Concept for film opening.

I am planning on making an issue based film opening on domestic violence. I want to make the opening shocking. I will either have happy music at the beginning contrasted with the serious content later on, or no music with exaggerated sound effects (loud footsteps and opening doors etc).
Plot:
A girl goes to her friend's house. When she knocks on the door it is partially opened by her friend's mother. (She keeps the chain on the door.) The camera angles will be carefuly selected so that we can't ever see the mother's face. The mother tells the girl that her friend can't see her because she's got too much homework to do.
The girl decides that she will sneak around the back of the house to see her friend anyway, and finds her sitting in the garden with a hood over her head and glasses covering her eyes. They have a forced conversation for a while until the girl asks about her stepfather.
Her friend takes her sunglasses off and reveals a black eye.

Analyse.

The Cabinet of Doctor Caligari used shadows in a very different way to the ways movies do today. Because the quality of the film was so low, they needed to emphasise light and dark more than was possible. They painted the shadows on the floor and walls to achieve this. As well as making it easier for viewers to see what was happening, it added to the unsettling feeling the film was trying to achieve.
Now that film quality has improves dramatically, natural shadows are much easier to use. Censorship isn't as necessary now that we have separate ratings for each type of film and a less sensitive audience. In more modern films shadows are used purely for dramatic effect, and not as often.

A brilliant example of dramatic shadow use is the scene in Nosferatu where the shadow of the vampire's hand is seen on the female lead's chest, implying that he is clutching at her heart.



In keeping with the Nosferatu theme, the scene where the vampire is making his way up the stairs is incredibly effective in creating an ominous atmosphere through the use of shadow.

Explain.

In both Psycho and Cat People the directors have used shadows to maintain the mystery behind the killer, because the audience is not supposed to know who (or in the case of Cat People what) they are. Particularly in the pool scene where Alice is swimming and Irina approaches here, the shadows are use create an unsettling atmosphere. The light reflected from the water makes moving patterns all over the walls, leading Alice and the audience to feel as though Irina could be anywhere.

Similarly, in Psycho the shadows are used to ensure the audience is not entirely sure who killed Marion. We're not even sure whether it is a man or woman, because of the clearly masculine build and yet effeminate wig. This is achieved through having Norman silhouetted against the shower curtain in the shower scene. Shadow is often used in this way in other movies.

The idea that the unknown is much more terrifying than the known is often explored in horror movies. Shadows are a good way of achieving this by showing the general outline of a threat, rather than everything in great detail. This is done in The Tingler when the creature walks across the projection table in the movie theatre, and the audience sees its shape on the screen.

Censorship has also been an issue in earlier horror films, because the less modern audience was much more easily offended/ disturbed than the one today. In Frankenstein, for example even the line "I now know what it's like to be god!" had to be cut in the first version because it was considered too blasphemous. Shadows have been used to monitor the level of violence so that the film is suitable for the current audience. Most of the scenes that could have been very brutal in Cat People were censored through the use of shadow. The scene where Irina, in the form of a panther attacks her therapist where they could have shown a very gory battle they choose instead to show her shadow pouncing against the wall.

Convention: Shadows. Describe :)

Use of shadows is very effective in a horror films. It can create an element of mystery, allowing the director to tell what is happening without actually showing it in great detail. The famous shower scene in psycho, for instance tells us that the victim is being killed but doesn't show us who. This means that the movie can progress without the outcome being too obvious.

Particularly in black and white films, shadows are used to create a sense of foreboding and uneasiness. This ties in to my previous point that it means a lot of the time we can't see the killer, and the unknown is usually scarier than the known. It's easier as an audience to deal with a psychotic murderer when we know who they are, because then we can sit back and yell at the screen not to trust them.

The scene in "Cat People" where Irina chases Alice into the pool house is terrifying because neither Alice, the token defenseless woman of the audience can see where Irina is.

The moving shadows on the walls can easily be mistaken for someone or something creeping around in the darkness. The water creates constantly moving light patterns on the walls.