Opening Sequences
1) Introducing the main story - 'Saw' (0:00-2:55)
For the first 45 seconds all we see are titles; the companies who produced the movie ('Lions Gate Films' and 'Twisted Pictures'), the producers and the main director, 'James Wan'. This is all done very slowly and tentatively in total darkness. The whole time we can hear a faint high-pitched note held on a violin string, so we know something is about to happen. There are many eery and creepy noises, with lightning and barbed wire sounds shocking us on the logos, and then echos, quiet blowing wind, dripping water and small bangs and clunks lurring us into the atmosphere of the film, making us tense before the film has even begun. The first thing we see is quite ambiguous. Out of the darkness a blue light appears to hover over a mans face. We can only see his eye, then his mouth, then his neck. The light disappears. Then out of the darkness, the words 'Saw' appear in the same blue light - with this title moving towards us with watery effect. We get the impression the man maybe in water judging by the blueness and liquid movement of everything. After the title we go back to the blue light hovering over something we cannot make out clearly (this is still probably the man). Next there is a close up shot of the man waking up under water. This gives us a shock, as from the quiet eeriness there is sudden noise and panic. At this point we our totally confused just like the man. The sequence is near total darkness so we do nothing is given away about the location except that the man has woken up in a bath, as he scrambles from out the bath full of water and the blue light in the next shot. We keep switching back to the plug hole and the music is building up so we are on the edge of our seats. The blue light is swallowed down the plug hole and disappears so we never know its purpose - this is very sinister and we get the feeling that the man has been set up and woken at this time by a programmed light for a reason. The man staggers out of the bath and we are still very tense due to the rising and falling of this eery sinister music. The man stands up and begins to cry for help. He is full of panic and terror and we can tell he does not have a clue where he is. This makes us frightened. A low voice speaks from the corner of the room to our shock and the man spins around to ask who it is. Still nothing is given away, but we hope that some answers about where they are and their situation may arise from the next conversation, but nothing is except we realise the low voiced man is in the same situation as he does not appear to know anything. The frightened man keeps asking questions, with the whole seen being very disorientating due to the darkness and staggered camera. Next the scene is suddenly drenched in light as one of the characters finds a light switch. Very bright lights keep turning on all around them almost blinding the frightened character and almost blinding us too. From these first few shots in light we learn more about the location, with the bathroom type tiled walls, dirty grey metallic ceiling and pipes. From the mans point of view we see a blurred picture that turns into a clear view of the lights and ceiling. Then for the first time we see the other character standing under some pipes. He has blood on his face and shirt, and both characters appear to be drenched and messy. We then see a very clear onlook of the whole room, where we see a bath, a toilet and some sinks. It appears to be a very old, dirty and abandoned bathroom of some sort, with all the metallic grey surfaces suggesting a garage or warehouse. Suddenly the music builds up and both characters as well as the camera itself begin moving towards the centre of the room. We know something of presence is there. The camera tilts down to show an arm in a pool of blood. The camera then spins up simultaneously with 'Psycho' type music, as a dead body in a huge pool of blood is revealed, lying in the centre of the room. This is very shocking, and the audience gets a new sense of perspective - that both characters have woken up chained to opposite sides of the room, both facing a corpse in the middle. Cutaway shots to a tape recorder and a gun that the corpse is holding does not give us any clues as to why they are here, but simply intrigues us more. We are desperate for answers just like the characters but nothing much has been given away, making it a truly nerve-jangling introduction to a film. From this point the scene continues as it is the main scene in the film, and the audience learns little by little their situation by peicing little bits of information together. The pictures seen in this introduction become significant later in the film.
