During some spare time I started researching and looking into the key factors of the intros of three great horror movies, below is my analysis:
Dawn of the dead – 2004 remake
Camera Shots: The first shot is a long shot of a crowd of Muslims praying simultaneously, which is a normal everyday occurrence, the next shot is a close up of a zombie, there isn’t any fluent movement but the audience can tell it is attacking. Many of the shots are close up, they are mainly unfocused and depict scenarios such as military police preparing, news reports that are largely unorganized which is chaotic in its own right, and people getting attacked by the zombies.
Sound: The sound in the opening few seconds are diegetic, and show the audience that there is no understanding of the zombies, and there is also lots of screaming that shows the terror of the outbreak. Then the sound becomes non diegetic to a song called “When the man comes around” by Johnny Cash. The sound becomes diegetic in the clips of news conferences or attacks.
Cuts: The cuts are frequent and numerous, the scene doesn’t stick with one clip for anything over 10 seconds to show the true chaos in the situation.
Mise en Scene: The lighting is mostly normal daylight to emphasize that this can happen in any time of the day, the costumes are formal for the people who aren’t infected, and people who are infected are in normal everyday clothes, implying that the vast population of normal working class people are the first to be infected.
Camera Shots: The first shot is a long shot of a crowd of Muslims praying simultaneously, which is a normal everyday occurrence, the next shot is a close up of a zombie, there isn’t any fluent movement but the audience can tell it is attacking. Many of the shots are close up, they are mainly unfocused and depict scenarios such as military police preparing, news reports that are largely unorganized which is chaotic in its own right, and people getting attacked by the zombies.
Sound: The sound in the opening few seconds are diegetic, and show the audience that there is no understanding of the zombies, and there is also lots of screaming that shows the terror of the outbreak. Then the sound becomes non diegetic to a song called “When the man comes around” by Johnny Cash. The sound becomes diegetic in the clips of news conferences or attacks.
Cuts: The cuts are frequent and numerous, the scene doesn’t stick with one clip for anything over 10 seconds to show the true chaos in the situation.
Mise en Scene: The lighting is mostly normal daylight to emphasize that this can happen in any time of the day, the costumes are formal for the people who aren’t infected, and people who are infected are in normal everyday clothes, implying that the vast population of normal working class people are the first to be infected.
Scream
Camera shots: The first shot is a mid shot of a woman picking up a phone, there is confusion as to whom she is talking, but the caller makes no attempt to answer her questions, she then hangs up on him, only the be called a second time, in which he says that he wants to talk to her. She hangs up, the next shot is an establishing shot of her house with a swing rocking in the wind. She then starts making popcorn to be called a third time this shot is a mid shot, the camera tracks her through the house as she talks to the mysterious caller. The caller then reveals that he is looking at her, and the camera zooms closer to the woman’s face, she hangs up. The man calls twice more and on the second time he threatens to gut her like a fish if she hangs up again, this shot uses panning and close up to emphasize her fear. The shots continue to be close up until she finds her boyfriend on the patio when it has a long shot of her boyfriend tied up.
Sound: The sound is diegetic mostly, of popcorn cooking and the phone conversations, the only non diegetic sound is where the killer reveals what he’ll do and then it has low key music.
Cuts: The shots cut frequently to keep pace and to keep suspense, the cuts normally only happen after the phone call takes a twist for the worst.
Mise en scene: the costumes are normal clothing for high school students, the killer is in a black robe and has a white ghost face mask, and the lighting is low key.
Camera shots: The first shot is a mid shot of a woman picking up a phone, there is confusion as to whom she is talking, but the caller makes no attempt to answer her questions, she then hangs up on him, only the be called a second time, in which he says that he wants to talk to her. She hangs up, the next shot is an establishing shot of her house with a swing rocking in the wind. She then starts making popcorn to be called a third time this shot is a mid shot, the camera tracks her through the house as she talks to the mysterious caller. The caller then reveals that he is looking at her, and the camera zooms closer to the woman’s face, she hangs up. The man calls twice more and on the second time he threatens to gut her like a fish if she hangs up again, this shot uses panning and close up to emphasize her fear. The shots continue to be close up until she finds her boyfriend on the patio when it has a long shot of her boyfriend tied up.
Sound: The sound is diegetic mostly, of popcorn cooking and the phone conversations, the only non diegetic sound is where the killer reveals what he’ll do and then it has low key music.
Cuts: The shots cut frequently to keep pace and to keep suspense, the cuts normally only happen after the phone call takes a twist for the worst.
Mise en scene: the costumes are normal clothing for high school students, the killer is in a black robe and has a white ghost face mask, and the lighting is low key.
Dracula
Camera shots: we open on an establishing shot of a dome, a crucifix falls to the floor from an aerial shot as it smashes on the floor. We cut to a map with the muslim holy symbol surrounding Romania, then we cut to a close up of Dracula in armour kissing his bride. We then cut to fire, as we see the battle silhouetted against the crimson sky. The battle is won but we cut to a long shot of Dracula’s bride jumping out of the castle window after hearing false news of his death. We cut to a mid shot of Dracula walking into a chapel, as his bride lay dead below a crucifix, Dracula in a fit of rage renounces God, thus making him a vampire.
Sound: the sound for the opening credits is low key non diegetic, a narrator explains the story,
Cuts: The cuts are frequent, especially in the battle, to show the pace of the film.
Mise en scene: the lighting is low throughout the intro, the costumes are normal for that time period.
Camera shots: we open on an establishing shot of a dome, a crucifix falls to the floor from an aerial shot as it smashes on the floor. We cut to a map with the muslim holy symbol surrounding Romania, then we cut to a close up of Dracula in armour kissing his bride. We then cut to fire, as we see the battle silhouetted against the crimson sky. The battle is won but we cut to a long shot of Dracula’s bride jumping out of the castle window after hearing false news of his death. We cut to a mid shot of Dracula walking into a chapel, as his bride lay dead below a crucifix, Dracula in a fit of rage renounces God, thus making him a vampire.
Sound: the sound for the opening credits is low key non diegetic, a narrator explains the story,
Cuts: The cuts are frequent, especially in the battle, to show the pace of the film.
Mise en scene: the lighting is low throughout the intro, the costumes are normal for that time period.
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