The Ring is a horror film directed in 2002 by Gore Verbinski.
Narrative Context
The narrative of the film, starts with two girls who are talking about a video that one of them has watched. The legend of the video is that 7 days after the video you will get a phone call and die. In just the first scene of the the film one of the girls dies after telling the audience that she has watched the tape. The film than shows the story of a family friend trying to solve the mystery of her death and destroy this video.
The opening sequence starts with two girls laying on a bed. One of the girls than starts telling the other about the urban legend concerning the elusive video tape. Her Friend than admits that a week ago she watched the tape, but they think little of it and do not worry. The two than go down stairs as the phone rings but much to there relief it is just the girls mum. The opening than proceeds to show the girl go up stairs open her bedroom door look at the television screen. It is than obvious to the audience that the girl is dead due to a zoom in of the girls face.
The enigma codes in the ring are made obvious from the very start. Mostly concerning this mysterious video tape that the girl watched. One of the main questions that many audience members often ask is 'what is on the tape?', a question that is extremely useful in keeping viewers engaged as the video is shown at the end of the film. More questions are , 'what does the t.v. not turning off have to do with the tape?', 'who is the one who calls them on the phone?' and among many more 'what is the liquid leaking in the girls house?'. All these questions are packed into the opening sequence therefore making it successful in keeping the audience watching. The entire video aspect of the film is also very powerful as like the ring it talks about horror movies in a horror movie. Audience members will than feel as if they are watching the tape in question.
The two character's in the opening are not actually highly involved in the plot after the opening as one of them dies during and the other is institutionalised in the rest of the film. But the two characters do set the tone for the rest of the film. Firstly, they give the audience an insight into the type of lifestyle that the characters live. The two girls are typical of a horror film, as they are female, young and slightly naive, linking to drew barrymores character in scream. The girls also give a big insight into the future story line. The girls death is what triggers the entire story its self. And also when she mentions things like her boy friend, and a cabin she stayed in, these are all aspects which come up in the film later when her death is being investigated. The way the two girls dress is quite gothic, and they do not seem really girly, therefore showing dark, gothic aspects subtly early on in an extremely dark film. So, although these characters are not highly important in the story line, they do give the audience an insight instantly on the themes of the film.Locations
The location for the film is all set one of the girls houses. The scene starts in her bedroom where the two girls are watching t.v. The room shows the audience about the girls age and lifestyle, sue to the un tidy floor, and little girly decoration. This setting also shows the audience what time in the day this scene is set, as a lamp is and the audience can tell it is dark outside- typical of horror openings. The rest of the scene shows the audience that the girls house is quite big, nicely furnished and shows that the girl is living quite and average suburban life- linking to my point in an earlier post about Scream. There is also a shot of the outside of the house showing that the house does not have many neighbours close therefore the house is isolated.
Editing
The editing in this opening is not very adventurous, and is mostly normal cuts with no dissolves or fades. There is a fade right at the beginning after the production company comes up, fading into a long shot of the house. This is effective as it separates the titles from the film. Continuity editing is used as the opening gets nearer its climax. When the girl is running worriedly up the stairs, they have several different shots of her doing this and cut them quickly. This is effective as it makes her look like she is running quicker and more frantically. Right at the end of the opening there is several images that pop up very quickly and the editing has been used to make them hard to see bu the audience as they go so quickly. This is effective as the audience will straight away think of the tape that revolves around. This also reminded me of subliminally putting things in films which is a strong theme in this film.
Camera
The opening starts with a long shot of the house which is extremely similar to the one i posted on an earlier blog from the opening of Scream. This shot is effective as it makes the characters seem isolated. Zooms are used a lot to expression. The second shot, which is of the girls lying on the bed, starts quite far from them (as if from the televisions point of view) but slowly zooms until the girls are large in the frame. This slow zoom is very subtle but also very haunting and these kind of slow shots give the audience the idea of the characters being watched by something. A quick zoom in is used right at the end of the opening, when the girl screams. The camera zooms in so close that just her mouth can be seen. This makes her scream much more dramatic and draws attention to the horror on her face. The audience will then question 'what is she looking at to make her so scared?' leaving them watching. The camera also pans slowly alot. For example, at one point the t.v. is showing white noise and the camera pans the living room, this is always very effective as it makes the audience think the pan will reveal something. Shot reverse shot, is used when the girls are having a conversation, this makes the conversation more intense and the audience is drawn in. A low angle shot is also used looking down the stair at the girl, this makes the girl seem very venerable, and also makes the up stairs of the house seem very daunting. Sound
The sound starts as diegetic, and everything that is in the scene can be heard. Some sounds are made more prominent such as the buzz of the tv, and the ring of the telephone, as these are all motifs of this particular film. Background music only starts playing along with the scene on certain bits, like a close up on the clock, the angle shot of the girl at the bottom of the stairs, and the girls expression when she hears a noise in the kitchen. These are all dramatic points, and the music is used to make the moments more scary and also to make the audience more tense.
Several normal horror characteristics are used in this opening such as, the long shot of the house, a phone ringing, the shot of the fridge closing (revealing something behind it), a young girl, a death and an isolated house. These as well as many more make this opening very successful at scaring the audience and keeping them glued to there seats. This opening sequence ends at roughly 7:32 on this particular video.
