Thursday, 23 September 2010

Analysis of opening sequence-jennifers body

The establishing shot is a long shot of someone’s house at night. The camera slowly moves towards the house slightly canted switching from left to right. This creates suspense, anchored with disonant eerie non-diagetic music played matching the genre (horror). Later on the in the sequence we see a girl in confinement(prison, mental asylum: not specified) There is a close up of her bunny slippers, she then kicks the carer with great force sending her across the room knocking out some of her teeth. We see a close up of the teeth covered in blood: this connection between the two props that have been shot close up are in complete contrast and shocks the audience giving a twisted impression of the character. The close up of her teeth along with the distance the carer has travelled also connotes her strength; this is also shocking considering gender.
Lastly we see her being thrown into isolation. the camera is positioned in a bird’s eye view and the lighting is brightly focused on her with contrasted darkness everywhere else; the combination anchors the denotation making her seem insignificant and in superior. These are all codes and convention that emphasise the genre.