Analysis of opening sequence of Stephen Kings It.

Title: Stephen Kings It.
Director: Brian De Palma


How characters are represented and established.
Firstly we are introduced to a little girl. She is portrayed to be innocent and cute. She's young and has blonde hair (typical convention of horror films). And even before we see her face we hear that she is singing a nursery rhyme which shows that she is only just a little girl who doesn't mean any harm. The audience automatically think that nothing should happen to her as she is portrayed in this way but as it is just focused on her the audience already have a slight sense that something bad will happen to her.
We then meet the clown. Normally in horror films we do not get to see who the main 'killer' is but in this one we do. He is portrayed to be the one causing all the upset and horror in the film due to the scary over the top costume that he wear and his wicked laugh.

Enigma codes.
From the start there are already many enigma codes, for example;
what happened to the people at the start?
what are all the pictures to do with?
why is the clown the way he is?
what have all the children that the clown has murdered down for him to do it?
what happened to the little boy Georgie?

Editing techniques and their effects and camera techniques.
When we first hear the clown, we hear the the laugh is coming from the sheets. By having the sheets blowing in the wind it makes the atmosphere more tense and scary. There is a clear edit from the little girl to the clown and it keeps cutting back to the girls face then back to the clown. The edit towards the end of the opening sequence is used very well to set the scene of the genre and let the audience know the type of film it is. There is a good cut from Georgie to the clown which gives the full effect that the clown is the scary, thrilling character. There is a slow cross dissolve of when the man is reminded about the incident with his son Georgie which then follows on to the woman playing the piano. This gives the impression straight away that what happened to his son was extremely sad. There is also a fade out into the next scene after the clown has killed the little girl. The fade gives the effect of sadness for the mother when she comes out to find Lorraine.

When we are about to meet the clown the is a shot of the sheets with a low angle shot. Using a low angle shot gives the effect that whatever is in the sheets has lots of power giving meaning to the audience that as he has more power then the little girl he is going to do something to her. There is a clear zoom in of the girls face when she sees the clown. She has a big grin on her face, this could be because when you are little clowns are seen as funny characters not as harmful in anyway. When the girl rides into her path, there is a extreme long shot which gives the audience a creepy feeling about the events that are going to come.

There is a match-on-action shot when the little girl is riding her tricycle which creates suspense and tension for what is going to happen. When we finally meet the clown there are lots of close up of his face and the girls face. The first close up of the clown is so sudden and unexpected that it really makes you fear him. We also see a point of view from the clowns walking towards the little girl, this makes the audience feel really sorry for the girl as she is just standing their helpless not being able to do much as she doesn't realise what he is going to  do as she is only young and naive.

Straight as the title disappears music starts playing.

Sound.
The music played is very typical of a horror film. It is slow and creepy and lets you know the sort of film you are watching and also shows that audience that all of the pictures are from traumatic events. After this music we then hear a diegetic sound of the little girl singing a nursery rhyme. This could be seen as quite moving and make you feel uncomfortable with what is about to happen. After she has finished singing, we hear a child's laugh, this makes the audience feel a bit creepy as it is a really uneasy laugh and makes you feel on edge. With the child's laugh, it then slowly mixes the clowns laugh in with it, this makes the audience feel frightened for the little girl and then generates lots of enigma codes like why doesn't she go inside? and all questions like that. After the clown murders the little girl there is then a non-diegetic sound of slow music to make you feel sorry for the mother. Later on in the opening sequence, a telephone rings with a husky voice speaking which makes the audience think who is on the other end?  This is a typical convention of a horror film. After this scene we hear a diegetic sound of someone playing the piano, this creates an suspense and creepy atmosphere.

Iconography.
Iconography is set from the very start in the film. The old pictures shows the audience that something bad happened to all of them which them makes then feel tense. When it follows into the girl signing, straightaway that feeling of tense is carried on because the girl singing the nursery rhyme makes the atmosphere very creepy and that something is definitely going to happen. This film uses a good example of the main killer character as they are always normally twisted in some way and in this film that is shown really well by the character that he choses to dress up as which really sends out to the audience that he is a scary character. After the pictures at the start in the shows a flash of lightening which is also very typical of horror films to have bad weather.

Mise-en-scene.
The mise-en-scene of the location as just said above is typically bad weather, lightening, dark clouds and about to start raining. The location is a bit different to normal horror films as it is set in a neighborhood instead of being in the middle of nowhere.
Props play an important part for the opening sequence. At the start, props are used (pictures) to show what has happened in the past which sets the audience up of a basic understanding of the film. A tricycle is used to show that she is only young as she can't even ride a proper bike yet. When she comes up her path it shows a shot of her dolly which shows us that she is an innocent girl.
Costumes also play an important part in the opening sequence. The costume that the clown wear is very distinguish, bright and makes us remember what he looks like. It makes the audience feel on edge whenever they see him as it makes him a very distinct character.

Titles.
The title at the start is very basic but stands out extremely well. It has a black and white background which makes both colours stand out very well. The 'IT' part then follows on from the back and white bit to a black background with massive red writing. Red signifies blood and danger which then implies that death could happen in this film. The picture on the start of the title looks like outlines of peoples faces. They all have a very distinct feature (the nose) which could imply that the person that commits all the crime is a distinct character. There is also the actors names when the photos are being shown.  When the main titles are about to end, it does a transition from an old photo into that photo and it becomes real life. This could imply that as that picture was with all the other ones that something must have happened.

Target audience.
I think the target audience is aimed at 18+ as this film could be seen as very disturbing. Men and women but maybe more men as women could be very sensitive about the children dying if they have children themselves.

This is the opening sequence.