Analyse Film Opening

The Grudge

The film opens with the Columbia Pictures logo, this straight away establishes it with its distributors. This immediately gives you an insight of what the film could be like by relating it to any other, possibly horror, Columbia Picture films that you have seen.

Over this and throughout the first minute, non-diegetic eerie ghost like music is played quietly. This creates an uneasy feeling for the audience. The fact that it is quiet leaves you slightly on edge as you are expecting something to disturb it and possibly make you jump.

The opening shows a man committing suicide by jumping from a balcony; this makes it clear to the audience that this is a horror as within the first 3 minutes there is a death. There is then a mid-close up of the man led on the ground with blood around his head, suggesting that the film will become more graphic as it goes on.

A sped up point of view shot has been used as the man is falling, this creates the sense that you are the one that is falling to their death. This has been used to involve the audience putting them into the position of the character making them feel even more uneasy as it feels as if you are experiencing it yourself.