Lydia Marley-Lawson

Opening Sequence Analysis: Gravity

Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity, released in 2013, is an extremely visual sci-fi horror. The film itself follows

typical genre conventions for science fiction but only loosely abides to generic horror conventions.

Having said this, there sense of realism which is shown through the epic and as the series of events

are frightfully possible; it makes the entire film slot into the horror genre.

The film begins with darkness accompanied by the distant sound of an orchestral cello tone, very

low and almost agonising to listen to. This diegetic sound is warped into a heavy thunder which is

then convoyed with a higher, ambient note. The progression in volume gives the impression that the

sound is coming closer and closer to you as a viewer and in turn, giving a sense of unease. At this

point text appears on the black screen which declares facts regarding the conditions 600km above

Earth. Ripples of repetitive low chords repeat themselves in the background, getting considerably

louder when the next fact appears on the screen “There is nothing to carry sound”. This is almost an

ironic statement as it is evident that the non-diegetic score in the background is gradually increasing

in volume.

It is at this point that the facts become more frightening and real as it states that there is no air

pressure and no oxygen. This is a philosophy which frightens most viewers as it’s highly unlikely to

come across someone who has not felt fear at the idea of not being able to breathe. In retaliation to

the negative emotional response of these two new facts the music gets more unbearable to listen to

as its pitch increases matching the sound of an aeroplane preparing to take off. Just as the music

increases the final fact appears: “life in space is impossible”. From this point the music builds and

builds, creating ample amounts of tension, fear and dread. This harsh cacophony of unnatural sound

builds a strong feeling of fear and intrigue in the audience and quite literally has them squirming in

their seats as “Gravity” emerges on the screen in white text, coming closer and closer, growing in

size dramatically.

Just as the viewer assumes they can take no more of the insane unnatural orchestral chant the black

screen disappears to a long shot consisting of earth and the night sky. Accompanying this new shot is

complete silence which becomes such an aggressive contrast to the frightening score previous. In an

exciting way the silence then becomes unnatural to the audience as opposed to the loud and

unbearable tension that was built. However the audience were warned for this intrusive silence in

the facts previous. This is when the first sense of realism is infused into the plot.

After mere seconds, the silence is broken by a distant but evident voice, clearly heard through a

communication device, rather than personal narrative in a face to face interaction. The voice, though

distant and muffled, is heard in a 360 degree cyclone around the audience’s heads, transporting

them from their seat in the comfort of the cinema/their own home to the dangerous and

unpredictable depth of space. This reference to the communication device is our first reference to

high quality technology which is an important part of the mise-en-scene in films from the science

fiction genre and consequently appeals to its primary audience.

A gentle and ambient tone plays a solitary note in the distant background which symbolically reflects

the solitude that Ryan Stone feels later in the film. During the technological terminology rich

narrative between Houston and the astronauts, the space station in question slowly emerges from

the distant stars; eventually becoming the primary focus of the shot. When the shuttle comes closer

to the camera we then notice an individual astronaut slowly spiralling through space in a calm and

controlled manner. Taking note of his white NASA astronaut suit we then are transported to a close

up shot of Kowalski who transforms the non-diegetic conversation into diegetic as we note he is one

Lydia Marley-Lawson

of the dominant contributors to the conversation. Within the conversation, Kowalski states that he

has a bad feeling about the mission which foreshadows the plot in such minimal but effective

narrative. The narrative is secondary to the visuals in this sequence because we are literally

transported through space in every other aspect, making the dialogue less important. Kowalski

decides to play some country music which is a complete juxtaposition to the location of the scene

but clearly is used to comfort the astronaut on his mission, implying that he may be feeling

homesick.

Kowalski is wearing a heavy duty jetpack which again is a generic prop seen throughout this genre

and therefore interests the audience and places them in their comfort zone, despite the fact that

they simultaneously feel like they’re floating though space. We suffer from simulated motion

sickness as crane shots slowly and gracefully rotate the space station, 360 degrees to give the

impression that the audience are also experiencing the effects of zero gravity. The crane shots also

serve a secondary purpose as they act as establishing shots to familiarise the audience with the

otherwise unfamiliar territory.

We experience a number of high angle shots which are often used in films in the horror genre to

amplify height which is a common fear amongst people and it’s obvious that you can’t get much

higher than 600km above the Earth. These shots also act as a size guide to create the idea that

humans are so small in comparison to the earth and ultimately the galaxy, which is a daunting

thought and emits negative associations with the concepts of space.

A series of canted angles occur throughout the opening sequence which is again unnatural and

therefore makes the audience uncomfortable. The shots also allow the darkness beyond the scene

to be visible which can trigger people’s fear of the unknown. This is revisited later when Stone spirals

through space in a frightening sequence of crane 360 shots as it is clear that if Stone wasn’t stopped

from spiralling into the darkness she would have continued to do so forever. It is these concepts

which make Gravity fit into the horror genre as the narrative, cinematography and sound triggers

fear in the audience.