Scream Opening Analysis ☮ ☮ ☮

''Scream''(1996) is a slasher horror, about a town who is traumatised and terrorised by a psychopathic killer obsessed with horror films, who viciously murders unsuspecting victims.

The first shot we see is a black screen with movie's title "Scream" in a fuzzy old fashion computer style font, with what sounds like a screaming girl in the background, a sudden slicing sound is heard and the screaming girl mutes and we hear a heart beat type sound, Showing the audience exactly what type of film this is straight away , making them anticipate whats going to happen next. The camera then shows a telephone ringing on a tidy wooden table, suggesting to the audience a respectable normal home. We then see a hand emerge picking up the phone, the camera pans up the character at an average speed setting the pace for the film for the moment to be rather relaxed. The camera reveals the character who answered the phone to be a teenage blonde "pretty" girl.

The girl is wearing a white jumper and light jeans, this suggests through the colour of her clothing that the film is trying to portray innocence through this character, The girl answers the phone and seems wise and not your typical dumb blonde, by the way she questions the unknown caller, as she doesn't reveal anything about herself, and instead tries to get the caller to reveal things about himself. As the girl puts down the phone and walks away we see in the background a rather large posh looking home suggesting that the girl comes from a wealthy family.

When the phone rings a second time although straight after she puts down the phone the first time, she answers again which makes the audience reconsider the girls intelligence as if you knew the person was an unknown caller you wouldn't answer the phone again. The caller seems to be flirting with her and she smiles, illustrating that the girl likes attention which fits to her physical stereotype.Whilst talking to the stranger the camera pans slightly around the character, no longer showing the background of her house but instead of double clear doors, immediately drawing the audiences attention outside looking to see if theres anything "scary" behind her. Though the second conversation is shorter than the first call everything seems to still be innocent and she hangs up again. Though when the girl walks out of shot the camera still focuses on the double doors, making the audience rapidly look around the screen to find something abnormal due to the long amount of time that the camera focuses on them. During this scene the camera was at an ever so slight dutch angle, giving the impression that everything may feel as though it's normal for now, but theres still something strange about what's going on.

The camera then cuts to a low angled wide shot, showing a large white house which we presume to be the teenage girls and also a dirty, old looking swing, gently swaying in the wind whilst hearing loud crickets but other than that silence giving the impression of the girl being alone due to the lack of noise, which gives an eery creepy effect. Again the camera cuts, but to a stove where the gas is turned on, making the audience have a moment to think the trouble begins, but are quickly relaxed again when we see the girl has put on popcorn, As the girl walks away, another cordless phone rings, again the girl answers but continues to move about the kitchen quickly showing she isn't concerned about the strange caller, Though you can tell a sound of irritation in her voice when she says " who is this?". Though quickly the girl continues the conversation with the caller and treats him like a friend, continuing in small talk. Making the audience believe that the girl is being to trust worthy of the caller.

The caller asks about her favourite scary movie, to which she is in front of a rack of knives, where she draws one and out and describes a "slasher" movie, causing the audience to be led on that this is a slasher type movie, due to the repetition of knife references both in sound and visual.

As the girl continues to talk to the mysterious caller, the popcorn is seen in a close up shot where it seems to be expanding, illustrating the build up of tension and leading the audience to assume that the story is building and somethings going to happen suddenly.

The camera follows the girl at a high straight angle bouncing with her as she walks , giving an unsteady mood, The lighting changes to blue projected onto the girl, due to the night shining in through many of the windows, All of the windows in the girls house are open, constantly causing the audience to pay attention to them, thinking there is something out there due to the typical cliches you get in horror films. The caller asks if she has a boyfriend, where the girl responds with "why, do you want to ask me on a date ?", fuelling the stereotype of liking attention, as she doesn't know anything about this person which also adds to the dumb blonde stereotype also.

Though the mood changes harshly when he asks for her name because he wants to know who he's looking at, The camera then shows a close up of the girl's face when he says this and we see her smile disappear, showing the fear in her face causing her to realise that she doesn't know anything about this person and things have gone weirder than they already were. We also hear a dog bark, suggesting that someone is there, as usually dogs bark when someone strange approaches or goes past.

