however it clearly must be something to do with the film and this character must play a key part in the film otherwise they wouldn't have been introduced straight away. This is a medium shot but you can still clearly see her and her facial expressions. She is very pale which could represent her innocence and also she is wearing a white jumper and the colour white represents innocence. There are no sound effects used in this part of the opening two minutes because it is quite a calm scene however because people watching the film will know that it is a horror film they may feel anxious because the scene is so calm and normal. The lighting/effect used on this scene is light but has a dark tint to it to show that although this is a normal scene with someone on the phone there is something different and dark about it. This character represents the typical damsel in distress, she has blonde hair which stereotypically makes someone 'dumb' which would make this character venerable.
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In this scene this girl finished her conversation on the phone and begins to walk away but then straight after the phone rings again, because the girl gets anxious she runs to the phone straight away and grabs it as you can see in this screenshot. The mise-en-scene is quite normal because this scene is set in a house however it is quite old fashioned. This is shown by the telephone with a wire and the old fashioned pattern on the sofa and the wooden table that the phone is on that is worn away slightly. Again you can tell the room is lit well but it has a slightly darkened effect on it to show the horror genre in the scene. The phone is black which is key because it shows that whatever is on the other end of the phone is a mystery and is dark and evil which is true as we see later on in the film.
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This scene is a scene of the outside of the house so that the audience can see more of the scenery, so the audience can imagine more what everywhere in the film looks like. This scene especially represents the horror genre because the lighting is very dark which shows that the darkness is taking over and that it is night time which is when bad things tend to start happening. Nothing happens in the scene apart from the tree slowly blowing in this wind, this shows genre because it builds up tension by having random shots of things like this to show that there is more to the film that just this girl but she doesn't realise that because she is in her 'safe' house which is surrounded by all of this darkness but she doesn't realise this. This is a low angle shot to show that the tree is tall and dominates, also showing that the darkness dominates. No sound effects are used in this scene there is just the digetic sound of the tree blowing in the wind.
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This shot leads on from the previous one, it pans down from the top of the tree to this scene of the house, the bottom part of the tree and the swing. This scene shows the fight against good and evil because the house is white, it represents purity and innocence to show that the good is inside that house and that nothing is wrong however the outside is full of darkness. There is a lot of nature outside which tends to suggest natural, wholesome things which are good however, with the dark lighting adding to it, it is clear that this is bad. In this context nature is also unpredictable and can't be controlled, this represent the evil in the film because that is also unpredictable. The only thing that happens in this shot is that the swing moves in the wind, this sets the scene for horror a lot because this is seen as a child's toy so it lets the audience wonder a lot about it, why does this character own one? etc. This also builds up tension slightly because there is just one thing moving but it isn't just focusing on that. This is a long shot of the whole scene which shows that everything in this shot must be key otherwise they wouldn't include they would just focus on the part they needed to focus on.
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This scene is key because it her house is predominantly white which shows innocence and purity however there is also some darkness inside her as we see because her holding this knife which could potentially be used to kill someone. It has a black handle which represents the darkness someone must have inside them to be able to use the knife as a murder weapon. She is on the phone for the second time in this scene just speaking normally, she is just messing with the knife, but it is a dangerous thing. Her doing this shows that at some point in the film she will mess with the darkness and this will get her into trouble because she is so innocent she will want to back out.
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At this point in the scene the girl is still on the phone but something suspicious is said to her that she doesn't like the sound of as you can tell by her worried facial expression. Again this part of the house is white too to show her house is filled with innocence which makes the audience feel empathy for her. There are books in the background of this scene which shows that she is clearly a very clever person so she isn't stupid enough to get herself involved in trouble, she was just targeted. She looks very worried by what she hears on the phone, in this scene unlike the other ones you can see the darkness slightly through the window which shows that she is seeing the darkness now and it's slowly catching up to her. This is a medium shot to show her facial expression so you know that she is scared however they don't do a close up on her face because this facial expression clearly isn't that important compared to other things that have/will be happening in the scene.
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This scene happens straight after the one where she is scared on the phone, she opens the door that was behind her which is almost letting the darkness in. You then see this shot which clearly represents the horror genre because it is mainly filled with darkness, there is smoke all over the pool which shows mystery because anything could be behind the fog. There is also a shot of the trees growing over the white wall which shows that the darkness is coming over the innocence because she's let the darkness in so it will slowly surround the innocence.
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Cabin in the woods opening two minutes
The first thing that is shown on the trailer is an institution of the distribution company 'Lionsgate'. The logo doesn't normally look like this however it has been changed and modified to fit this subgenre of horror film. The background of it looks like could slowly parting to reveal some sort of hell. The red and black theme signifies the genre of film because the black represents the darkness and mystery of the film and the red signifies danger and blood which represents the villains and all the murders that are going to happen.
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This is the second animation that comes on the screen in the opening two minutes. Blood starts seeping all over a page to reveal some old Egyptian images/drawings. This isn't typical for the horror genre however this is still adding to the genre representation slightly because of the blood dripping down the page representing all of the murders and people who have been injured. The Egyptian images could also be a key part to the film, it could have old fashioned aspects to it. As this scene begins loud string type music starts playing and then as the Egyptian images start to be revealed percussion music starts playing and getting louder and a bit more tense to show that this is a significant part of the film that the audience need to pay attention to. There is still the running theme of black and red at this point.
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Then the next image is revealed. This is an image of someone in a cloak, holding a sword. It looks like there is a body underneath this person, they could be alive or dead but the fact that the man is holding up to sword like he has power and he has accomplished something shows that he probably has murdered the person in front of him. This is also when the first institution comes up the sound gets even more tense and then when the institution goes off the screen the music calms down again showing that the institution is important in this scene.
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The second institution is the directors name to show that it has a lot of importance to the film. The writing is in red to represent the horror genre again. This scene is still mainly black and red clouds however there is also some yellow and gold in the middle of the shot to symbolise the good in the film and showing the fight against good and evil in the film because there are slight bits of red and black intertwined.
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These spooky type of scenes with the institutions in then suddenly cuts to this sign. It is transitioned with an extremely rapid pan to this modern day sign. It makes people feel a bit on edge until they realise what the cut was to because it's a horror film you would expect it to cut to something bad or scary. This keeps people in suspense and makes them even more interested in the film. The sign is blue which is a very neutral, calm colour to show that this scene is going to be calm and it was transitioned very quickly to show that it is a completely different style of scene and it's switch from evil to good. The white typography on the sign represents innocence, purity and goodness which is a contrast from the previous few scenes.
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This is the next shot, it is a two shot of two men. They are dressed very formally, they are in suits without the jacket. They look formal so they are clearly in a place of work, they look like stereotypical wealthy men who earn their living well, this has nothing to do with the horror genre as such however they clearly play an important role in the film because they are the first people to be shown.
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These are two very similar but very different shots of the corridor however in one of the they aren't in the shot, this is because it is an establishing shot of the corridor to set the scene for the people watching the film. It is a very long corridor with lots of different rooms in, this creates a lot of questions in the audiences minds like 'what's behind those doors?' and 'what are these peoples jobs?'. These questions remain unanswered in the opening two minutes of the film so this makes the audience more interested in what is being said and what happens. The whole of this corridor is white which represents purity, goodness and innocence. This is shows that whatever work they are doing here they are doing it to help people.