Sinister (2013) Film Opening Destruction

OPENING SCENE: 

Synopsis:

‘Sinister is a 2012 American supernatural horror film directed by Scott Derrick son and written by Derrick son and C. Robert Cargill. It stars Ethan Hawke as fictional true-crime writer Ellison Oswalt who discovers a box of home movies in his attic that puts his family in danger.

The film, a co-production between the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom, premiered at the SXSW festival, and was released in the United States on October 12, 2012, and in the UK on October 5, 2012.

A sequel, Sinister 2, was released in the United States on August 21, 2015.’

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinister_(film)#Production

Producers- Jason Blum and Brian Kavanagh-Jones:

‘Writer C. Robert Cargill says that his inspiration for Sinister came from a nightmare he experienced after seeing The Ring, in which he discovered a film in his attic depicting the hanging of an entire family. This scenario became the setup for the plot of Sinister. In creating a villain for the film, Cargill conceptualized a new take on the Bogeyman, calling the entity "Mr. Boogie". Cargill's idea was that the creature would be both terrifying and seductive to children, luring them to their dooms as a sinister Willy Wonka-like figure.

Cargill and co-writer Scott Derrickson ultimately decided to downplay the creature's alluring nature, only intimating how it manipulates the children into murder. In further developing Mr. Boogie, the pair had lengthy discussions about its nature, deciding not to make it a demon but rather a pagan deity, to place it outside the conceptual scope of any one particular religion. Consequently, the villain was given the proper name "Bughuul", with only the child characters in the film referring to it as Mr. Boogie’

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinister_(film)#Production

Distributors:

UK and IrelandMomentum Pictures (2005–2008)

Entertainment One (2008–2016)

Icon Film Distribution (The Beaver only)

Lionsgate UK (2016–present)

Universal Pictures UK (Step Up film series)

Entertainment Film Distributors (rarely)

FranceSND Films (2008–present)

Universal Pictures France (Step Up film series)

CanadaEntertainment One (2009–present)

Alliance Films (2011)

Spain

Aurum Producciones (2007–present)

Australia/New Zealand

Roadshow Films (2004–present)

Hoyts (2007–2013)

Icon Entertainment International (2009–present)

StudioCanal Australia (2013)

Sony Pictures Releasing Australia (2013)

Entertainment One (2014-present)

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summit_Entertainment#Film_distributor_history

Timeline:

0:00 - 0:06  There is a blank screen with non diegetic sound of a camera rolling, already telling us that the film was set a long time ago because they had rolling cameras.
0:06-0:27 This sets the scene of the film opening. it is outside in a garden and its main motif is the big tree. There is a family of 4 who have bags over their heads and are hung on the tree. Its set in  a low key lighting area and is filmed in the winter which we can tell from the colour of the tree. The scene looks cold and links back to horror genre, because cold and dark emphasizes unhappiness however when we look at happiness we think f bright hot colours. The periodic time markers show it was filmed along time ago because of the characters clothe and the camera rolling in the background. Also the temple markers show it was filmed in the evening around sunset.
0:27- 0:36 This bit shows the branch on the far left being cut by a saw and family are lifted one by one up on the tree by their heads. As he first character goes up the rest slowly follow afterwards.
0:36 - 0:46 The characters looked distressed and in pain by their raid leg movements trying to escape and be let free. This is the only thing they can do as their heads are covered in sacks making it hard for them to scream or see what is happening and their arms are tied behind their backs so they cant touch anything.
0:46 - 0:55 This shows the 2 characters on the far lefts have stopped moving completely showing us that hey are dead, however the two closest to the branch are still moving about rapidly.
0:55- 1:00 The movements of the legs begin to stop, emphasising that they have all died because they have no movement what so ever and it shows they had a painful and quiet death because no one could hear there screams.
1:00- 1:02 There is something that falls off the tree in the far corner on the right
1:02- 1:08 Title screen appears at the bottom of the screen. its not big and alters the screen when it appears.
1:08- 1:11 The camera sound of the camera rolling stops as the scene ends into a wipe of a blank screen.

