Wednesday, 6 February 2013

The Ring Opening Sequences Review


The follow is a step by step review of the opening to the movie 'The Ring'. I watched the opening and chose these 8 stills to talk about.
You can find a video for the opening sequences here.







  1. The establishing shot is a long shot of an old un-kempt house late at night. Only one light in the house is on, this whole scene creates a a Gothic feel. We can hear rain which adds to this feeling. We do also hear some characters talking at this point, which somewhat takes the feeling away as the topic of conversation is quite normal.
  2. This shot  is a medium shot inside the house of two girls sitting at the end of a bed watch TV. At first the shot seems Gothic as the the lighting is very grimy and dull, the girls both have dark hair, also we can see flashes from the TV flickering over them and we can still faintly hear the rain pouring outside. However the Gothic feel seems to leave again when the dialogue starts back up.
  3. This is a close up of one of the girls telling a creepy story to the other. This shot is made Gothic and scary once again through the lighting and the way the girl is very dark, with her hair and her clothes seeming pitch back. This time the dialogue doesn't save it from being scary, only making it more scary. This is very well done as it draws the audience in because they want to know what is going to happen to the girl who watched the tape. The girls begin to joke about the whole situation, but then the phone rings from somewhere in the house. This is adds to the fear and tension created before.
  4. This is a long shot of the two girls (in the background) walking towards the phone (in the foreground) which is ringing loudly. This scene builds up a real sense of tension and fear, as the girls are walking slowly and with light steps, as though there is a killer in the house and if they make to much noise then the killer will strike. Also the fact all we hear is the sound of the phone ring creates a sense of mystery as the audience want to know what will happen when the girls answer it.
  5. This is the same shot as the last but the girls have come to the phone and have answered it. The way dark haired girl answers the phone very cockily and then the way her face falls and she looks fearfully at the lighter haired girl while handing her the phone, builds up the tension very well, as it makes the audience feel that something to do with the creepy story told earlier is true. However once more the dialogue gets rid of this feeling and adds a sense of relief to both the girls and the audience (because it is only the girls mum).
  6. This shot is a medium shot of a TV going static. This scene is made scary and brings back the tension lost in the previous scene. It is made creepy by the sound of the static and also the way the camera slowly moves round the door frame, as if the  camera is scared to wee whats on the other side.The audience want to know where the other girl has gone and they want to know why the TV is going static, because no-one touched it. 
  7. This shot is an over the shoulder shot of the girl staring into the black screen of the un-plugged TV. This shot comes after a shot of the girl pulling the plug out of the wall, so when we come back to look at the screen we are anxious of what might be on it. This feeling is reflected by the girl through her heavy breathing and the way she is staring deep into the TV.
  8. This final shot is a close up of the girls distraught  disfigured and agonized face as she looks at the TV in her room that is showing the tape. This scene very frightening and is made so through the high pitched noise that is played, the look on the girls face and the montage style of editing that is used, which shows an assortment of gruesome things in very quick succession and ends in a static screen. This makes the heart rate of the audience quicken as they become scared.


Overall this opening sequence uses screen play as the main source of setting the genre, in that the acting and what happens (i.e. the static and the girls fate) show off the the traits of horror more than anything, although that said the music plays a good part when there is static and also at the end. We don't get much info on the characters or the plot,but obviously we get an idea as to what the evil force of the film will be. The tone of the clip is very Gothic and tense, this is achieved through all that is discussed above.

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