The opening scene of The Ring establishes tension and fear through the use of close-ups on the main girl's frightened face, reflections that hint at something supernatural, and dim lighting with dull colors. The editing pace is fast but also slows down to build suspense. Strange diegetic sounds from the television draw the audience into the isolated world of the film and suggest it may be a symbolic object. The opening scene reinforces the horror/thriller genre through the girl's aloneness and the unsettling sounds that elicit fear from viewers.

1. Film
Opening
Analysis:
The Ring

2. 1) Shots types/angles/movements?
Generally in the film opening scene there are always close ups of the
main girls face after she always hear something to show her
emotions and how she’s frequently scared, this reinforces the drive
for the audience to be scared too. When the girl enters the living
room we see a eye-line match of when the girl looks down and it cuts
to where she spots the remote on the couch, which she initially
thought that Becca was messing around her.
Reflection are used more than once, one of the time is when she turns
off the TV by taking the plug out, there is a mirrored version of
herself on the black screen of the TV and suddenly it changes to her
silhouette/shadow of her on screen, but we also see
something/shadow past by quickly on the black screen of the TV
(something that could be supernatural), this causes her to gasp and
be afraid more (there’s also a close up of her face at this point). There
is another reflection of the water in the hallway near the bedroom of
her bodily figure this is similar to “Don’t Look Now” film too.

3. A lot of close ups of
the main girls face
to show her
emotions as she
constantly shows
how much she’s
afraid. Just before
the camera shows
the close up of the
girl, something has
happened before
either the TV being
turned on etc, they
use the close up to
show her reaction

4. When the main
girl tries to find
the remote as
she thinks Becca
has it, than the
editor uses the
eye-line match
of what she’s
looking down
upon, in which
she realises it’s
the remote on
the couch

5. The use of
reflection used
here as the
water/the TV are
quite significant to
the film, from
what we can
suggest that’s
happened so far in
the film opening
analysis

6. 2) Visual style – Lighting/colour?
Lighting is used in this film opening scene but it’s used very wisely on
how they show the lighting. This is by, when the lighting is mainly
focused on the TV screen in the living room and that’s the only
brightly light object and when the main girl was in the kitchen, in
which she starts hearing sounds the bright light from the TV going
through the kitchen windows suggest that it’s coming from the TV,
this is a graphic match. But during the whole scene there were
dull colours usually portrayed such as black/grey/white, this could
connote death that is upon her. Even more, when shown close ups
of her face there is dim lighting (just shows dark areas of her
face), however when she goes upstairs to the bedroom and opens
the door, there is bright light which we can suggest is coming from
another TV screen just from the sounds, the light is used
dramatically but it only lasts a few seconds before the scene is
over.

7. The bright
light from the
TV goes
through the
windows in
the kitchen,
the light is
always
focused on
TV as we can
suggest that
the TV might
be a symbolic
object in
throughout
the whole
film

8. 3) Editing – fast/slow/pace/long
takes/exposition of narrative –
character – setting – time?
The pace of the editing is quite fast throughout the
scene, this adds to the tension that the audience
are feeling. However, the editing also slows
down which builds up suspense, but by using
this it adds a false sense of security to the
audience as the pace of the editing changes.
More over, when the girl goes into the room and
opens the door, we see a few seconds of a short
montage that has a clips of various things that
are in black and white, when the short montage
ends we know that the film opening scene has
ended too.

9. 4) How does the opening suggest the
genre or the themes of the film?
The film opening scene of The Ring shows a
sense of isolation which is iconographic of
the Horror/Thriller genre, as the main girl is
alone throughout the whole scene.

10. 5) How is sound/music used to draw
us into the world of the film?
We first hear diegetic sound of the television (making crackling
noises very loudly), the sound is very unusual to hear and
random as well. Also we hear the crackling sound of the TV,
when she goes upstairs, we can suggest from this that the TV
might be a symbolic object that may occur again during
other times in the film. The girl is also very oblivious to
what’s happening around her as she thinks it’s Becca whose
fooling around by turning the TV on/off, but when the girl
goes to the bedroom where she thinks Becca is at, we hear
the familiar screeching sound, and the crackling sounds of
the TV screen which makes the audience jump, and get
scared, this is what the director wanted and it reinforces the
Horror/Thriller genre. Sound is used often to support the
Horror/Thriller genre.

11. Overall, in my opinion I like the use of sound
used in this particular film opening scene, as
it causes different emotions to the audience
and it builds up a lot of suspense/tension in
just a few minutes, this keeps a constant
engagement to the audience and it drives the
narrative further. This also creates enigma
codes for the audience too. I could
automatically know that this was a
Horror/Thriller genre as there’s always a
stereotypical female victim and a sense of
isolation which is a narrative convention for
these particular genres.