Analysing the opening 2 minutes:Cloverfield

The film cloverfield is very similar in it genre to the film we have created for our coursework. The generic elements and codes and conventions of a sci-fi horror film were all established within the opening two minuets of the film. The film starts off with a close up shot of one the main characters faces. This enables the audience to discover the main characters. However there is very low key lighting with only the characters body being lit up. This is a generic feature of a horror film. The darkness of the frame establishes the mood and links with the main generic colours associated (black and red) with horror and sci-fi films. In addition this darkness could also create the feeling to mystery to the audience as they do not see much within the frame and rely on the characters to get information about what is happening.

However there are also very quick cuts from the camera and the movement is very fast. The quickening pace from the camera is to create a handy cam effect to show that the characters are filming this themselves. This then adds to the mystery of what is happening within the film. As the action is happening very quickly and as the camera moves a lot the audience never get to see much what the action. This quickening pace from the camera also creates tension within the audience. As they are never able to see much of what is going to happen next. There are also many long shots. This is to establish the surrounding area in which everything is happening. The are is in darkness (it is at night time) this again has connotations with a sci-fi horror film as most of the scariest things happen in the dark when it is harder to see things, and it is a generic theme that runs throughout this genre of films.

The camera is constantly panning and tracking all the action which happens onscreen. This creates the feel as though you are watching the film through the eyes of one of the characters. The sounds within this part of the scene then become slightly more dominant, as there is a lot of diegectic sound and no non diegetic sound. The sounds become more predominant as the only form of the ‘monster/alien’ which you can see is through the sounds it makes and the destruction it causes.

Also the editing also builds up a lot of the tension within the scene. The quick cuts and constant flow of motivated/ reaction shots allow the audience to be a part of the action as they are seeing it first hand through the camera of someone who is there. As the scene progresses the camera becomes very jumpy and blacks out at certain stages. This again suggests that it is being filmed through a handy cam so the quality isn't perfect. Also as the camera cuts out the diegetic sounds also stop which creates the realistic feel to the filming. The framing at this stage of the sequence also becomes very undefined as the camera is moving all over the places to show that everyone is running away from the horrible creature.

Within the opening two minuets the ‘creature’ which is causing this destruction but is never shown is made to be a generic villain/mysterious unearthly creature which is always present within sci-fi films. This also has connotations to the mystery and the fact that the ‘unearthly creature’ wont be shown until the very end of the film. The unnatural close ups make the scene seem abstract because it is hard to tell what is going. This leads to the audience not getting much information about the rest of the film from the two minute opening sequence. The audience is left with many questions and these are answered throughout the rest of the film however due to the genre these are given in small doses, as generically within sci-fi horrors not much is given away until right at the end.