She then rushes to the clear doors and turns on the porch light looking (like the audience did) outside for the person that she was talking to, but sees nobody there. The camera then shows the girl through the doors, with a look of fear in her face, She then says she has got to go and can see she is now uncomfortable with the situation and realises she has done wrong by continuously answering the phone, We see her lock the door which again the audience would think she would have already locked, and feeding her stereotype of being a dumb pretty blonde who is most likely to die. Just before she ends the call we here on the other line "Don't hang up on me" in a sudden aggressive voice but she's already removed the phone from her ear and hangs up.

The phone rings again and she answers telling the man to "dial someone else" We continue to see and hear the popcorn crackling and sparking, showing an almost capacity to the tension, almost exploding. The phone rings again and she still answers the phone this time immensely angry answering "Listen asshole" which was a complete different way she had answered the previous times, causing the caller to lose his temper with a sudden sharp musical note whilst also saying if she hangs up again he'll gut her like a fish, to which she responds with silence. The weird man then confirms her hair colour by calling her "blondie" and we see her sprint to all the doors in the house while the camera tracks her hastily in a medium shot, we then see the the outside of her house through small windows in her door, giving the effect of looking through her eyes, making the audience put themselves in her shoes.

We then see her in her hallway, when the doorbell rings causing her to scream and begin to hysterically cry calling "who's there?!" repeatedly, as she claims that she will call the police the phone rings again and she jumps again, answering sobbing, the presumed killer, then says she should never ask who's there as it's a "death wish" and hasn't she watched the movies,  making the audience  presume that the "killer" takes his habits from scary slasher films. The girl still crying and screaming makes empty threats that her boy friend will beat the killer up when he turns up, when she admits she is a liar for leading the caller to believe previously that she didn't have a boyfriend, making the audience lose a bit of sympathy for the girl as she was flirting with another man when she was already in a relationship, which shows in a way that she isn't all innocent and slightly deserving of the terrorising.

The caller then says, "His name wouldn't happen to be Steve would it ?" causing the girl to stop all noise and question to him how he knows his name, where the killer tells her to "turn on the patio light, again", as soon as he says this we hear a sudden beat of a drum making the audience know that the killer has done something terrible and builds the anticipation and drama whilst the girl slowly moves toward the patio to turn on the light,confirming that both he knows her boyfriend and has most likely done something to him, and that he knows that she already turned on her patio light, showing the audience that he has been watching her this whole time.

Drag Me To Hell Opening Analysis ☮ ☮ ☮

                                             
"Drag me to hell"(2009) focusing on a woman named Christine, who gets cursed by an old woman when refusing to give her help with a loan for her house, making an evil spirit haunt Christine and will, after three days of haunting, drag Christine to hell.

The opening establishing shot is of a bleak, brown coloured mansion, behind the sky is also a bleak grey, with the trees in the back ground a dark green, overall the initial colour scheme in the first shot portrays a dark and mysterious theme, making the audience sceptical of what they are going to see. The audio heard is what I would describe as a creepy light tune ,it's not a sharp noted song  but it gives an eery effect and makes the audience feel on edge as to what direction the film is going to take. As the Camera pans downwards from a high angled shot, we see in the bottom right hand corner that the scene is being set in Pasadena, California in 1969, due to the past setting it makes the audience feel that this is an important event that will give us key information for the film.

We then see a rusted blue pick-up truck pull up suddenly outside the mansion, making the truck stand out as the other two cars outside the mansion look rather expensive, making the audience wonder why the truck ,which wouldn't be linked to wealth, be outside the wealthy looking estate, And due to the sudden holt of the truck makes the audience feel that something has gone wrong and the people/person in the truck appears to be in a hurry.

The camera then cuts to a medium shot of the back of the truck where a women is surrounded by wooden boxes and various other inexpensive objects, she appears to be concealing something/someone in a blanket, causing further curiosity within the audience. The woman is wearing brown unfashionable clothing further suggesting a lack of wealth, She throws off a blanket that was presumably hiding her, where a man wearing denim, quickly helps her down as she runs erratically up the stairs and bangs on the door asking in a foreign language for a woman inside. this further insinuates that there is trouble occurring. As the woman who was being beckoned out of her house approaches, we see she is wearing a purple top and silver jewellery, due to her brightly coloured top it puts her in a significant position as the character that could help the boy.

