Film Opening Analysis:

Don’t Look Now

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.