Analysing Horror Genre Opening Sequences - 'Saw'

The second opening sequence from the horror genre I am going to analyse comes from 'Saw' directed by James Wan.

The film opens with the ident for Twisted Pictures, a production company associated with making films from the genre, followed by a title card reading 'A Film by James Wan', a director noted for his work within the horror genre. 

The film starts by creating a sense of enigma for the audience with the use of dark, low-key lighting (a typical aspect of cinematography associated with the genre), diegetic enhanced sound effects of movement in water and what appears to be the unexplained circumstances of a potential dead body being investigated with a torch.

The font used on the title cards that are inserted between these confusing shots is also typical of the types of fonts found in horror films. The thin serif font is sinister and blurry, disappearing in a ghostly way, setting the tone for the movie which features characters unaware of why they are trapped and an audience who will spend the entirety of the narrative trying to solve the puzzle of what has happened to the characters. Because the framing is so tight in the opening shots, with tightly framed big close ups of the victim's face and a lack of anything resembling an establishing shot, it is almost impossible for the audience to make out what is happening and it is only when the director cuts to a wider, extreme long shot are the audience able to see that a man has been submerged in a bath. As the man is shocked awake in a body of water gasping for air, the lighting and aspects of mise-en-scene, such as the setting, create a very strong impression for the audience that the man is not safe.

The director cuts to a medium long shot of the man who has emerged from the bath, his body language and facial expression connoting his terror. As the man tries to get his bearings the camera slowly dollies-in towards him, unsettling the audience and creating anticipation by using camera movement typical of the horror genre. As the other man in the room manages to turn on the lights, industrial diegetic pleonastic sounds can be heard and the director chooses to employ handheld camerawork, the shakiness typical of certain types of horror sub-genres. Horror films often deal with fantastical stories and handheld camerawork adds verisimilitude to otherwise unlikely or unbelievable situations.

Blurry point-of-view shots are seen before the director cuts to a second man in the room, shown in medium shot clutching some old pipework, sweating profusely with grazes on his face. The mise-en-scene is typical of the genre, the bathroom reminiscent of a dungeon or basement. The point-of-view shots from the perspective of the second man are also blurred, implying that he has been in the dark for some time, and as he looks across the room gives the audience a better sense of the sinister-looking setting.

The extreme long shot reveals a run-down bathroom, with the first man loosely framed to reinforce his vulnerability. Often in the genre the victims are female, yet here the director subverts this convention and introduces male victims, something I may consider doing in my opening scene to challenge some of the conventions of genre.

A bird's-eye-view shot of a bloodied corpse in between the two men, face down on the floor of the bathroom, creates further enigma and hints at the gore (so typical of the genre) that the audience can expect to see as the narrative progresses. These type of overhead shots are a common convention in films from the horror genre, where events that happen to characters are almost always out of their control and manipulated by some sinister external force.

The director cuts to a number of close ups of various props, such as a gun and a recording device; the close ups highlight to the audience the narrative significance of these props, hinting that they will play an integral part in the film later on.

The director cuts to a wider shot of the location so that we get a sense of the size of the setting and the characters' relative positions within it. As he does so, the non-diegetic becomes more sinister and rises in volume as the first man tries to break free from his chains and screams for help.