We see an over the shoulder shot showing the revealed father and mother holding what was in the blanket, their son, who is sweating heavily and due to him not being able to walk gives the impression that he is weak and is in harms way. The Mother says that "He's hearing voices", which sets the theme of a ghost,demon or paranormal effect ,rather than a slasher film, which is more realistic. The woman is shown at the top of the steps in a low angled shot, giving the audience the impression that she is in control/ has the power in this situation.

The mother says that the son stole a necklace from a gypsy wagon, As she draws the necklace out we see a close up shot of the tarnished silver and a fly that was trapped with it "buzz" out and fly into the woman face as she bats it away. The fly gives the impression that the necklace is perhaps cursed or dangerous as the fly is heard loud and clearly and seems to shock the woman and seems distressed and fearful. Once the woman sees the necklace she immediately asks for the boy to be brought inside, showing the audience that perhaps the boy is possessed due to him hearing voices.

The camera then cuts to a close up of the boy shaking and sweaty in his blanket, looking upwards , This shot is effective as it shows the fear in the boys face, We see that the boy is looking up at a yellow dirty flower patterned window, which shows multiple clawed, unnatural hands shadowing closer inwards and crowding the window, giving the audience the impression that something bad is going to happen, making them anticipate the thrill. The parent's hands are then seen caressing the boys head and hands, comforting him. The room is decorated rather darkly with random objets that the audience probably will not recognise, setting a mysterious and anticipating mood. The purple shirted woman then appears, whilst chanting holding an object in both hands, suggesting to the audience that the woman is holding out an exorcism or some sort of ritual that will stop the boy hearing voices and get rid of this presumed haunted spirit.

Almost immediately as the woman starts the exorcism/ritual, the doors behind her fly open with a sudden loud bang, with the curtains on them rapidly waving, and a bright blue light projected into the room and a loud roar like sound, Making the audience jump due to the fast change of colour and noise levels, This also shows a paranormal theme due to the supposed doors opening by themselves.The woman performing the ritual is seen to fall, where the mother appears to have been slapped by an invisible spirit due to the slapping sound effect, the father also is seen to be beaten up by an unseen figure, confirming the theme of paranormal and demons.

The camera is shown on a dutch angle as the boy runs away into the hall just in front of the balcony of the stairs, this gives off a disorientated appearance and rushed effect due to the suddenness of the change of tension. The camera pans into the boys face as he screams showing the full fear and not being able to see the demon/spirit. We then see a low angled shot showing the young boy falling downwards off the balcony, then panning into a birds-eye view of him sprawled, unconscious on the floor. This is effective as it shows the drastic height of the fall, making the audience wonder whether boy is dead or not. Following this we see another low angled shot of the balcony with the three adults looking over the balcony in hysterics, with wind blowing their hair around showing a rapid pace and that the spirit is still there.

The opening then closes with a high angled shot of the floor to which the boy is on ,starts to crack around him revealing an orange bright fire effect, with the boy scrambling around not knowing which way to go , the floor drastically lowers and we hear a loud sharp noted song, with fire and smoke appearing, suddenly a black clawed hand like the shadow we saw at the beginning of the exorcism, reaches directly at the camera at a high angled shot, giving the effect that the hand is making a grab at the audience also making them jump, the hand grabs the boy and as he screams the camera pans up the wall behind him revealing his shadow ,due to the bright fire in front of him, reaching upwards and trying desperately to get away, the sparks of fire follow also until we see the women who attempted the ritual looking down in horror and eventually the camera stops in a medium shot where the boys shadow of his hand is met onto the woman face.

This is effective as it shows the woman is horrified by watch she is seeing but is so scared she cannot move, making the audience sympathise for her. As the boys hand is seen to completely disappear beneath the floor, the audience gathers from the fire and demon that the boy has been dragged to hell.


We then see a close up of the woman's almost tired looking drowned out face weakly say that she will meet the demon again one day, giving the effect that the woman is going to destroy the monster/demon making the audience go onto the woman's side, the screen suddenly goes to black with a sharp and loud musical note with the credit of "Drag Me To Hell" left on the screen.

