Jennifer's Body: Opening Sequence Analysis!

The first existing movie opening sequence I decided to analyse for inspiration was Jennifer’s Body (2009, directed by Karyn Kusama). This film was clearly created with my target audience of young females in mind with a plot that focuses entirely around a group of young people against the back drop of a high school. As well as dealing with supernatural issues, the teens struggle with stereotypical troubles faced by youths of today e.g. boyfriend dramas and competing with a beautiful and popular best friend. The film is rated '15' and therefore can be viewed by my target audience of 16-24 year olds.

Ominous music (non-diegetic sound) helps to create tension. The scene is shot at night as an example of pathetic fallacy. Darkness is used to create an atmosphere of evil and fear (bad things often happen at night). A sense of the unknown is created. Pathetic fallacy would be a useful technique to use for my own production, however, filming at night would be difficult without the required equipment. Therefore, in order to create a sombre mood I would have to use a cloudy or rainy day or, perhaps, darken my shots using effects during postproduction. The scene begins with an establishing long shot of a stereotypical American home. The camera slowly travels towards the building as a tire swing blows eerily in the breeze. The idea of inanimate objects, such as park swings, moving by themselves is a common convention of the horror genre.

  
The sans-serif typography used for credits is distressed, another typical convention of horror movies and something to remember when carefully selecting my own typography.

As we move into the home, the audience are presented with an uncomfortable big close up of a teen scratching at her arm. Something about a close up centering on one body part disorientates an audience; diegetic sound of the scratching is slightly gruesome. 

This technique is also used in the Darren Aronofsky psychological thriller, Black Swan. Nina, the main character, is often seen scratching and peeling off skin around her nails, drawing blood. This is graphic and gruesome, difficult for an audience to watch. Blood and gore was brought up a couple of times as an important feature during my research interviews.

Suddenly the non-diegetic music is almost reminiscent of nursery rhymes. Children in horror movies are often portrayed as evil (e.g. Orphan which was mentioned in my target audience research) and toys such as old glass dolls are often causes of fear.
A cutaway takes the audience back outside of the house. The shot zooming forwards begins to appear like a POV (point of view shot) and there is a sudden sense that someone is approaching the teens window. 

Here, the sans-serif typography of the movie title fades in. The pink, overly girly text challenges the genre conventions. The audience would expect to see red, distressed text but instead are presented with typography more stereotypical of a rom-com. This is further evidence that the target audience for this movie is young girls. Rom-com is perhaps a sub-genre of this movie.

 Another cutaway moves the audience back into the teenagers pink (connoting femininity, cuteness and glamour) room. The mise-en-scene demonstrates verisimiltude, the setting depicting exactly what we would expect a typical teens bedroom to look like. Lying lazily on her bed, watching TV she seems to be a relatable character. Viewers may relate to her through personal identification (uses and gratifications audience theory) and see themselves reflected in the text. Including young characters, dressed in modern day costume, was something also highlighting as important in my research. 

The camera looms over the girl at a high angle, making her appear small and vulnerable. Slow straight cuts help to build the tension. 

A sudden jump scare shocks the audience as a face appears at her window. This is accompanied with a sudden load piece of non-diegetic music. As the teenage girl is facing away from her window, unaware of this new presence, dramatic irony is created.

 
 A sound bridge aids the transition from the bedroom into a mental hospital. A soft and identifiable teenage voice provides the non-diegetic voice over, “ Hell is a teenage girl”, again anchoring the target audience. Inside the mental asylum the camera tilts downwards, the music dark and off-key. In mise-en-scene we see crosses (a suggested prop from target audience interviews) and other religious items on the floor. Religion, particularly Catholicism, frequently features in horror movies because of it’s links to demonic possession (e.g. The Exorcism of Emily Rose and The Rite). 

The mise-en-scene is typical of a mental asylum cell. A blonde teen sits alone in a room, the bars on her window emphasising the feeling of captivity. The voice over provides an introduction to what the film will be about. The words, “nobody comes back”, paired with a close up shot of a picture frame suggests that death will be a theme in this movie, an obvious convention of the horror genre. 

The audience begin to realise that this voice over is in fact an epilogue to the movie, setting up what the events will lead to before revealing them. Wearing the stereotypical orange prison uniform, the blonde teen moves (with under cranking) through the grey and run down building. Her non diegetic voice over is chatty and relatable. The audience may be confused at first as to why this girl, who could be any of their friends, is actually a prisoner here.  However,  the tone suddenly changes and her true character is revealed. 

A dutch tilt (or canted angle) is used to create a feeling of imbalance. The straight cuts increase in pace to reflect the girls sudden mental breakdown. 

A graphic close up shot of  blood on the floor makes the audience uneasy. This sequence provides the action and fast pace my targeted audience asked for during the interviews.

 In the darkness of her cell, the girl curls up , the shadows of the bars reflecting onto her face emphasising, once again, how she is alone, trapped and isolated. 

The opening sequence ends with the non-diegetic voice over words “I used to be normal”. This opening has clearly set up the narrative and given the audience a clue as to just what the film will be about. The next hour and a half will be spent revealing the events that lead up to the young teen entering prison. I like the idea of a film beginning at the end. This has a similar effect to the beginning of the movie ‘Sinister’ mentioned during the interviews. ‘Becky’ told me how that movie began with an immediate death scene, without explanation. The audience had to watch on in order for this to be resolved. Furthermore, as suggested during my interviews, not too much information is revealed about character.

I was particularly inspired by the gruesome images, canted angles and POV shots, relatable characters and the narrative of this opening sequence. I am looking forward to analysing a few more movie openings before beginning to outline my own movie proposal!