Analyzing Opening Scenes/ Trailers:
In the opening trailer of Mama, there have been many techniques used. In the majority of scenes presented, they have used dim lighting, throughout. This presents the audience with suspense that will occur at specific times. For example, where the two girls engage with mama; this puts the audience on edge. At 0.14, a high angle has been used with a mid shot of the girl looking down at the man. We are currently seeing things from the mans perspective, which means she is also looking down on us. This presents her dominance, and also gives us the impression that she is dangerous. At 0:20, one of the girls has been presented with a long shit as well as her back to the camera. This represents her loneliness due to this diverse environment she is in. The item of clothing the girls are wearing is white; this represents the impression we get from them. The color white demonstrates innocence, even though we know they are not innocent; which contradicts the way in which they are presented. Although, we do know they are vulnerable. At 0.23, the girl is shown with an extreme long shot at a high angle. With the use of a crane movement, it is presented to us how vulnerable she is to the outside world. We feel the need to empathize her because as the audience, we can see how insignificant she is presented. At 0:30, we are shown an over the shoulder shot, at a neutral angle. As the audience we get the impression that the two of them are equal, and at this moment of time, we do not feel threatened. We also benefit from this angle, as we can see the girls facial expression and the condition she is in. Overall, through this clip we make an overall judgement or idea of what the film is about, and also the roles each character plays.
The woman in black's opening scene is most effective as they have used spooky music, which creates an intense atmosphere, they have also based it in an empty room which creates a more tensed atmosphere. They haven't used dialog or much action as it makes it more spooky. they have used a range of camera angles to show that something is wrong as most of the shots show that the girls aren't doing what normal children would do. At the start of the movie they have used a close up shot of one of the girls pouring imaginary tea/coffee, this shot if effective as it shows that the children are doing what normal children do and that they have a good imagination, everything seems to be normal. They then used a mid-shot of the girls walking and stepping on their toys as they start to talk to the window, this suggest that something isn't right as you wouldn't normally stand on your toys and break them if you were in the right frame of mind, it then suggests to the audience that something has happened as children wouldn't normally do this. At the end of the clip they have used an over-the-shoulder shot showing the woman who has just supposedly told the children what to do, however we didn't hear any talking which could suggest that she had complete control over what they done, this gives an indication to the audience of what the film is about.
In the Film "Lights Out" is a very effective movie just by the way it looks, they have used many different camera shots just in the trailer that gives you an idea of what is going on in that film. The way they have used lighting in this film when turning the lights on and off showing where this Creature comes crawling out at night trying to go after the people that live in this home. They don't use much music in the trailer since it's all about trying to get the sound for them, adding the noises of the insects outside and the light being switched on and off without anything else playing, it gets you in the mood to wonder what is going to happen next. this has a big affect on the audience using this trailer because it is scary and they focus on trying to make you jump like a real horror movie. us as the audience do not feel threatened but do feel the same way as she is. all the different type of camera angles show you the prospective of the people seeing this creature, like the whey use the natural shot of where you can see how panicking from where she has seen the monster. they also use a Over the shoulder shot where they get the prospective of the women seeing the creature in the dark when the light is turned off. the lighting affects many way in this horror film because it is based on being in the dark when you are able to see the monster.
This opening scene is from the first film of saw. throughout this scene there is a variety of techniques and camera angles that are being used. The first camera angles that is being used in this opening scene is where they do a fast pace 360 degree turn while the man is about to wake up on the chair. This camera angle is quite effective because as the girl goes towards the metal fencing to see the man the look on her face is worried and scared and as it turns to the man it shows that he is a vulnerable target. A technique that is happening while the 360 degree turn on the man is happening is how they make the music go fast paced and makes us as the audience feel that something bad is about to happen to both the man and the women.