About The Audience Of Horror ☮ ☮ ☮

Horror Movies usually revolve around a group of young teenagers trying desperately to save themselves from an evil presence, So it makes sense that usually their target audience is a 15+ age group, so that they can add more graphic and frightening scenes. Whereas younger people would find a 15 certificate film too frightening/intense and so if the film had specifically gory scenes taken out, the film wouldn't be considered horror, which shows that it's not for the faint hearted.
According to a survey on pearlanddean.com.This is the audience references for:

"Paranormal Activity 4". Link For The Audience Results

According to the results, the highest amount of people to attend the horror film was from the age of 15-24 with 72%, the lowest age groups were 4-6 , 7-11 and 12-14, these groups had a 0% rating, this is due to the age certificate of the film which is 15 but also because the film would be too frightening for anyone below the age of 15, according to the films management. the next lowest percentage is the age group of 45+ with 6%, this is most likely because older people aren't used to highly graphic scenes and tend to be more frightened of realistic footage and loud, scary sudden noises causing them to be a smaller group of horror fans. The gender although, is completely equal both male and female seemed to be equally keen on seeing this particular horror. When it comes to classes, the lowest viewing group was AB with 14%,this is most likely due to their lack of interest in popular/mass culture and their large interest in what is perceived to be "high culture". The highest class attendance was C2, which is the class of people who are students with part time jobs, this is due to younger people's interest in excitement and thrill and enjoy being on the edge of the seats waiting to be frightened.

It seems that older teens are drawn to experimenting with the paranormal world, like filming within their houses to record if theres any "paranormal activity", or getting their friends together to perform a seance, or ouija boards etc... They all revolve around delving into the unknown, trying to do something different, as teens like to be scared and challenge conformity and society. By focusing on this type of group, it can be relatable to the audience due to their similar ages, frightening them further.

You usually find that men are more interested in horror films than women, This may come from the popularity of high graphic video games in the male population, making them used to gore and violence with people/monsters jumping out of nowhere scaring them, Making horror films more popular to males. Horror films aren't considered "high culture" so they are targeted towards the "lower class", the working class, where horror films are part of popular/mass culture.

The characters that feature in the film (who usually are older teens) are trying to make a connection with the audience, due to their age and the situation they are in ( On the verge of death), Making the audience wincingly watch and hope for their survival, putting us into their shoes, which ultimately makes the viewer frightened, as the viewer always put themselves into the situation of the victim.

Horror Conventions ☮ ☮ ☮

Clichés

With every horror film you can expect to see at least 5 clichés within the first 30 minutes. Whether it be the dumb cheerleader falling over nothing as she runs from her most certain death, The bullying jock finally getting his comeuppance, whilst threatening the killer only to be stabbed repeatedly in the chest, or the nice girl/boy who turns out to have actually done a heinous deed, causing them to die also, showing an almost deserving death. These are just a few of the predictable scenes we expect from almost every horror film ever made. 

Conventions

Character and Location conventions

Horror films are usually set in rural environments, like farms or mysterious,creepy little towns, which appear normal, then reveal themselves to have dark disturbing secrets,leading the cast to their ultimate death due to their isolation. These places usually are abandoned with a dark history, like asylums,hotels,mansions/houses, lakes and farms.

The films usually focuses on a small set of friends or families, to concentrate on their characters, so you know why and whether they deserve to die. Horrors also usually conform to stereotypes like the pretty girl, the dumb one, the jock, and the so called "normal" one, which you presume you can relate to the most, who also the film focuses on as it's main character for this reason. The types of villain that is taunting the main protagonists usually form around ghosts, demons,monsters,possessed people and slasher type films with just a random psychopath with a knife in a mask(most of the time). When it comes to people that can help the main cast from tragedy, it usually ends up that the person/people that can help either get killed or end up being evil also, This can happen with the police, friends and even sometimes family.

Screen effects and camera angles/shot type conventions

Majority of horror films usually use bleak dark colours to show obscurity and to give off the illusion of night to scare the audience, it also forces the audience to watch closely to see what happens, which in the end leads to them getting the full frightening effect. The lighting used isn't usually set with normal daylight, and can come across as non-realistic, these are usually the films that are involved with demons and ghosts as they don't involve real people. With shot type you usually get extreme close ups of characters faces, not so much with the villain as they are supposed to be mysterious and unknown, but usually ends with a close up of them in a which flash up shot to scare and introduce an action scene. With our protagonists horror films often use close ups to show the fear in their face and sometimes when they're being killed to show their pain. In the many running scenes in horror films, the angle that is most likely chosen is a medium shot shown just enough of the characters surrounding and themselves to the audience, but not enough to show the thing that is chasing them,seeing the villain running after the victim usually humanises the antihero and puts them almost at the same level of the victim. Although some horrors go against the professional look , and show a home made look by using a shaky camera style like you would see in a documentary, where it appears that the actors are holding the camera and gives it a raw effect and makes it seem more realistic to the audience. 

