Analysing Horror Genre Opening Scenes - 'Happy Death Day'

The first opening scene from the horror genre I will be analysing is from 'Happy Death Day'.

                

The opening scene starts with the Universal production company credits (a company with a long history of producing horror films), however the same part of the credits keeps looping, instantly unsettling the audience and referencing the film's terrifying narrative premise; the main character is stuck in a loop, reliving her death over and over again. 

Another production company which is credited, Blumhouse Productions, is a company famous for the films it produces and distributes in the horror genre. The first thing the viewer hears is the enhanced and echoed sound of the bell, this pleonastic sound is used to jump scare the audience. There is an extreme long shot establishing the location of a university, the university is lit in high-key lighting which subverts typical lighting techniques used in horror films. 

There is a close up shot of the main character as she sleeps; as the camera then slowly dollies out, we see her confused expression. The point-of-view shot that follows (which uses handheld camerawork, typical of the genre) also allows the audience to understand the girl's confusion as she seems to be unfamiliar with her surroundings. The audience are just as confused as the characters in this scene, but it appears that the girl may be in danger as she is presented as a conventional 'first victim' character type. Again the lighting is unusually bright for a horror film, but from the girl's costume (she is shown in her underwear) and the dialogue the audience learns that she is promiscuous, a typical character trait of many teenage girls in slasher movies; this reinforces to the audience that she will be the first victim as first victims are promiscuous and are killed as ‘punishment for their crimes’. 

The two shot of the characters, with each on either side of the frame, show their unfamiliarity with each other. As the girl leaves, there is another slow tilt down the university building, the slowness of the camera movement creating an uneasy sense of suspense. The girl is loosely framed as she leaves, implying her vulnerability and creating the expectation that something may happen to her.

The tracking shot of the girl (another example of camera movement typical of the genre, where characters are often followed or stalked, which her includes pans of the character as if she is being watched) helps establish to the audience her character traits as she is rude to each person she sees. This meanness also establishes that she will likely change as she embarks upon her character journey.