IT (1990)

IT is a film by Stephen King. The opening sequence for IT isn't too scary! I'm not petrified of clowns and so I managed to watch a whole 10 minutes of it! Even though the first time I watched it was with my hands in front of my face!

IT is set in 1960, when seven outcast kids known as "The Loser Club" fight an evil demon who poses as a child-killing clown. 30 years later, they are called back to fight the same clown again and this is where the story begins. 

The mise-en-scene of this horror film isn't what I expected. It is during the day in, what looks like a town. There is a storm which always means bad news in any film! During the opening titles lots of pictures are shown in black and white and then one of the pictures becomes the first establishing shot for the film. The storm approaches and lots of shots are shown of the washing being blown around, the rain is also shown which helps show that the storm is nearing which builds a suspense for the viewer. During the opening sequence lots of enigma codes appear to arise. Firstly, why are these pictures being shown? Then, after the little girl is murdered you find yourself asking why was she murdered? And what happened to her? As the film progresses we meet two young boys. One of the boys gives the other, Georgie, who's picture has turned up at the murder scene of the young girl, a paper boat. We ask ourselves what the significance of the boat is and why the film has now flicked into the past?

It is daylight for the majority of this opening sequence however it is a dull day and the storm is approaching which makes the sky dark and therefore the lighting dark. This creates a mood and an atmosphere for the following events to take place. As the story moves on and the location changes the lighting does too. As we are shown our second establishing shot of a house we are shown that it is now dark outside. This sets the tone for the viewer as you can predict that something bad is going to happen whilst it dark. Then as the location changes again and becomes daytime again the lighting also changes and becomes lighter however there is another storm and so the lighting is dim and eery which sets the mood again for the events to come. 

To begin with many of the shot types are long shots. This allows the audience to see where the action is taking place however at this point it limits the audience to feeling any emotion during this time as we can't really see how any of the characters are feeling as there are no close-ups of their faces. The close-ups begin as the young girl picks up her dolly. And then a close-up of the young girls mums face is shown to show the emotion on her face. This allows the audience to feel sympathy for her as we can see how upset she is. The camera follows the action a lot which lets us as the audience feel more part of the film which makes it more scary as we feel as though we are part of it. After the young girl has been found dead the camera zooms out of the action and moves into a high angled shot which makes the people look vulnerable and less powerful. Match-on-action and the 180° rule are used quite a lot. These types of continuity editing are used in order to orientate the viewer and give the film a sense of continuity and pace. Eye line match is also used. This makes the audience feel more of a part of the film as it shows you what the character is looking at straight away as if it is from their point of view. More close-ups are used to show the emotion of the mans face when he finds a picture of Georgie at the scene of the crime. 

The editing for IT's opening sequence is sharp and clean. This makes the film move more steadily and allows you watch it at more ease which makes it more scary because it all flows. There is a cross dissolve as it cuts from present to the past. This shows the passing of time quite nicely and also fits in with the music well which is quite soft and smooth.

A lot of the sound during this opening sequence is diegetic sound. We can hear everything all of the characters say. This is good as it makes the viewer feel more part of the film which creates more of an atmosphere for them. I am surprised at how much non diegetic sound is used during this opening sequence as in the other opening sequences I have analysed there has been very little if any. When the characters are writing we are given voice overs which let us know what is being written. This also makes us feel more part of the film and we feel as though nothing is being kept from us. Also the music is non diegetic sound as the characters within the film can't hear it. This music adds to the tension and atmosphere of the film because when the music builds the tension does too!

This is the opening sequence of IT (1990)