Purpose & ConventionsThe purpose of the ‘Evil Dead’ film opening is to make the audience intrigued. The opening entices the audience because it questions to What? Who? Why? Where?

And what the film is implying it’s about. Evil Dead challenges the audience because it makes them wonder if it’s true. Showing quick glimpses of The horror

genre is easy to spot right from the beginning as it has connotations shown through the red colour scheme eg. Blood, horror, death.

Camera – Shots/Angles/MovementShots There are several close-up shots of blood/paint dripping and running. Extreme close-ups show the detail of the blood. There are also close-ups of nails and a light bulb.

AnglesThere is a swap between slight low and high angels showing theblood in different perspectives. Most of the angles are straight on.

Slight low angel shot of a trap door

Extreme close up of what we presume a Human’s mouth.

MovementThe camera movement is slow and tilts a little showing the blood dripping. The framing is tight and only shows small parts – it never shows you fully what it is to make the audience question to what it being shown.

Mise En SceneSetting/Lighting/Characters/Representation

Setting: We can imply that it is set in a old run down basement due to the wooden scenery surrounding the camera. The trap door and light bulb also helps set the scene.

Lighting: There is low key lighting all the way through which creates suspense and mystery. The darkness also connotes horror and disturbance.

Characters: There are no characters present in the titles. However there is flesh being ripped and cut off – is this a character in the film?

Representation: The horror genre is clearly shown through the darkness, blood and tight camera angles.

EditingText/Titles: The titles are all in red which continues the connotations of horror, blood etc. They have slight black scratches which may show that there is something or someone evil and dangerous. The font has a distorted/horror theme and it’s all in capitals. The movement of the titles is a slight shake to make it look distorted/disturbed.The main title ‘Evil Dead’ is also in red and capitals. The font is bold and thick which connotes power/strength. The writing has tree branches wrapped around it which links to the narrative and setting of the film which is the woods.

EditingPace: The pace is not too fast at the beginning as it fades from one clip to another. Although the music is quite fast pace, the slow motion of the clips create a tense atmosphere. The clips are not too long either so that it doesn’t lose the audiences attention. Towards the end when the music picks up, the clips get edited quicker together.

Time: The opening titles are not too long – 1 minute 55.

Transitions: In the first clip showing blood spots in the air, it fades in slowly from black. There are not many transitions shown in the video because most of it is quick sharp cuts which go with the music. The sudden cuts make it more on edge for the audience.

Special Effects: Slow motion is used on some of the clips near the beginning. The clips get faster towards the end and layers of symbols and distorted lines appear and flash over the top of the video. Right at the end, a clip of burning flames is layered on top.

Continuity editing: There is no continuity editing/match on action as it cuts from one clip to a different one.

SoundNon-diagetic: The soundtrack over the top of the video is typical horror style. At the beginning when it shows ‘Evil Dead’ there is a loud shocking sound of a choir. It then goes silent and goes on to the main titles. As the titles start, a slow pace soundtrack is played with violins is played. The volume as this point is not very high. Throughout the soundtrack there is a choir singing. Towards the end, the songs pace speeds up and the violins are faster. The choir singing goes deeper and faster also. The pitch of the soundtrack goes up right at the end and the build up of music causes tension. After the massive build up, there is a sudden finish to silence.

Storyboard of the opening titles: Enigmas: Enigma codes are used to question the audience. In this case, the audience are asking: who is the person being cut up? Who’s blood is it? Why? How? Where? When? These intrigue the audience to watch the whole film to find out the full narrative, characters etc.