Theme and Narrative Conventions

The themes that are used in horror films all pretty much are the same these include, Gore, which usually fits in with slasher movies like nightmare on elm street, the Saw franchise and the Halloween franchise.Religion, like exorcisms which also fits with possessed people which usually is psychological and involves creepy nuns and priests in scary ancient churches with creepy looking paintings. Also Ghosts/Demons, Where a certain family's house they recently bought,which seems to come alive with haunting, and usually involves a seance in there somewhere, which almost always seems to fail leaving the family defeated and the poltergeist/demon/ghost in victory.

 If there is narrative in a horror film, The majority of the time the voice belongs to the main protagonist,it usually is the survivor/ last person to be killed off, most of the time once they finish describing the story of them and their family/friends, they end up either dying themselves or making a big reveal/twist, usually being that they were the killer or something along those lines. This type of narrative usually follows the "victims" of the story giving background to their characters,with the villain just being part of the story. Though when we are unknown of the narrator, they usually do give some background the villain(s) to show why they have the urge to murder people, to possibly make the audience empathise for the villain in some ways, to show what a person can really be pushed to doing.

Horror isn't really a genre that i enjoy, not because i'm terribly frightened, I can be depending on the film, but because the storyline never seems to have any substance, but i will say there are a couple of classic horror films that i thought where brilliant performance wise and plot wise though don't completely fit into horror, "The Silence Of The Lambs" , "The Shining" and "The Birds", nowadays horror movies don't care a much about the compelling storylines which attract me but for more of the jumpiness and graphics of a monsters face, which is all fair enough, but a truly thought out terrifying storyline would top it off.

Divergent Opening Analysis ☮ ☮ ☮

Here my and my group describe the opening shots to the film "Divergent"(2014), a film set in the near future where civilisation has deteriorated and focuses on an abandoned city, Dividing the people who live there, into five factions, who live different lifestyles to provide for the city, those who possess more than one of these factions are considered "Divergent", who are considered a danger to society, which leads our antagonist beatrice,"tris", to try and live her life as a secret divergent.

Mad Max:Fury Road Opening Analysis ☮ ☮ ☮

"Mad Max Fury Road"(2015) is set in a post apocalyptic Australia, where sources such as water and oil are running low, and with the water that is available is rationed to the people unfairly by "Immortan Joe", the majority of the survivors leader. When Max is captured by their "Tribe", he forms an alliance with "imperator Furiosa", a warrior of the tribe, when Max escapes, as Furiosa is also attempting to flee accompanied by immortan joe's five wives, who race Immortan joe and his henchman across the wasteland in an attempt to escape to a "green place".

At first we see a black screen, with audio of a man's husky voice opening with "My name is Max". This immediately focuses on one character, suggesting to the audience that this is the most important role in the film. Still only seeing black,with credits in a metal rusted effect with what appears to be  blood at some areas, suggests a dirty and violent theme. We then hear what sounds to be extracts from the news, saying "We are killing for gasoline", showing the audience that one, this must be set in either a different time or world, As in our generation we don't have a restriction on gasoline, whereas it seems there is in the film, And two, That this is a vital piece of information as they mention gasoline and oil frequently. After we hear "Where is the water?" and "It's the water wars", it further insinuates to the audience that there is a low source of oil and water, Using the news reporter audio is effective as it shows the audience the substance to the plot and the importance, focusing around survival and finding water and oil sources,setting a dramatic theme.

When we continue to see black, the audience realises we will be hearing the key information that we need to know, rather than seeing it. The husky voice of Max returns when he gives some background of who he once was, "a cop" or as he described himself "a road warrior". Suggesting to the audience that because we are focusing on Max, we will be focusing on the road as by calling himself this, it gives the impression he was proud of being "a road warrior". We finally see footage of a black and white video of a sandstorm, showing to the audience that the world is being effected environmentally.  We then hear from Max that "As the world fell, each of us in our own way was broken", showing the audience that the film is set it the future, and that, in what way we are unsure of, Max is broken either mentally,physically or emotionally.

