The Conjuring Opening Scene Analysis

The opening scene of the conjuring starts with a black screen and some of the characters
talking. They are talking to someone about their possessed doll, the moment they mention
the doll, an extreme close up
of the doll (in particular her
eye) shows up on the screen.
Although no noise is used to
create a shock effect when
the doll appears on the
screen it is still a shocking
surprise to the audience
because we get to see what
the women feels so
distressed about and then we realise why they are so distressed. The camera then zooms
out so we get to see half of the dolls face. I think this is used to make the audience feel
disturbed because through the talking we learn that the doll is possessed and the dolls
appearance makes the whole thought of the doll being possessed even worse.

The narrative is introduced through the

conversation that the people are having
because we learn that the doll was
theirs and that they gave a ‘spirit’
permission to possess the doll not
knowing what the ‘spirit’ was able to do.
The other people in the conversation,
who are probably experts in spirits and
poltergeists, then explain why the spirit
wanted to be closer to the doll and the owners of the doll; they learn that it is because the
spirit wanted to possess the owners. This information that the audience is told would make
them feel disturbed for the rest of the movie because we as an audience now know the type
of things that the spirit will try to do.

The women having a conversation talk about “things getting worse” the scene then cuts to a
flashback of the women returning home and finding a note on the floor that reads ‘miss
me?’ it is written in red which could symbolise blood, that mixed with the fact that it Is late
and dark makes the start of this cut even more scary. The camera then switches to the point
of view of the women who see the doll sat at the end of the corridor which as they say ‘was
not where they left it’. The fact that the audience now know that the doll can move would
disturb the even more. The characters then walk around the house, they enter a room that
has been destroyed by the doll. An eerie quiet sound track plays as the camera pans around
the room showing us abrupt red letters on the wall that spell out the words ‘miss me?’ and
the pictures of the women smashed and scattered on the floor. As the camera cuts to the
view of the ruined pictures, sharp abrupt piano sounds are played to shock and scare the
audience. The camera
then switches to a close
up of the women’s face
who looks nervous and
frightened which then in
turn makes the audience
feel the same way. From
the shadow in the corner
of the room a red crayon
rolls out and the music
speeds up and intensifies, one of the women then runs, grabs the doll and continues to run
out of the apartment and dumps the doll in the bin outside, during this the camera is from a
bird’s eye view so we can see her completely.

The next scene is of the women in bed, which I presume is the same night. A loud aggressive
knock comes from their front door and the same note that reads ‘miss me?’ is on the floor
but no one seems to be around as one of the women pick up the note another much louder
knock comes from a room inside the
apartment, this knock is used to shock the
audience and make them jump and I think
this works very well. When the second
women opens the door the doll, which they
thought they had gotten rid of in the bin, is
sat in the room this makes the audience
uncomfortable and uneasy about what is to
come in the film.

The lighting throughout the film is very dark this is to add to the eerie effect and to make it
feel more creepy and scary for the audience