Film Opening Evaluation Of: Carrie

This is my evaluation of the introduction to the film Carrie.

Genre: Horror

Film Director: Kimberly Pierce
 Box Office: $84,790,678 Worldwide (24th November 2013)
Awards: 5 wins and 7 nominations

As the opening scene begins, an establishing shot of a quaint, seemingly inviting house is met by the slow fade in of music. This music gives the location an eerie feel, suggesting all is not as it seems in this house. The establishing shot also introduces the house as one of or the main setting for the film.

The screen then cuts to the ident of the company MGM (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). The horror genre is imprinted into this film. This is due to the fact that the writing is seemingly written in blood, signature iconography for horror films.
As the ident is introduced, a scream of a distressed woman grabs your attention. This is again more iconography that we associate with horror films.

We then proceed to the house where we fade from the bright exterior into the dark and cramped interior. As we enter, the camera is placed at the height of a person, as if we are being walked through the setting. This highlights that this is going to be an important setting for this film. A cross is delibrately placed so that we notice this, suggesting religion has an important role in this film.
Continuing through the house, camera movement is rushed as if someone is looking around the house in search for the distressed woman.

Camera movement is then calmed before the camera tracks in on a closet door. This is the last image we see before the film cuts to more opening credits, again written in what is seemingly blood. This lasting image leads us to believe that this closet is again an important location on this house and will help the story develop.
A calm in the noise sets in as more opening credits are introduced, which tricks us into believing that calm has grasped hold of the situation. However this is misleading an keeps us intrigued.

The head height camera panning is then lost as the camera begins to focus solely on the stairs themselves. We then spot what is blood and water leading up the stairs. This may lead some to believe an attack has occurred or is occurring, so we begin to fear for the woman.
As we continue up the stairs, the camera slows before the camera pans right over a Holy Bible, seemingly thrown on the stairs and covered in blood and water

. As we have noticed the cross in the house before, the bible increases our understanding of the film, showing that a large religious presence is in this film. As the Bible is covered in blood, we can assume some sort of 'devil' will play a role in the story, making this a supernatural horror.

We then cut to the bedroom where we meet the possible protagonist (as we feel fear and empathetic towards her) is continuing to scream. As the camera begins to pan over the woman, we are met with white bed sheets and clothes all covered in large amounts of blood. This mise en scene increases focus on the blood and the danger of the situation. The white bed sheets and clothes also show how the woman can be seen as the protagonist as the white and the christian presence makes her seem angelic, though in a deadly situation.

The use of sound is key next as it noticely begins to gain volume and pace, signifying a gain in momentum in the event occurring. This builds the tension which we commonly associate with the horror genre.
This build in music leads to a close up of the woman as she begans to scream after begging for help from God. After the noise reaces it's climax, the music begins to fade along with a zoom out on the woman's face. This signifies that the worst of the pain has passed and calm is now beginning to settle in.

The last shot in this 2 minute intro shows some sort of movement in between the woman's legs. We now know that a birth has taken place but this leaves the audience questioning why the pain was so large in this birth. There is a build of ghostly sounds as we meet the baby, suggesting that this child has some sort of devil presence within her (due to the religious elements of this film which we have witnessed). Though it is now seemingly calm, these sounds worry us and lead us to believe all is not right.

 The beginning two minutes of this scene are what I used in my evaluation.