Opening Scene Evaluation - "The Shining"

These are the opening credits from the film "The Shining". I decided to use the opening credits from this film as it fits in with the horror/thriller genre I am using for my own opening sequence.

• As soon as the opening starts, we can immediately tell it's genre from the music. It is used very dramatically, and the pitch of the music is very low. There are occasional high pitched sounds, which sound out of tune and they do not match with the rest of the music, which makes the audience uncomfortable whilst watching it as they know that there is an uncertainty in what is happening on screen. 
• The use of setting shows us that it is a horror, because it is a vast landscape, and gives the audience a sense of abandonment and loneliness. However, without the sound, I feel that the genre of the film would not be obvious, as the weather is sunny, unlike the typical dark clouds or night time setting in a horror film. Despite this, when it is paired with the music, it is obvious that there is something eerie about that place.
• At the end of the opening credits, we are shown a birds eye shot of a large and dark looking building. I think that this is shown at the end of the sequence because the rest of the shots before hand, and the dramatic music, had all been leading up to this specific setting. This lets the audience know that this place is significant in the film, and that there is something bad about it.
•  The fact that the camera shots are so high up allows the audience to gain an understanding of the vastness of the setting, and how empty the place is. Because the camera glides around the space a lot, I interpreted this as it making a point to the audience that there is nobody around for miles, and that the building you see at the end of the sequence is in a very isolated area.
• After we have been shown shots of very abandoned settings, they show a car on the road, and the camera shot is so high up, it makes the car look extremely small compared to the rest of it's surroundings, making it appear even more alone. The camera follows the car from a far distance, showing us that this has something to do with the story.