The SAW opening sequence uses loud sound effects and a twisting logo to set an ominous tone. In darkness, the audience hears a man screaming and struggling in water, building tension. When lights turn on, he sees a dead body, implying the characters are in danger. The SE7EN opening uses unsettling music and electronic sounds to make the audience feel anxious. The handwritten credits are uneven, fitting for a horror film. Quick cuts between disturbing images of skin picking and other acts heighten the sequence's intensity, drawing viewers into the psychological horror elements without context from the full film.

1. Analysis of Horror Film
Openings
Demi Wrenn

2. SAW Opening Sequence
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The first thing you see in the opening sequence of SAW is the film logo. The logo hits the
scene with a eye-catching transition and extremely loud sound affects which sounds like
a storm. Straight after it goes to another logo and whilst the barbwire is winding itself
round the logo you hear the sound effects of the wire twisting and turning, then
suddenly you hear a knife almost being thrown down.
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Whilst all the basic film credits are taking place displaying who was involved in the
making of the film it is dead silence in the background. The font of these basic titles is
just a standard font with serifs and the font color is blue. You would assume that the
font would be a bit more relevant to the genre of the film and a bit more out there but it
is just basic which can be a good thing. The credits that are used are ‘twisted pictures
presents’ ‘A Burg/ koules/ hoffman production’ ‘a Film by James Wan’ and ‘Saw’. Until a
sound is made that sounds like someone Is drowning in water because you can hear
they're in pain as well as the water splashing. You then hear the man screaming for help
and wondering if he is dead. This is all in pitch black whilst from his perspective so he is
pleading for help.
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It becomes very difficult for the audience to see what is going on at this point because
the lighting is very dark which makes it difficult however, I think that this sets the scene
and allows you to understand what the man is going through this quickly into the film.
Whilst he is trying to get out of the water there is still a background piece of music to
make it even more dramatic and traumatizing whilst he is attempting to leave the water.
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Someone eventually turns the lights on dramatically and the man reacts to the light by
screaming. Before he sees the dead man on the floor with a gun in his hand and blood
surrounding his non existent head. Once the camera goes onto the dead body it is
rather close to the face but then it does a spinning shot up above the body so you can
see all of the mans body. The fact that the man has the gun in his hand suggest that he
done it to himself and this then provides us with the understanding that the place they
are trapped in is not good and they need to get out. Hence why the man begins to
scream and plead for recovery.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAWK9V9Hk_A#t=62

3. SE7EN Opening Sequence
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Throughout the whole of this film opening the music continues to make me feel on edge
and anxious. This is because it gets louder at certain points and this makes it extremely
intense and make you get off of your seat a bit. Another sound that gives you this feeling is
the electronic squeaking which makes you feel anxious and worried. However this is the
feeling you want the audience to feel so they will continue to watch it till the end because
its an intriguing sound. The in tense music is commonly found in horror movies because they
want you to have that feeling of you getting of your seat and being anxious because that’s
what horror movies are supposed to do and I think that this opening sequence have done a
good job at achieving this.
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The credits in this opening sequence go on through the whole 2 minutes and are spread out
throughout. I think it is a good idea do do this because it shows it’s the opening as they’re
plenty of credits throughout. The fact that this trailer gets away within is because the style
of the credits is well done and thought about. The font looks as if it is hand written and is
very uneven and different because every title is not the same as some are thicker than one
another or one may have a bigger gap between two words than another. I think the font
suits horror because of the unevenness and the roughness of the font.
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All of the shots within this opening sequence are extremely quick and cut very shortly. The
overall pace of the sequence is fast and I feel that this is a good thing because it makes the
whole experience for the audience a lot more intense and this is what the makers of the film
want. Within the short clips they include people picking of there skin, opening of books,
writing of numbers, cutting of paper and sticking the paper, looking through newspapers,
crossing out of words and faces in photographs and texts and sewing of materials. The
content of this opening sequence is not a typical horror convention but the pace and the
style of it is. I would class this opening as a physiological horror without even seeing the
whole film and the intensity that the sequence brings makes you want to watch the film.

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