Black Xmas broken down-
You begin by seeing the production and distribution companies -
Dimension Films and 2929 Productions
Revealing the location and some of the characters, as well as the fact that there is a killer in their house. This where the enigma codes crop up and the story begins to unfold. The opening sequence ends with the girl being killed. Typically many opening sequences in the horror genre end in violence, so it's not out of the 'norm'.
The title of the film is then shown- again it is typical for the title to be shown after the opening sequence to break it up and give the audience a bit of time to process what has just happened.
Followed on then by the main film where the plot unfolds
Lastly once the film has ended the director, producers and actors are listed.
Mise-en-scene
The opening sequence begins with several establishing shots of once again, a stereotypically large house. Although it differs to other horror films as the house looks welcoming rather than isolated and hostile. This is down to the house being covered by Christmas lights which straight away tells the audience what the theme of the story may be based around, although this is evident from the title of the film.
Fairly early on there is a also shot establishing some of the key characters, taken from a point of view of someone looking into the house through a window. But this then cuts to a bedroom upstairs revealing yet another character. The room is fairly busy and crowded with presents etc, again letting the audience know that it's Christmas.
Lighting
Similarly to Scream, the story is set in the evening and so it is dark outside. This causes the audience to straight away begin to feel uneasy as bad things always happen at night rather than during the day time when there are more people about. Although it is dark there are the Christmas lights to light up the house which you would think would reflect a happy mood upon the narrative... which they do until the girl gets killed, and then it just becomes a bit ironic. In a way in it could be seen as an effective strategy in shocking the audience. This is because the lights lull the audience into a false sense of security which is dramatically crashed down upon by the violence that soon follows.
While the focus of the shots are in the bedroom, the lighting is provided by the light so its fairly standard and not overly creepy in anyway. This is contrasted though when she goes to look in the closet when she hears a noise coming from it. The closet is dark and full of shadows which allows tension and fear to build up, as the audience knows something or someone is hiding in there but you can't see anything. Enigma Codes
Once again similarly to Scream and Mirrors, emigma codes crop up frequently in the opening sequence.
♦ How significant are the characters that are revealed going to be?
♦ Why is there such a focus on the snow globe and pen?
♦ Will they play a part further on in the film?
♦ Is there someone hiding in the closet?
♦ If so who are they?
♦ What is the impostor doing in the house?
♦ Why did they kill the girl?
♦ Will they kill the other characters in the house?
Throughout the opening sequence you don't really find out very much about the character at all, as there is no dialogue just her actions to tell the story. This means that the audience are left with many questions buzzing around their heads. It's a film where you have to watch the rest of the film to understand what is going on as not much of the narrative is revealed in the opening sequence.
Cinematography
Once the narrative has moved into the bedroom, the use of shot types and camera angles become more varied. The majority of shots vary from medium shots to close -ups to give a clear view of what is going on.
Like I've said before, since there is no dialogue it is vital that the characters actions are clear to the audience so that they can understand what is going on. Close-ups have been used but I don't think the focus has been on her expressions- since her expressions are very calm- but instead on particular objects. Objects that have had attention drawn to them through use of close ups are:
The pen- highlighted its use and then its disappearance, foreshadowing that it was going to be used to kill her.
The card- drawing attention to her relationship with another character (her sister), which the audience hasn't been introduced to yet.
The snow globe- Foreshadowing its importance and hinting that it will appear again later on in the story
When she gets attacked, the audience partly sees it through the snow globe which I think is really effective as it allows the struggle to be distorted and therefore is easier to make it seem realistic. This is perhaps a technique that I could use in my own opening sequence if I choose to do the horror genre.
The snow globe is actually one of my favourite parts throughout the film as it cues the 'bad guy'. The snow globe plays the song The Nut Cracker (Christmas theme) which is so delicate and feminine, that when it is associated with the violence that always follows, it becomes a tune that you dread to hear during the film; it has gone from being sweet to creepy.
Over the shoulder shots have also been used quite effectively to see the narrative from the characters point of view.
The camera is held steadily however it moves around in a way that makes it seem as though the camera is moving where her eyes are moving. This makes the audience see things from her point of view and therefore feel more involved in the narrative.
Editing
The cuts actually aren't very frequent as the pace to the narrative is fairly slow, reflecting her calm mood. This is then quickened when she gets attacked and killed. The shots are actually longer to help build tension and suspense. I don't think it would have been as successful if it had quick paced cuts throughout the whole scene.
After she gets suffocated by the bag and stabbed by a pen, the camera quickly cuts to the shot of the title.
Titles
The title comes straight after the opening sequence. It is an extremely simple and bold title, which is conventional of the genre. But there is something about the font that makes it seem a little armature.
However the scratchy scrawled font could reflect the whole mood of the film. Moreover the red could connotate both Christmas and blood.This shot then fades out and into the main story.
Iconography
Typically there is violence involved in this opening sequence; although it doesn't come until the end providing a contrast the the prior calm mood, shocking the audience.
The violence is shown through her being suffocated by a bag being held over her head and then having a pen stabbed in her eye. This in it's self is shocking enough but it doesn't use the typical blood that you would expect- this comes later on in the film.
Further more I just want to mention another classic convention of horror films that is shown, although not in the opening sequence. This the phone ringing, with a creepy stranger on the other end. This is effective in creating tension and allows the killer to have a voice and presence.
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