Arlington Road

To watch Arlington Road, click on the link below http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/activism_non_profit/watch/v629517042cy2pJC

In class we watched five film openings: Arlington Road, Dead Calm, Marathon Man, Seven and the Shining. All had contrasting styles, some more effective than others. I learnt that the opening sequence of a film is an extremely important section of a film as it sets the feel/mood and genre . A good Thriller opening sequence should not give away too much or too little about the plot of the story. This grabs their attention and maintains their full concentration, making them want to continue watching.

Arlington road stood out from the other five clips because it had a unique and abstract style. It didn't give me a clean cut idea of what the film was about. However, it gave me plenty of random, scattered clues and hints. The eerie, spooky musical score instantly set the mood. There were constant tracking shots of a fence around a house, as if someone or something was pacing up and down, watching the house. It was filmed with what seemed like a hand held camera, adding to the overall jagged and uncertain atmosphere. The negative, red and rustic, sometimes black and white, lighting complimented the music creating a chilling feeling. Flashes of children playing followed by a flash of empty swings moving back and forth in the wind, suggested murder or kidnapping of some sort. Likewise, there was a close up of a dog biting and trying to eat something, perhaps meat, again suggesting death and blood. A sound of a moving train was combined with the music, as the camera zoomed into the dark window of the ghostly house. Again images of a child in a cot showed innocents, followed by a vicious bark of a dog as the child seemed to become evil or possessed. Black dresses hung from a washing line, and an oldish looking man is seen walking away down a street, without being shown his face. Again, this makes the viewer wander who this strange looking man is. The editing seems to speed up creating a sense of urgency and panic. The sound effects included whispers, haunting screeching noises, distant and drained screams and faded out train sounds. Lastly, the Titles were combined in the images and they didn't dominate the screen. There was a combination of moving and static titles and they appeared randomly on screen.

All these indications of the films contents were pieced together to create a fantastic mysterious opening. It managed to not give away too much or too little, keeping the viewers questions un answered. This persuades them to keep watching in order to find out what is going on.