Lauren Jiggins 'The Possession' Opening analysis

'The Possession' opens with the logos of the two production companies who made the film, Lionsgate and Ghost House Pictures. Lionsgate and Ghost House aren't part of 'The Big Six' production companies, so the audience will expect a lower budget and less known actors to be in the film. These problems wouldn't tend to lose the producers any money, as although it isn't one of the big six, Lionsgate is a well established distributor of horror, they produced all of the Saw films, which are regarded as high quality, well made horror films. Red and black colours in the Lionsgate title suggests that unlike most horror film equilibriums, 'The Possession' will start off on a negative, scary note and only get worse. This defies convention, as most horrors start on a happy note to draw the audience in and then turn sour. Red also has connotations with blood and danger, and in religion there are connotations with red and the devil. This warns the audience that the film will feature death and religion. The only music is synchronous of the titles for the two production companies.

The titles for The Possession are black and white and in a basic font. The screen then fades to black, and the next title reads 'The following is based on a true story.' This builds a suspense already, and by using titles that can be described as forgettable, this shows the audience that the name of the film isn't important compared to the actual content of the film. There is slow paced, classical Jewish music playing when the titles start, and this sets a slow pace but slowly builds the tension, as the audience is waiting for the music to reach its climax.

The film opens with a birds eye view over a residential estate. The houses and grass areas all look worn and untidy, and the colour is dark and dingy. This defies horror film convention and gives the effect of showing that the equilibrium will be off at the beginning of the film, as most horror films start on a positive note with bright colours and busy mise-en-scene and slowly get worse. As the scene starts, a slow, ghoulish, non-digetic whispering starts. The whispering is in Hebrew, which links to the themes of religion and possession. This puts

Lauren Jiggins 'The Possession' Opening analysis

the audience on edge from the very beginning, as the dark colours and whispering sounds means that the audience is waiting for something to happen.

The scene then cuts to a pan across a room filled with pictures. One of the pictures on the wall is of the Last Supper, as well as lots of family photos. This again links with the theme of religion, but also gives the audience an insight into who's house it is. The whispering and music continues, but slows down as the camera pan ends and comes to a shot of a woman looking at a box on her fireplace. There is then an extreme close up of the woman looking at the box. She looks scared and in pain, which shows the audience all is not well in the scene. By this point the music has stopped and it is just the whispering that in continuing, and it becomes clear that the whispering is now digetic it is coming from the box.

The camera then cuts to a slow zoom in to the box she is looking at. The box has Hebrew writing on it and as the camera zooms in, the whispering becomes more ominous. As the camera cuts back to the woman, she looks even more pained. A match on action then cuts to her going to touch the box, but before she touches it there is a loud, digetic bang. This is used to give the audience a cheap shock, and lead them into a false sense of security in thinking that the scary part that the film has been leading up to is over, especially as the whispering has now ended, and there are just ambient noises. The shot then cuts back to the woman walking away from the box, but the sound of a clock ticking in the background keeps the audience on edge, as if the scary part of the scene was over, it would have cut to a new scene by now. There is then a shot of the woman going into the kitchen and putting a tape on. The music she puts on is cheerful, which contradicts the tension set in the earlier part on the scene. This music lets the audience know that something bad is going to happen.