The genre for Edward Scissorhands is Fantasy/Fairy Tale ands Sleepy Hollow is a Gothic Horror genre. Gothic means that the setting is in the medieval times where people dependent on nature such as forests and woodlands, water and self-made homes. Sleepy Hollow is set in the 18th century, 1799, which is ideal for Gothic Horror.
The beginning of Edward Scissorhands established the narrative rather well. There is an image of the face of an old man that looks like a stereotypical inventor; the audience wonders what his place is in the film. This man is seen later in parts of the film whenever Edward had flashbacks. At the end of the credit sequence, the viewers see a solitary house upon a hill. We think of loneliness and emptiness but as we watch the film, we perceive that the house is very significant particularly to Edward. The reason why the audience will think this is because the house is dark and looks haunted. The director, Tim Burton chose to use the dark colour to kind of make the audience think that the genre is something other than what it is, probably horror. The house looks empty and without life making the viewers wonders who lives in it, creating curiosity and makes the audience want to carry on watching.
Tim Burton established narrative in Sleepy Hollow when Van Garrett seals his will by using red wax, which before revealed to the audience, seemed like blood which is connected to death because the moment we see the colour red, it signify blood. This is also good because later on in the narrative, there quite a large number of blood. Blood also establishes the genre of the film, horror. The camera shot is a close-up shot when the red wax used to seal off the will dripped making the audience think that its actual blood in drip as it looks realistic. When signing the will, there is also a close-up shot on the name. This is introduces one of the characters in the film. The will is another establishment of the genre because when someone is writing a will, death is near. There is also a shot of two hands holding each other and that can relate to family or love. These are themes that reoccurred later in the film. The audience might even think that the genre is a combination of romance and horror. Posters of the film were in shown in public before it was released along with a slogan which says, “Heads will roll.” That gives the audience a clue to the narrative of the film because that’s exactly what happened in the film- decapitation.
In Edward Scissorhands, after the credits were shown, the film moved on to showing the audience a scene with an old lady and a female child which automatically tells the viewer that they are related-it’s a grandmother and her granddaughter. In the scene, we see that the grandmother is telling a story, which is a typical convention of a fairytale genre. The room looks quite nice and cosy with lit warm fire. Peacefulness is what this makes the viewers feel because it’s a safe atmosphere. This is a very essential part of mis-en-scene used in the opening five minutes of the film. The camera panned through the room to notify the audience what is in the scene/frame. As the grandmother in Edward Scissorhands started her story, we see Edward for the first time. The camera shot is an over the shoulder point of view. This is to create a sense of enigma.
Darkness is a typical convention of horror. When Van Garrett finished writing the will and sealed it off, he went outside (night time) and entered a carriage. The night is dark and quiet. Along the roads are forests and the air is foggy. There are a lot of mists making the film even more mysterious. It also creates suspense and fear to the audience because it gives an unclear picture. We can hear is sound of the carriage wheel. The music is a diegetic sound and the effect it has is that it creates realism in the film. As the forest is shown, the music goes down almost near silence causing the viewers to feel uneasy. As the carriage travel by, Van Garrett looks out of the carriage and we see a scarecrow. This is from Van Garrett’s perspective. We know this because the camera pans through pass the scarecrow and we don’t see the scarecrow no more because Van Garrett stopped looking through. The audience wonders who the owner is and why that might be important in the film because most high authorised people owns big acres of land and would like to scare animals such as birds from their land. The scarecrow in this film has pumpkins for the head. Tim Burton chose to use the pumpkin because pumpkins are convention and signs of horror. This is because pumpkins are linked to Halloween, a set occasion where some people celebrate witches and death. The audience are reminded of the genre.
