The Texas Chainsaw Massacre begins with a black screen and the words 'a vortex/henkel/hooper production' fade in then out, then the words 'a film by tobe hooper' fade in and out. The font is yellow and serif which connotes that the film is not going to be a light, easy to watch film.
Text then scrolls up the screen in the same font and there is a male voice over reading it. The narrator sounds serious as he provides exposition of what the audience can expect to see in the film. The date August 18th 1973 the fades in and out in the same font.
All of this takes just over a minute and although I think it works well for this film I think we would have to provide exposition more subtly with use of mise-en-scene for it to be more effective.
There is then diagetic sound with a black screen. This makes the audience imagine what might be happening and because it sounds like cracking bones, human sounds, spade shovelling or anything else that the audience can think they hear, it is likely to make them think of bad things. I think this is something we should use in the first 5 or 10 seconds of our opening.
Along with these noises there then begins some camera flashes and exagerated camera noises. These show close ups of a rotting dead body but only for a short time each. I think that this is good because it helps the audience to add to the picture that theyve already got in their mind and make them think of even worse things that could be happening. There are also some jump cuts that help to imprint the images in the viewers mind.
These noises go on until about 2:06 into the film and the sound of a radio fades in over the noises. This provides the audience with further exposition and doesn't allow them to relax. The black then fades into a close up of the dead persons face against a rural backdrop. This zooms out and shows a second dead body in front of it. There are a few crash sounds and deep guitar notes playing in the background. The take ends on a long shot of the two bodies which finally allows the audience to see the full picture and, along with the radio, understand a bit more about whats happening. It holds on this long shot for quite a long time until the radio ends. I think that this works quite well because the previous shots had all been very quick and dark so this adds shot variation.
This then cuts to the credits which are shown over a red and black backgroud. The credits are in the same font as at the start. The background is nothing recognisable but the red moves unevenely through the black which could connote blood. The radio continues to play through the opening but it is difficult to hear what is being said as there are loud, non-diagetic sounds played. It ends with a crash as an image of a sun/bright yellow circle on black.
The opening is 4 minutes 34 seconds.
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