As part of my research, I have watched the opening first ten minutes of The Omen. I chose this film because it has similarities to ours. It is a psychological horror, and is to do with possession. Although it’s an eighteen, so it is scarier than our film.
The title sequence begins with the names of the people involved flashing up in white and then fading back to black. These letters were lowercase, yet when the name of the film came up it was much bigger and all uppercase. The music started off almost like a choir, but then started to sound very sinister, yet still operatic. Throughout all of the sequence, on the far right was a silhouette of a small boy, with the shadow of a cross in front of him. This was flickering in a dark red. This links in a religious theme to the film.
From the title sequence things go straight to a middle-aged man sat in the back of a taxi. It is set in Rome; therefore you see lots of old buildings but with flashing lights. It is dark, and flashes of light keep shining on his face. The editing is fast, as not to focus on anything in particular, just show a small journey. Throughout this there is an over voice in an Italian accent ‘the child is dead’.
It then goes straight to a high angle shot of the man in the taxi, who you can now see is wearing a grey suit. The camera is pointing through banisters on a balcony. The main character is sat on a chair, with a priest stood above him. This shows religious control. They are speaking quietly.
The next scene is a close up of a nun holding a baby, with an out of focus head shot of the male main character. This alternates, and then slowly zooms out. The nurse and baby start to look ghostly, as they become slightly transparent, yet you learn it’s a reflection and the male character is looking through. The man and priest converse, in which the priest says ‘your wife will never know’. This unfolds the story some more, as then I realised that the main characters wife has just given birth yet their child had passed away. All of this ties in with the religious theme I mentioned earlier on. He accepts the child and takes it to his wife. She is very happy, and non-digetic merry music is played. There are lots of close up throughout these scenes, to show his expressions; uneasy, joyful and guilty.
The setting changes once again, this time a medium shot of a grand house where the mother is dressing her toddler. The jump in time shows the child has grown a little. The father comes in, still in medium shot, and takes the mother through to an office. He tells her he is the new Ambassador of England and that they are moving to London.
High shots of lots of extravagant buildings and houses are panned over. The weather seems a lot duller so they are obviously in England. They enter a house they intend to buy, and she takes him through to an office. There is a window, and through it is a close up of a mother and small baby, laughing and playing. An extreme close up shows the male characters expression, a look of guilt and anguish. There is light flooding over their faces as he quickly closes the blind, which puts them in the shade again, almost reflecting the fat that he’s put her in the shade about the secret of their child.
In the final shot before the ten minutes were up, it shows the ‘family’ walking across a hillside, the father with the toddler in his arms, and the mother dragging a red pullie toy across the grass. The red contrasts with the green of the grass.
The opening relates to the psychological horror theme, as to keep a secret like that from his wife really will play on his mind. Also, the religion adds to the mysterious effect, as in the opening sequence there was the antichrist cross, and then lots of nuns in full costume made it obvious where the man was.
I think we will use quite a dramatic beginning like this, and try to set a normal family seen like the one portrayed very well in this film. This is contrasting, and almost shows two worlds.
