1st Movie Opening Analysis - Ginger Snaps
The title sequence of this movie is a collage of death/suicide videos and photo sequences of the same two girls - as we later notice. In all of these, we see the girls killing themselves in various ways. Different locations have been used: bedroom, garden, garage, bathroom, car boot, freezer in the store room etc and props which can be used for killing like rope, knives, pills, pitchforks, lawn mower and body bags are shown. These home locations and the shaky, unsmooth camera gives a voyeuristic feeling that intrigues the audience (because they feel like they are there with the girls secretly). The video and (police; crime-scene-like) photos are all combined together and is then made to flow with the music.
When the shaky video footage stops, the scene looks like a still photo which is again zoomed in and out to show/ emphasise on blood, weapons, death notes and so on. Because of this ‘play and stop’ method, the opening has some sort of a ‘broken film’ effect i.e. the machine is being stuck again and again but of course this is done for us to explore the gory drama that is happening in those scenes. One death scene cuts to another one in a pretty fast pace. We see the Sepia, Black and White effects being used in the footage which makes them look ancient and sophisticated- something out of the hidden, horrific historical books perhaps. Some scenes are again just too bright and weirdly confusing.
Variety of camera angles is used from MCU to XCU and from LS to high-angle shot. There’s a non-diegetic, melancholic, instrumental soundtrack throughout the sequence with a few other added sounds like that of a car- its screeching tires, screams, whacking sound and a vulture-like noise. All these sounds are there when related items are shown for example, the screeching noise is heard when we see the girl underneath the tyre of a car and the whacking/chopping sound can be heard when the other girl’s neck is stabbed with pitchfork. We can also hear camera shutter sounds which gives out the sense of photos being taken of such death scenes and we might relate this to teenage suicide and police investigation. This music certainly builds up the tension among the audience and intensifies the visuals.
The whole thing looks like a crime scene where different ways of suicide is portrayed and this makes the viewers wonder what is happening and therefore creates mystery which they want to explore. But again, the victims are always the same two girls and the audience might think that they’re killing themselves in their different lifetime- the B&W and sepia effect might help create this ‘old, pastlife’ feeling. Or they might as well think those are different people who have the same face.
All this creates enigma and, like a proper inquisitive mind, the audience want to know what is happening. Because of this opening, the character of those two girls is established: death obsessed, somewhat crazy teenagers who are constantly thinking of new ways to ‘die’ and actually getting all the props and trying to make it look like they followed those whacky ideas and actually succeeded in killing themselves. This opening immediately tells the audience that the film is going to be a bit unpleasant with blood and a bit of gore in it and is a ‘horror thriller’ movie.
The writings in this sequence are written in normal font and this doesn’t exactly match with the creepy, crazy footage. Maybe the visuals were already scary enough to get the message across that no special texts was required to do so and the directors didn’t want to get it over the top. However they do have a somewhat blurry effect -fading in and out slowly. I find this ‘video-photo-zoom in/ zoom out-and-video-again’ sort of technique pretty charming and by the zooming in and out as well as the panning movement of the camera, we are able to make our audience focus on the things which we want them to notice.
The titles for this movie are different from other clips I've watched including 'Se7en' and 'Catch me if you can' where the first name that comes up are that of the Production Company followed by producer(s) and then director(s). In this movie, the names of the actresses are the first ones we see and then only does the other names follow. The producers and directors only come at the very end of the title sequence. This, I assume, might be because it is a Canadian film and they are a bit different from Hollywood ones but it still looked a bit unusual so we decided to stick with the 'American conventional format'.
