An analysis of a film opening

To further my research into the horror/thriller genre i have chosen to analyse the opening 2 minutes of 'Jeepers Creepers 2'.



I think that the opening 2 minutes of this film is effective and gives a good introduction to the film. It starts off with a boy 'Billie' in the middle of a corn field, I think the chosen setting of a corn field is good as it is quite an isolated place to be as you cannot see anything around you, also it is a good setting for a horror scene as a character can disappear without the notice of others in the scene.
The use of scarecrows in the beginning represents the unknown. Many films use scarecrows that turn into monsters or come to life as they are generally associated with Halloween and pagan rituals, this ties in with the opening of the film where the predator disguises itself as a scarecrow before taking the boy.
There are quite a lot of close-up shots especially of the corn field and the boy 'Billie', however when the predator first appears we only see it from a distance, in the background of the scene which contrasts with the previous subjects always in the foreground.
The opening of the film impacts on the audience. As the scene goes on it builds in tension, from the opening 'Every 23rd month, For 23 days, It gets to eat.' This gives the audience some thing to expect and automatically adds tension to the scene. The scene also includes the scarecrows in many shots keeping the audience guessing, however I feel that the element of surprise is lost when the predator turns to look at the boy as due to the build up of the scene it is expected.


Analysis of the shots in the first 2 minutes

The establishing shot is a wide shot of the setting for the opening of the film. The camera then zooms in to show a close up of the first character in the scene, 'Billie' as he ties up a scarecrow the scene also shows a row of other scarecrows, which the audience might expect to move or change due to the opening of the film. There are then several point of view shots between 'Billie' and his father. This is the followed by another point of view shot from 'Billie' to the scarecrows, the camera then goes on to show an extreme close-up of the machinery 'Billie' dad is working on and several close-ups of 'Billie’s father before finally returning to another point of view shot between 'Billie' and his dad.

Research into different genres

I decided to research into the Thriller and Horror genres as most of my favourite films and those I am interested in fall into these categories. Personally I prefer thriller to horror as I find psychological thrillers that make the audience think and generally have believable themes more interesting than horrors, which are obviously fictional and I think have less interesting plots.


Here are some openings to films I have researched:





I think "What Lies Beneath" is a good psychological thriller, personally I think the opening 2 minutes would not be described as particularly scary, however I think that the fact the audience knows the film is a thriller makes the opening seem much more scary then it is. This is a good example of a psychological thriller.



"Creep" has a good opening, as it starts off showing a sequence of quite disturbing shots of a woman who has clearly been attacked, however it then goes on to show two men in the sewers which gives the setting for the film. Including a short preview of what is to come in the film keeps the audience in suspense for what happens next during the introduction.