Sahir Ahmed
Amityville Horror – Analysis of opening sequence
Characters and their Representations
The main character to be decided to be called is Ronald Defeo. To start with there are lots of blurred shots of his face, then a clear close up on his eyes which have the reflection of a television screen and a blank look. The next shot you see of him is when he turns to look at the clock when it flicks to 3:15. His facial expressions are of slight disgust and hate; this allows the audience to see that something bad is going to happen, most probably caused by the man.
Locations + Mise-en-scene
The location is a room. The room looks dirty due to the use of darkness, so maybe a more dull part of the builing, such as a basement. There are typical props that you would expect to be in a room, for example there is a bed that the man is sitting on, a television, a table with a clock and an ashtray. At one point the television creates a bright light that illuminates the whole room, showing you what is inside. There are clearly visible stairs at the very back of the shot, lots of brick and a curtain which seems to be dividing the room. The stairs signify that the room must be quite low down in the house, therefore makes it believable to be the basement. Further into the opening sequence you see that the location is a very large detached house. There are a lot of family photos around the house, casually showing the importance of this man’s family before the killings. After the murder is committed, there is a clarifying shot of the house which shows just how big it is. The shot zooms out slowly, making the house appear bigger and bigger as if it plays a very big role in the film.