Film Analysis:

Setting: 

The analysis for this film is very short as the opening scene is a one take shot. So little happens at the beginning which creates a sense of suspense. The scene itself is very basic. There is a family of 4 with bags on their heads being hung on a tree next to each other. A saw is then used to cut the branch of the tree and next shows the family being hung by their heads one by one. It creates the theme of the film well even though little happens in the first 2 minutes.  The low key lighting and sound are all conveyed in the miss en scene.  The camera footage  and the way it was filmed (super 8 filter) also presents the idea of death and doom to the 4 characters. It highlights the theme of the film which is horror.  The set for the opening scene is outside and the colors used in the scene emphases cold, darkness and unhappiness. The tree is surrounded by green bushes the whole way round. The whole tree is not shown, but we can tell from what we can see that is a very big and strong tree. The camera looks diagonal in relation to the tree. Not a lot is shown in this set which does create tension but can be boring at the same time if not much action is going on. However, this may be god thing because viewers will be focusing on the small movements made.

Lighting:

Lighting is very dark as most of the film is filmed at sunset, making the light limited which builds tension and gives that eerier feeling that you cant see what is going to happen, or if something is hiding behind the bushes. It builds a lot of suspense because of the long wait before the characters are hung on the tree and this puts the viewer at the edge of their seat and whenever lighting does appear there eyes are drawn to that. The colors shown (yellow and green) expresses a cold feeling which always relates back to the horror film because  its cold and dark which connotes unhappiness.

Sound: 

The film is filmed using non diegetic sound as it comes from nothing within the field of vision and is not from the world of the film, and so this creates a scary feel.  Ambient sound is also used for the camera rolling in the background. The sound throughout the opening scene is very slow, dark and sounds almost threatening. Also the low minor keys sounds very uneasy giving us the idea that something bad is about to happen. The sound stays relatively the same during the scene and doesn't change. When the characters are hung on the tree the sound starts to almost flicker in and out. This is the only change in the sound throughout the scene.

Shots, transition and camera movements:

There is one long shot used in the opening scene. The effect on this may make the viewer more aware of any changes or movements during the scene. Again this makes the viewers eyes focus on the small changes. There are no shots used in the opening scene, however there is one transition used which is the blank orange screen that uses a wipe transition into the long shot. 

Costumes:

The costumes used in the film look old fashioned, maybe to give the viewers the idea that it was filmed a long time ago. As their faces are covered in brown bags in the opening scene so we have no idea as to what the characters faces look like so we are having to judge them by their clothing. Clothing in this scene is important as that is what we can only see. The clothing on the family makes them look innocent as they are wearing casual normal clothes which makes us think that they are a normal family. However, its still hard to figure out which character is which by just their clothing because they are all wearing jeans/trousers and are wearing similar clothes.

Credits/typography used:

 The title of the film is shown to be in a written font. Its shown on the screen towards the end of the opening scene at the bottom. Its quite small and does not take up the whole screen but still gives us the scary feeling as its font is quite sharp. The color of the title (white) also connotes the  terrifying ghostly feeling.

Feedback from Focus Group:

Adam: 'The first scene grips you into watching the movie even though there are some slower moments there is a good pace and while you watching it and  adds a lot of suspense. I like the movie because it has a lot of jumpy scares in it.'

Ellie: ' I liked this opening scene because it adds tension, even though not a lot is going on it but it makes you want to watch it and find out why they have been hung. it seems like an interesting storyline'
Katy:' The opening scene didn't look scary enough to engage me to watch the whole thing because nothing was really going on and got boring unlike other openings scenes where more action is going on.'

Helena: ' The most effective part in the film was probably when they got hung but your almost expecting it and it doesn't scare you or there are no creepy jumps so its almost goes at a very slow pace.'

What I have learnt:
i have learnt that the dark colours make the scene more effective and links well to the genre. The dark and dull setting can create a sense of suspense making the audience want to watch more. Also the background music in this particular film opening (camera rolling) makes the scene more scarier. It also explains a lot of what is going on.