J.R. Horror Opening Analysis - Sinister (2012)

Analyzing an Opening Sequence 

Sinister 

A true-crime writer finds a cache of 8mm home movies films that suggest the murder he is currently researching is the work of a serial killer whose career dates back to the 1960s.

Director:

 Scott Derrickson

Writers:

 Scott Derrickson, C. Robert Cargill

Stars:

 Ethan Hawke, Juliet Rylance, James Ransone |See full cast and crew

(IMDb)

Genre


Sinister is a film that falls into the categories of thriller, horror and mystery, and 'psychological thriller' if you are looking at a more horror type of approach to the film. The audience about to watch this film will immediately be able to identify that this film fulfill's its category of thriller. The title used for this film 'Sinister' already sets expectations that the audience are going to have of the film. The footage used in the opening of this film is negative and distressing and can be looked upon as being eccentric due to the way the image is portrayed to the audience, in the format of 8mm film. 


Form and Style of Opening   


Unlike other film openings this particular film has a unique style to it. It is not made with raw footage and doesn't do the typical build up of tension that other horror movies tend to achieve in there openings. This particular opening just makes the audience distressed and at some unease about what they are seeing. Scott Derrickson (director) has made the opening using 8mm film footage which what the film is based upon, in order to entice the audience in believing that they were actually watching this footage rather than a film, this enables the audience to feel like the film is more life like. The title of the film 'sinister' also gives the audience some sort of expectation upon what the film has to bring, as it connotes that something bad or evil is about to happen or will happen. 


Film Language - Telling the Story 

• The bags that the characters are wearing over their heads show a sing of vulnerability, as they have no recollection to what is happening around them meaning that they are exposed to all types of danger. 
• The setting of what looks like to be a garden shows that everything that is happening is secluded and cannot be interrupted by anyone  (unlike if it was in a opening setting e.g. park). This also adds to the vulnerability of the characters as there is no chance of them receiving any help, which relates back to the title of sinister where the audience know that something bad is about to happen. 
• As the tension builds in the scene the use of sound increases, more depressing and ghostly sounds are used in the build up which supports the sound of the flickering film all creating tension in the scene. 
• In addition to this as the whole style of this opening is based around the 8mm film, the camera angles or sizes do not change at all as the director wants you only to focus on the one particular setting and what is happening as the scene goes on. However to fill in for the lack of camera differentiation, over editing is used to compliment the 8mm film footage to make it look more sketchy and jumpy which adds suspense to the scene and makes it feel more 'sinister'. 

Narrative 

In this opening scene the audience are positioned with the four character positioned in the center of the screen. There identities remain hidden which could result in them becoming more vulnerable, and also creates more mystery. However these four characters are then killed, which shows that the footage that the director is trying to use for the style of opening is old and relates to what has happened in the past. This subsequently leads on to point out that the protagonist in the film is not yet introduced to the audience which adds on to the tension that is built up through the opening of the film. 


Ideology & Representation


In the opening of sinister we as an audience have are attention concentrated on the family that is pictured in the center of the screen. The use of one long shot connotes that they are the main characters in this opening scene. The bags that we see placed over their heads construct a sense of vulnerability which in theory supports an emergent ideology of a family as they are not safe and happy which a dominant ideology would support. In addition to this the long-shot used to show this scene portrays that although they are the main characters in this scene they have very little significance, represented through the camera positioning and frame size. 

Media Audiences 

• The target audience of this film is 15-29 year old males, which his the average horror movie target audience. 
• Yet more specifically a psychological thriller such as 'sinister' tend to entice teenage males due to their curiosity and daring nature. 
• However stats show that the main audience members were in fact older males aged 25-30, this is because the leading actor is Ethan Hawke, therefore could have alienated women as they themselves cannot relate to that character the film is based upon.