We conclude that Van Garrett is an important man because he’s clothed wealthily and he has a horseman (coach driver) who opened the door to the carriage for his master to enter plus rode the carriage. There is a sense of danger as the journey continued. The music is intense making the audience a bit on edge and question what’s going to happen. We see the coach driver looking around him, right to left, left to right as the music builds up. He tries and hurries the horses because we can see he senses danger and probably scared. It creates a lot of suspense. Van Garrett also looks quite worried in the carriage. Suddenly as we are showed Van Garrett, the sound of sword being drawn is heard (another diegetic sound). Tim Burton made the sound of the sword distinctive on purpose to make the audience jump. The audience soon see the coach driver headless from Van Garrett viewpoint. This informs assure the viewers that the genre is definitely horror. When Van Garrett managed to roll out of the carriage, he started running through corn fields. While he ran, thunder and lightning appeared. This creates atmosphere. The only source of light is the moon making it spookier. The only sound that can be heard is the swishing of the leaves and sound coming from Van Garrett. He is panting and out of breathes. He knows he’s in danger and fears for his life. The camera shot used while Van Garrett runs is unstable. The audience feels as if they are the unknown killer as the perspective is of the killer. This makes them think and question the film, ‘Who is chasing him?’ The music used here is power. It builds up and down when danger is closer. It makes the audience hold on to something because they are afraid or curious. This scene really establishes to the audience that the genre is horror.
Dialogue in a film is important. It is what the characters say. The audience can gain an idea of what the film will be about not only by the title but also by what someone says as we discover from Edward Scissorhands and Sleepy Hollow. In Edward Scissorhands, we hear the grandmother say, “You know that mansion on the top of the mountains,” From she said, we know that the mansion is the solitary house upon the hill which was previous shown to us before the grandmother and granddaughter scene and it’s important in the film. The audience questions themselves when the grandmother also said, “He created a man with heart, a brain…almost everything.” Who has been created? Is it Edward? Who is the creator? Could it be the stereotypical inventor made known to us when the credits were shown? The more question or puzzled the audience are, the more they want to watch the film. “…who had scissors for hands,” another that makes the viewers question the film. Some might already guess she’s talking about Edward but they will still like to carry on watching because it’s not a normal thing for a person to have scissors as hands. The same goes for Sleepy Hollow. What is said tell us generally, what’s going to happen in the film. We are introduces to constable Icahabod played by Johnny Depp and a burgomaster also known as a judge, which is played by Christopher Lee. In the courtroom, shortly after introduced to one of the main characters, we are told that Constable Icahabod is also a scientist as well as a constable. “… use your up to date scientific techniques.” This is said by the judge. This is important because it relates to later in the film where Johnny Depp uses modern method of investigation. Christopher Lee also said, “It is you who is put to test.” This is another that makes the audience question themselves or the film. Why is he put to test? What did he do or has done before? Dialogue can introduce the film or make the audience what to watch further and that is what Tim Burton has done in the opening 5 minute of each film. When the Christopher Lee talks about Sleepy Hollow, we can hear the music at the background, it quite strong and forceful. The effect is has is that it tells us that place is dangerous.
After the bedroom scene and the over the shoulder shot from Edward’s perspective, the scene changes to daylight. We see colourful houses. This surprises the audience because in the scene before, we see darkness and think of loneliness and emptiness but in short moment, we see light. The colours of the houses are bright and make us think of a safe community and togetherness. There seemed to be no life in the house upon the hill on the mountain but as we see this little community, there’s happiness. This also makes the audience wonder how the hill might be connected to the houses. Are the people of this peaceful area in danger of some sort? Why is a hill like that, near a Suburbia area like this? The mansion is introduced in this scene by an Avon lady who after having a bad day selling her product saw the hill. The camera shot is from the perspective of the woman looking through the side mirror in her car. This tells us immediately that the woman is an important person in the film.
Tim Burton has succeeded in establishing the genre and narrative in the opening five minutes of the two films. The way he used music in the beginning, the way he directed what is to be said (the dialogue) and the use of lighting, colours and camera shots are very professional and it shows that Tim Burton thought well on how he establishes genre and narrative in just the opening five minutes of films. He has shown that he thought of his audience.
