Film opening analysis don't look now

1. Film
Opening
Analysis:
Don’t Look
Now

2. 1) Shots types/angles/movements?
There was a lot of zoom movements and close up shots such
as the scene where there was a close up of the
photograph, when was dripping along the photograph, it
makes the audience think why did they zoom in and we
know it’s because it’s suppose to represent the little girl.
There was also a mirror reflection using the water in the
pond of the little girl which hints out to the audience
maybe the water is a signifier to us and it maybe a
importance to the narrative. In addition to this in the
opening scene they use quite a lot of graphic matches
between the parents and the children, furthermore there
was slow motion to put emphasis on the father emotions
and how time slowed down of when knowing the little girl
drowned to her death.

3. The father was looking at
the photograph, which
resembles the little girl. In
the next scene (parallel
editing) which is an upside
down image of the little
girl.

4. This again is parallel
editing, the
photograph with the
person in red coat
with blood dripping
along the photograph
represents the little
girl drown it’s has if
the photograph knew
what was going to
happen which the
father later on knew
what it was as he ran
after his daughter to
try save her.

5. 2) Visual style – Lighting/colour?
The colour red is a genre signifier of the horror/thriller genre,
which represents the theme danger and death etc. The colour red
also connotes blood as we see the red blood on the photograph
which represents the little girl dying/drowning in the water, the
photograph is supposed to show the girl dying in the nearer
future. The blond colour of the little girl hair connotes
innocence/purity, so when she drowned it shows how innocent
she was and how young she was however death took her, but her
death could have been avoided if her father knew what the
photograph stands for. Furthermore there’s quite different
contrast of lighting as the on the little girl there’s quite bright
lighting however her surroundings like the forest is dark lighting, it
shows the binary opposition of dark vs light, it kind of shows the
forest is evil and not good for the innocence and the bright light
on the girl shows her innocence/purity again.

6. Dark lighting in the forest
behind the girl, furthermore
there is more focus/depth
on the little girl rather than
the boy, it gets the audience
thinking why is that and
what’s going to happen?
Red outfit connotes
danger/death/blood it
relates to the theme and her
blond hair represents
innocence and purity.

7. 3) Editing – fast/slow/pace/long
takes/exposition of narrative – character –
setting – time?
The piano music in the beginning is equivalent to the pace of
the editing, it ties in with each other a lot. Also there was
a lot of parallel editing to show the audience and make
them understand what’s happening in the narrative so far,
which I personally think is very clever as the two children
were outside whilst the parents were in the house, and
the father knew what was going to happen to his
daughter, it shows the similarity between both scenes.
From knowing both scenes the audience kind of already
knew what was going to happen, which creates
enigma/action codes unlike the characters in the actual
opening scene didn’t know nothing until later like the
father knew from the photograph which is very
reminiscence.

8. 4) How does the opening suggest the
genre or the themes of the film?
The opening does suggest a lot about the film and the
themes as well. For example, the setting was mainly
focused in the woods/forest which gives us a sense of
isolation and distance which is very iconic for the
horror/thriller genre. There are many themes that are
in the horror/thriller genre such as death/danger as
the forest/woods represents the danger and many
other objects such as the photograph which sensed
the little girls death as well as the death of the little
girl drowning shows us maybe she’s the one that
drives the narrative forward and maybe we can
expect something else from the death of the little girl.

9. 5) How is sound/music used to draw
us into the world of the film?
Sound/music is very important in this specific opening scene
as it draws our/the audience attention to what’s actually
happening in the scenes. For example, in the beginning
the piano music that was playing shows innocence and
that nothing is going to go wrong. However despite that
there’s quite a twist of the silence of the girl drowning it
creates suspension and more emphasis, which is very
dramatic, even more when the father starts shouting in
slow motion, the music was low/minor key, the sound
further goes lower and quieter. Sound/music in
horror/thriller films is a audience expectation of either to
scare the audience or be dramatic within the situation
either it’s very important and for this opening it’s been
used very well.

10. In my opinion of what I found very inspirational to
this specific opening scene, I like the fact how they
used sound/music gradually when time flowed by,
it captured of what really the horror/thriller genre
is about, for example of when time slowed down
in the slow motion section of when the father was
crying out the music/sound emphasised the clip
really well, it almost felt like I could feel his
emotions which is very good to relate to.
Moreover I like how they used parallel editing to
show two sides of the narrative, which the
narrative was enfolding together. Maybe in future
in my own opening scene I’ll use these techniques
to show the genre that I want.