Suddenly we see a low angled long shot of bright golden sanded desert horizon , with blue sky , but with a black cloud seen in the background , showing pollution as it is one large singular cloud on its own. We also see a man suggested to be Max, Wearing dirty and tatted clothes, giving a uncomfortable image towards the audience,as when the shot appears we hear "Me" at that exact moment, in Max's husky voice. We also see a rundown damaged car behind him, suggesting to the audience that Max isn't wealthy. The camera then pans down to focus on a small lizard on a rock, The camera tracks inwards as the lizard speedily crawls closer to Max, and abruptly halts when Max stamps and kills the lizard equally as quick, suggesting to the audience that Max is a violent man but also in touch with the environment he is in, also illustrating that it is a violent environment. After max swoops up the lizard from under his boot and the camera jumps to a close up of the back of his head, where he slightly turns his head around enough to show the lizards tail hanging out of his mouth as he chews it, This is effective as it makes the audience feel queasy and presume that food is also not easy to find.

Suddenly we hear an engine start as the camera quickly cuts to max's feet at the car ,where he picks up his presumed belongings and chucks them in the car and slams the door, with every action in a different cut, illustrating that he is rushing to get away, which makes the audience feel that maybe he is trying to escape something or someone. Then Max starts up his engine with black smoke fuming the air around him, showing the car is perhaps unsafe and dangerous setting an action speed theme. We see the car speed away down a sand hill, leaving the audience with a misted screen and the audio of his fading car engine, waiting for something to happen, once Max's engine completely mutes , immediately a sudden rev blasts and a dirt truck appears to jump over the camera, this is effective as it shows the abruptness of the film, and sets a rapid speed on the audiences emotions. The truck is followed by motor bikes and rundown small cars, with people who are yelling and screaming, causing the audience to believe that a gang/tribe is chasing Max.

After we see a wide shot of a long ,what appears to be never-ending, sand road, we see all of the cars in a heated chase with yelling in the background, Making the audience think of why the trucks and motorbikes are chasing Max, and if he's done something wrong to them. The camera then cuts to a medium shot of the car still chasing, where we see a person in the truck beside Max's car throw a large matchstick- like figure to his car, causing the back to explode, leading it to flip over multiple times. Though, the audience are reassured immediately when we see a low angled close up of Max desperately crawling out of the tipped vehicle, where we see his hand brush sand over the camera multiple times, giving the effect of the audience being witness to the crash.

Max's, what seem to be, thoughts or narrative continue,where he states "haunted by those I could not protect", where we see what appears to be a young girl being run down and presumably killed by trucks similar to the ones that caused Max to crash, This suggests to the audience that Max feels responsible for the death of this unknown girl and is "haunted" by her for not keeping her alive, Suggesting to the audience and linking to the title that Max is "Mad", due to the fact that he hallucinates about the child that died. 

As Max continues to crawl away sand mist blurs out his features due to the cars pulling up around him, also giving off the effect of his vision being blurred due to the crash. Max is then stopped from his weak attempt of escape, by a foot pressing down on his back firmly, by an unseen face, but only see a gun press against his head.

The camera then cuts again to a high angled wide shot of what seems to look like a city in the distance of the sand, and pans out to show the accelerated trucks and vehicles speed towards it, This is effective as it shows the audience that this is the possible home to this gang/tribe, and the destination of the next scene. We then hear Max say, "A man reduced to a single instinct...Survive"and suddenly see max attached by some rope to the back of the truck, tiredly running behind whilst hearing daunting sudden sharp notes, giving off a dark and anticipating mood whilst the screen fades to black. This shows the audience that life is no longer considered or seen as normal, but a battlefield with every man for himself.

American Psycho Opening Analysis ☮ ☮ ☮

"American Psycho" (2000), is based around high status business man,Patrick Bateman ,who gets a deranged pleasure out of killing innocent people. With trying to both keep from getting caught and  getting a promotion at his fathers work, you see Patrick slowly unravel through panic and stress which leads to his ultimate downfall through his unhinged behaviour.

