(Task - 2.1) Movie Analysis Opening Sequence - The Descent

The Descent

In the opening to The Descent, it’s not like a typical horror film in that it starts off with some people having fun and white water rafting the colours is bright and it is don’t in the day time. this creates the effect that they are having fun and this doesn't follow the normal conventions of a horror film. This is sometimes called the calm before the storm and is used to create tension on the audience because you now it is a horror film and you are waiting for the horror part to start. They appear to be having fun and the non-diegetic music in the background reflects this. The music is calming and it doesn't fall in line with the typical horror film genre conventions.

Colours

The opening credits are fits the conventions of a typical horror film because it is black and white. This is the colour codes for a horror film and also around the text there is smoke and lens flares. These are all typical thing you would see in a horror film. This doesn't follow the normal conventions of the horror genre because horrors normally have dark colours and are set at night time. The effect this has on the audience is that it builds up tension because you now it is a horror film and you are just waiting for the horror part of the film to start.

Editing

The editing in the opening scene is quite slow past. This follows the conventions of the horror film genre because there is always slow edits that get faster and faster throughout the film until it gets to something scary and that is when the edits are the fastest. This happens in the opening scene because the edits are slow until they get into the car and then the edits start getting faster until the end of the scene with they have a car crash and the driver is impaled. There is a fade from back at the start of the scene and a fade to black at the end of the scene.

Narrative

At the start of the scene there are 3 people that are white water rafting when they have finished, they tie up the boat and they say to each other that they will meet back at the hotel. One of them gets unto her car with her husband and child and they are driving down the road. The woman is talking to her child that is sat in the back of the car. The car begins to drift into the other lane and there is a van coming the other way.
 
They crash into the van and the van has some copper piping on the roof and that slides of and goes through the front window and impales the driver through the head and chest. you can tell that this is going to happen before it actually happens.  Then it fades to black.

                 

Camera shots and camera movements

At the start of the scene there is an establishing shot to show where the scene is set. Then there is a big tracking shot of the people white water rafting down the river. This involves some medium shots, long shots and close ups. There is some over the shoulder shots in this scene and there is also some match on actions as well. There is a close at the end of the guy with the pole through his head and this is used to show that he is dead and to show the the gore.