Analysis of an Opening Sequence

What the film saw is about?
Two men wake up at opposite sides of a dirty, disused bathroom, chained by their ankles to pipes. Between them lies a dead man loosely clutching a hand-held tape player and a handgun. Each finds a tape the perfect fit for the player in their back pocket. They play the tapes. One is threatened, the other isn't. But they have a task: One must kill the other by 6:00, or his wife and daughter will die. They find hacksaws in a toilet, and try to cut the chains, but it doesn't work. They are the two newest victims of the Jigsaw Killer. In a flashback, we learn of Amanda, a girl who falls victim to the Jigsaw Killer. On her head is a mask, which is hooked into her lower jaw. There is a timer on it. Only one key will unlock it, and that key is in the digestive tract of her cell mate who lies paralyzed on the opposite side of the room. If she doesn't unlock the mask in time, her lower jaw will be ripped wide open. She survives, but her cell mate doesn't. Through a series of flashbacks, we learn of more victims, and of the nearly-successful capture of the Jigsaw Killer, who doesn't actually kill his victims. Instead, he finds ways to make them kill either themselves, or each other, and he thinks the entire 'game' out perfectly, with no other ways out. Or so it would seem.

As part of our research I analysed the opening sequence of Saw

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ejqIwiYtY20

Analysis of Saw

The opening sequence begins with a darkly lit scene with a small light being shone down a protagonists face. Alongside this the audience is able to hear the movement of water. Its shows a close up of the characters eye and then moves down towards its mouth, the light then vanishes. The shot of the characters face is taken from above which could possibly have been done in order to show the characters weakness and vulnerability. The small spotlight emphasises on the stillness and emotionless features of the man’s face. You can then see a shadowy image of a something floating in the water.
The scene then changes a close up shot of the character hesitating and panicking in the water as he wakes up. A medium shot of the man struggling to get out of the bath tub and coughing loudly. Dark shadowy lighting is used in order to create a sense of suspense and scare and also to create enigmas for the audience of why the man is in a bath tub!? We also see something washing into the drain of the bathtub and this foreshadows that whatever has been washed into the drain must be something important that plays an important part in the film. The man staggers out of the bath tub and falls to the floor. The atmosphere is very mysterious and the darkness of the scene adds to the dramatic eerie effect. We can also here non diegetic fast beat music which adds to the striking dramatic effect. The camera slowly follows the man as he gets up in what looks like a very large empty bathroom. As the man screams for help and is trying to find what is around him the voice of another man is herd. At this point there is no music playing and this could have been done so that the audience are able to pay attention to the dialogue and to stay focused. The audience is shown a medium shot of the man trying to see what is around him just before the main lights come. He is then shot in a close up to show his emotion and to show his scarce on his face. As each of the lights above switch on the camera follows and the sound of the lights switching on become louder. The crescendo of sound could be possibly to suggest that something is about to happen and to add a dramatic effect to the scene.
As the man opens his eye we are given a blurred low angled shot of the lights above which is a point of view shot. This shows the mans vision blurred by the bright lights which then becomes normal as the camera give a medium shot of the lights above.
The scene then changes to a medium shot of another man leaning against the wall frightened and confused looking up and around him. Medium shots of both men are shown taking steps forward looking down puzzled at something. As they both take steps forward loud beat music is played as non diegetic sound to add to the suspense and cause the audience to feel worried. We then can several fast changing different angled shots from above of a dead body on the floor with blood all over the face. A bids eye view shot the man is shown with his head brutally injured showing all the flesh and blood. The fact that the shots are taken from above of the body show his helplessness and exposure of the body. We then get a close up shot of a recorder in one hand of the dead man and a gun in the other. This could suggest that both these things play a part in the story. These props are used in order to create enigmas and to get the audience thinking why are they there? And who has done this? How did the man die? As both men move forward we are shown a shot of their feet tied in a thick chain to the wall. As the man screams to release himself from the chains the opening sequence is ended.

The opening sequence of saw was able to establish the genre which was horror/thriller by conventions such as blood, death, imprisonment etc… the narrative, mise en scene, lighting, costumes and sound have helped to establish such things as setting and was able to introduce the main characters who are important to the film. It also enabled the audience to be aware of what the film is about. The opening sequence attracted the audience and kept them focused giving them just enough information to keep them wanting to know the following events. The audience are shown that two men are prisoners and chained up in this bathroom and one man has been brutally killed however does not tell them the reasons why and how. This causing the audience to want to no more and wanting to no the cause of what has happened. The opening sequence was successfully able to set the scene for the entire film and was able to create enigmas for the audience.