The Conjuring Opening Scene Analysis

The opening scene of the conjuring starts with a black screen and some of the characters

talking. They are talking to someone about their possessed doll, the moment they mention

the doll, an extreme close up

of the doll (in particular her

eye) shows up on the screen.

Although no noise is used to

create a shock effect when

the doll appears on the

screen it is still a shocking

surprise to the audience

because we get to see what

the women feels so

distressed about and then we realise why they are so distressed. The camera then zooms

out so we get to see half of the dolls face. I think this is used to make the audience feel

disturbed because through the talking we learn that the doll is possessed and the dolls

appearance makes the whole thought of the doll being possessed even worse.

The narrative is introduced through the

conversation that the people are having

because we learn that the doll was

theirs and that they gave a ‘spirit’

permission to possess the doll not

knowing what the ‘spirit’ was able to do.

The other people in the conversation,

who are probably experts in spirits and

poltergeists, then explain why the spirit

wanted to be closer to the doll and the owners of the doll; they learn that it is because the

spirit wanted to possess the owners. This information that the audience is told would make

them feel disturbed for the rest of the movie because we as an audience now know the type of things that the spirit will try to do.

The women having a conversation talk about “things getting worse” the scene then cuts to a

flashback of the women returning home and finding a note on the floor that reads ‘miss

me?’ it is written in red which could symbolise blood, that mixed with the fact that it Is late

and dark makes the start of this cut even more scary. The camera then switches to the point

of view of the women who see the doll sat at the end of the corridor which as they say ‘was

not where they left it’. The fact that the audience now know that the doll can move would

disturb the even more. The characters then walk around the house, they enter a room that

has been destroyed by the doll. An eerie quiet sound track plays as the camera pans around

the room showing us abrupt red letters on the wall that spell out the words ‘miss me?’ and

the pictures of the women smashed and scattered on the floor. As the camera cuts to the

view of the ruined pictures, sharp abrupt piano sounds are played to shock and scare the

audience. The camera

then switches to a close

up of the women’s face

who looks nervous and

frightened which then in

turn makes the audience

feel the same way. From

the shadow in the corner

of the room a red crayon

rolls out and the music

speeds up and intensifies, one of the women then runs, grabs the doll and continues to run

out of the apartment and dumps the doll in the bin outside, during this the camera is from a

bird’s eye view so we can see her completely.

The next scene is of the women in bed, which I presume is the same night. A loud aggressive

knock comes from their front door and the same note that reads ‘miss me?’ is on the floor

but no one seems to be around as one of the women pick up the note another much louder

knock comes from a room inside the

apartment, this knock is used to shock the

audience and make them jump and I think

this works very well. When the second

women opens the door the doll, which they

thought they had gotten rid of in the bin, is

sat in the room this makes the audience

uncomfortable and uneasy about what is to

come in the film.

The lighting throughout the film is very dark this is to add to the eerie effect and to make it

feel more creepy and scary for the audience