Deconstruction Task - Sinister

Sinister Deconstrction - Opening scene

This is the opening scene of Sinister on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gf1S81eEqNQ

The film sinister is a supernatural horror film. The opening scene begins with a black screen whilst crackling diegetic sounds are played to create the fuzziness of an old fashioned projector. This immediately creates a mysterious and tense atmosphere, which us a common convention of supernatural horrors.

The scene is shortly cut to a rolling tape of four people hanging from a tree. The fact there are two adults and two children all seen to be wearing normal clothes suggests they are just a ‘normal’ family like the audience watching, creating even more suspense and the sense of a realistic film This indicates to the audience that the film is expected to contain violent or murderous scenes, again commonly found in supernatural horrors. This is so that the audience anticipate fear from the very beginning scene.

The use of colours in this clip subverts common representations because supernatural horrors usually consist of very dark scenes. However, it conforms again as the scene unfolds to be even more disturbing as the four characters are elevated above the ground and struggling for breath. Alongside this is the non-diegetic eerie music played in this scene to create fear and tension. This music and crackling sound of the projector starts to get louder as the characters reach their death.

The title ‘Sinister’ is then sprawled across the scene after the death of the four characters. It has been edited on and is in a messy, handwritten looking font. By this point, the audience do not know what is happening and suspension has really built up. This ultimately prepares the audience for the rest of the film which is about to start.