I have chosen to research into The Conjouring. Directed by James Wan and written by Chad Hayes, Produced by Warner Brothers Media and released on July 19th 2013 in America, this supernatural horror film follows the paranormal investigators as they discover a terrorised, dark presence in a family farmhouse. It grossed over $319 million worldwide against its $20 million budget. A sequel, The Conjuring 2, was released on June 10, 2016. Warner Brothers and New Line Cinema has created this franchise called The Conjouring Universe, this was created in 2013 when the first one ‘The conjuring’ was released in 2013 but set in 1971, from this, the other films apart of this corporation like ‘Anabelle’ number 1,2 and 3, ‘The Nun’ and ‘The Conjouring 2’. The Franchise has be extremely successful and grossed a combimned $1.9 billion, making it the second highest grossing horror franchise ever.
We can tell this is a horror genre of film, it opens with a extreme close up zoom out shot of a dolls broken eye with a VoiceOver dialog over the top, it is clear to us that from this opening sequence that its a horror film due to the lack of contrast and saturation which reflects a dark, sinister tone. This opening sequence focuses on this eerie doll while an interview between two girls and the investivagots take place, the narrative shown in the opening sequence conveys the unexplainable, mysterious and scary situations which they believe this possessed doll has caused to scare them in their house. We can seee tis doll traumatising the girls as if their is a person stuck inside a dolls form. The jump scares and suspenseful non diegetic sound effects clearly indicate to us as the audience that this is going to be a horror film based around unexplainable, ghostlike events within a haunted house involving a doll named ‘Anabelle’. From these first few minuets of the opening scene, we can expect to witness a series of scary events as a family is traumatised by ghosts and dolls in a haunted house, of which the paranormal investigators will discover and end this haunghting. The opening and ending of this sequence both show long shots of the dolls face close up, this reinforces what the narrative is based upon and what the cause of these evil events are due to.
Guessing from this sequence and movie poster, I believe that this film is directed to over 15 year olds, as it includes disturbing violence and terror. The official rating is a 15 so it’s very unlikely that this would attract children. The target audience is mostly teenagers and adults which would be attracted to this film as the trailer includes spine tingling moments, which would certainly sell to the type of audience which enjoy scary and thrilling films.
This opening scene adheres to stereotypes of usual horror films, the dark and moody lighting fits to the genre, as well as the long shot, tense silent moments which are key to horror films to build suspense to scare the audience. It includes key conversations such as stories about situations that have happened to the victims in this house. The typical sinister soundtrack fits to the genre as well as the silent pauses to build up to a jump scare. This genre of film provokes elements of ghosts and nightmares to create a sense of fear and uneasiness.
In this sequence, we meet five characters, however it isn’t clear if the film is based around these two victims we meet but certainly we can tell the centre of this narrative is the possessed doll. Horror films usually include key characters such as, the killer, the protagonist, the antagonist, the skeptic, and more victims to the film. The two investigators are portrayed as the protagonists, we know this as nearing the end of the sequence, they agree to help the two girls investigate to why they are being haunted. The screen time is majority of the time focused on the doll, this immediately tells us that the doll, Annabelle is the killer.
We are shown a flashback, the two girls open the door laughing, until they look down to find a note, the camera is directly opposite to their entrance as it pans when they glance down, the over the short, over the shoulder shot of spooky note ‘miss me?’ Combined with an uneasy, tense non diegetic music instantly tells the audience that something bad is going to happen. WE are shown what the two girls are staring in hoop at, as the camera does a quick, short, shot reverse shot of the doll and the girls in the doorway, this instantly indicates to the narrative about the events occurring around this doll. The hand held camera movement as the girls edge closer tp the doll create a sense of tension. As the music gets louder, we hear a dietetic sound of high pitch frequencies as the camera does short quick shots of the damage within their room. Loud sound effects are added for effect along with the flashing light to build up to the climax. The quick shots between the girls reaction and the red writing on the walls is done purposely to show quick, dramatic actions, almost as if it is from the point of view from the girls. These quick fast shots contrast with the longer, slow shot of a red pencil rolling towards them from the direction of the doll. This climax builds to the birds eye, zooming in shot of the doll being thrown away, the music keeps riding and getting louder until a loud dietetic bang of the lid being slammed shut and the screen suddenly fades to black, this tells us then that time has passed until the next following shot.
Overall, I believe that this opening sequence adheres to a typical horror genre film, with the setting, lighting, camera movement and sound effects. I expect this horror film to include many suspenseful moments and jump scares, I also think that we will be introduced to more characters along with the possessed doll as the film progresses.
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