SP - Sample Opening - Nightmare on Elm Street Opening

Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven, 1984)
Budget: $1.8m
US Box Office: $11m
UK Box Office: Non Given

• Low angle CU of feet, don't see mans face, use of narrative enigma.
• High angle of putting knives on table, only hands are shown
• CU of hand picking up gloves
• CU of man cutting object with narrative enigma, foreshadowing things to happen in the future
• CU of man hammering knife/glove contraption (the object Freddie wears on his hands)
• CU of filing down knife contraption
• CU of man using blow torch on the contraption - he is a skiller craftsman
• ECU of him sliding the glove contraption onto his hands
• CU of him looking at his hand and weilding the knifes on it.
• The whole sequence of shots are close ups/ECU so you don't see the mans face for narrative enigma. The shots are also very quick and don't last longer than a second or two.
• The man is wearing a red sweater, signifying blood, death
• Non-diagetic sounds, very long keyboard notes
• Knifes, gloves, blow torch, hammers are the props used

Techniques we can use from it:

• Use the whole narrative enigma style this opening uses, by making shots so you can only see the hands or feet of our man in the film, this way he can look as though he is the killer, and make the audience believe he should be the one out for the kill when its a twist.
• We will try to make our soundtrack do the same thing, have long keyboard notes to add tension and make the audiences heart beat differently because they are scared

Snapshot taken from the film using VLC player, this is when the man flexes his hand out showing the glove contraption