The opening shot is of a discoloured white, Keeping the audience's feelings and impressions in anticipation due to the lack of colour,and because of the white slightly tilting to a light grey, gives the seemingness of a grim and possibly dark theme. We then see a small drop of what appears to be blood  falling in front of the white (seeming to possibly be a wall) with a sharp (what seems to be) violin note, Followed by two more droplets with the same note, giving the feeling of suddenness and gore.This particular shot was a building up moment as the audience could feel that something was going to happen to the white wall, and were waiting for it to happen, which gives off that impression for the entire film,waiting for that psychotic moment to happen because you know that it is coming.
Multiple other droplets are shown falling but to a classical song, giving off the impression of high culture. We finally see the droplets hit the white surface and splat around the title "American psycho", showing the audience that blood will spill, and onto this american psycho.

We then see a stream of the electric red pour down in front of the once again clear, white surface, showing that the blood that was spilt is quickly cleaned away, with no one noticing. After this we see the stream of red has been poured onto what is presumed to be a plate in a swirling pattern, revealing the liquid to be a sauce. With the intense music slowly changing into a calm and cheerful classical piece, the mood changes quickly from sinister to a more exuberant theme, Showing the audience that everything can seem innocent if you look at it a certain way.

We then see the first actors name displayed, whilst a knife is seen raising upwards past it, illustrating to the audience that this is the main character, due to what can be used as a deadly weapon displayed with his name. the name disappears and a piece of steak is shown, where what appears to be the same knife that was raised, is brought down in a sharp menacing way, with a piercing note played when it hits the piece of meat. Following this two raspberries are dropped down ,also like the droplets at the beginning of the sequence, sticking to the theme of red, onto the plate where the steak has gone from what seemed quite menacing, to an elegant appearance with garnishes and decoration. Giving off the effect that this could be a possible description of the main character, stripped down a sinister, threatening persona but when accessorised an attractive, pleasant character.

The plate is then picked up and carried out of shot from a grey table, cutting to a pink coloured table where it is then placed among other, fancily prepared dishes, which gives off the impression of wealth, as with the wine that is also seen in shot. Making the audience see that we will be seeing the upper class lifestyle. The camera then pans around other dishes and upwards to a couple, with a the woman wearing ,which the audience would deem to be, an expensive outfit, with her hair being gelled straight and in place,giving the impression of a well put together character, a fuchsia sequinned dress and large gold earrings, and the gentleman wearing a business suit, we can gather that the restaurant is very up-market, and attracts the higher status crowd. This is then further insinuated when the camera pans around the bottom half of the server/waiter, where we see the customers to who he is telling the menu to at a low angled shot. By not seeing the waiter when he speaks, it seems that the waiter is irrelevant and that he is only there to serve upon the wealthy, giving the impression that this would be the opinion of many in the film. Though we do see a low angled shot of the waiter's face still reciting the restaurants very detailed and unique menu, also making the meals sound very fancy and a cut above the rest, giving off the effect that the audience is in the customers seat, and therefore putting us at a higher status than the server.

Finally we focus on a group of three gentleman, They all seem very well put together dressed in business attire with sleek hair do's, Illustrating, That the men are wealthy, and that they are organised and intelligent. As the men seem to be bickering and inquisitive about others, and seeming distracted about what's going on around them,they seem to have been thrown into a friendship that they don't really care about, making the audience feel that the men are either using each other either for information with something possibly for work, or be each others allies which also fits into the work category. With the camera not focusing on one particular character we don't really gather who the main character is, leaving the audience curious as none of the men seem to be psychotic, but that's how the film wants you to think as the psycho is someone who is playing the part of a normal man, when behind it all, is a homicidal maniac. The lighting doesn't help either, as we can see bright colours with normal sunlight, showing the sense of  simplicity and normality, This leaves the audience waiting in anticipation to see the sudden change from reality to a sick and menacing act.

 Through just the opening of the film , I could sense the thriller, horror and satire of this film, as you could see both the horror and thriller when the opening credits just started but seemed playful and comical when it is viewed to be harmless, almost making fun of the crime that is to occur in the film. The audience would be able to feel mixed emotions at this point , and to what degree of each emotion is only guessable as you cannot predict this film from the get go other than some evil things will occur, but to what extent and the explanation to why isn't predictable at all.

I thought this film overall was comical, exhilarating and horrid all at once, which illustrated Patrick's personality perfectly, he had so many emotions and could snap so easily, giving the impression of possible schizophrenia, which is one of the reasons for his unthinkable acts, as it must have taken a complete mentalist with dozens of problems to have committed the psychotic crimes that he carried out.