Research into a Horror Opening scene

 Get out (2017)

Studio: Universal Pictures

Director: Jordan Peele

Main Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Bradley Whitford

The scene is set with a man alone in the dark, which sets the narrative that something bad is about to happen. 

This is a stereotypical scene for the beginning of a horror movie as we associate the dark with the unknown and therefore it is seen as scary. There is no soundtrack on the only sound we can hear is the diegetic sound of the man on the phone with a few other sound effects in the background like dogs barking. When he puts the phone down there is not  much sound until we see a car driving towards him. From the man's reaction to the car we can tell that he's scared and something is going to happen. He then gets tackled and taken into the car. we can assume that the rest of the film will be about him trying to escape from these people or something along those lines. The target audience for this film will be an older audience or young adults, this is as it is quite tense and scary so not suitable for children.

We are introduced to three characters, firstly, the man who is walking around the suburb. The camera is tracking as he walks and seems to be following him around, it also circles around him. We can connote that he is of importance due to this. He is presented as being a protagonist as he is the one that seems scared and like he will be the victim. He is the only person that we see his face, therefore we think that he is not hiding anything and is innocent. We also hear to the person that he is on the phone with,  we can guess that this is his wife/girlfriend and that she will make an appearance later on in the film. We are also introduced to the antagonist Who is the person in the car who kidnaps the man. We only ever see him as a silhouette and do not see his face which creates a sense of Mystery and reinforcing unknown. When is is put into the car, the camera is still tracking it, showing that the action is following the main character wherever he goes, which gives us the impression that the rest of the film will be about him.

The music as the man is being kidnapped is quite upbeat, so is contrapuntal to what is going on, this makes the scene a lot more creepy. Then as the car stops it stops and we hear violins playing getting faster and faster, which created tension and we begin to realise what has just happened.

An editing technique that is used is the use of a continuous shot all the way through this scene, there are no cuts can if the camera changes angle it is jus moved. This creates tension as it feels like the scene is long and drawn out and we are waiting for something to happen.

I think that this scene is very effective, mainly due to the lighting used and the sound, especially the switch from diegetic music in the car to the non diegetic soundtrack of the same song, and this gives the effect that the kidnapper has taken over and is now in control, whereas before he was just contained in his car like the music.