2) Introducing a short subplot that links to the main story - 'Saw II' (0:00-4:40)
The first 30 seconds are very similar to 'Saw' above, with the same titles, darkness and noises. On 33 seconds we see a lightbulb begin to shine and flicker, before more titles appear out of the darkness. This again is all building up tension and giving us random bits of information about the scene we are about to see. We switch from lightbulb to title until about a minute in, the lightbulb shines fully and the camera starts to look around the room, to a vent, then to a corner of the room, then to some strange looking mettalic gadgets scattered around the floor. A hand appears and grabs a mirror turning it to face the character. We suddenly realise we are looking from the characters point of view and we hear panting noises. The characters face comes into view through the mirror, revealing he has a swollen bleeding eye and a machine wrapped around his neck. The music begins rising in volume and we can hear the character panting more rapidly as his heart begins to race. The tension buils enormously and the camera swings backwards to reveal the man trapped in a chair in some sort of dimly lit basement, prison cell or torture chamber. It looks very sinister and we panic because the characters is panicking out of control. We get a feel of his total confusion and disorientation as the camera keeps swinging out of control and rapidly, revealing the trap the man is in. He begins to cry for help as we cut from panic close up shots of his face to close up shots of some sort of face mask he is wearing with huge spikes on the end. The mask looks like it will close, crushing his face and head with the spikes - very disturbing for the audience. The half naked character staggers up and begins searching the room. He suddenly sees a TV and the infamous 'Jig Saw' appears on the screens. Unlike the previous 'Saw' we now have a clue as to what is going on, with this villain notorious for setting his victims in traps teaching them a lesson about appreciating life. There is always a way out but the outcome is usually a disturbing death, so at this point we know exatly what is about to happen to the character. The next few moments are very different to that of 'Saw' as we learn alot of information about the character and his situation, giving us the feeling the climax of the scene will happen soon, and that this is not the main part of the film. We learn the character is 'Michael' and that he is a snitch in society. We then learn that he is wearing the death mask that will close on his head after a minute unless he finds the key to open it. The only thing we do not know is where the key is as we see pictures of the villain operating on Michael's body before. Then 'Jig Saw' gives us Micheal a clue as to where they key is, flashing x ray images of the key behind Michael's swollen eye. We know that he has to retrieve the key from behind his eye. Michael begins to panic and charges away from the machine only to release a minute timer. We hear the clock ticking and the music changes pace. Our hearts begin to race. Michael looks down at a box and takes a knife from it. He looks in the mirror and begins tryin to cut his eye out to retrieve the key. The quick flash montage of shots builds up huge tension as we are heading towards the climax, with close ups of his eye and the knife bringing us closer into this brutal, disturbing and gruesome situation. Close ups bring out pure emotion in the mans face of terror, panic and pain, and he gives up as he begins to sob and cry. The whole time we can hear the clock ticking, the music building and we can see the camera moving out of control very fast, showing Michael at different angles. He tries one more time to cut his eye out but the pain is overbearing and he throws the knife on the floor in agony and surrender. He kneels down, screaming for help, but is helpless. The music gets faster and the montage of shots gets faster until the ultimate climax of the scene where the clock reaches 60 seconds. Everything stops briefly, the the pace picks up all over again suddenly as Michael begins shouting "no!", the montage becomes totally out of control with the techno music unbearable for us, all building up to the point where the mask suddenly slams shut on Michael's head. The music and noise disappears leaving a faint echo, and the monatge finishes with the camera resting on a shot of the dead man as he falls to the ground with the mask on, blood dripping from his head. This fades to black and then the title 'Saw 2' appears from the darkness in the neon-green electricity made by the lightbulb. This title only appears at the end of this scene as it was a simple subplot introducing the film, and the sub-story is now over as we switch to a totally different scene with the main characters. This killing simply introduces us to the villain and how he is still killing his victims. It just sets the gore scene of the film and prepares us for what might be in store - in contrast to 'Saw' where we did not know what was going on and were introduced to the main storyline straight away in order to begin piecing the story together.
3) Introducing a past event significant to the main story - 'The Descent' (0:00-3:25)
The first 20 seconds are titles of the company, producers and director, as they appear on random parts of the screen out of the darkness in a little beam of light much like a hole in a cave revealing the outside sunlight. This and the eery echo filled sounds that accompany it set the scene and make us feel tense and uncomfortable. We fade out from the darkness to a bright contrasting scene of American wilderness - a pine forest upon pictoresque hills drenched in sunlight. We cut to a crashing white water river with 3 girls team-rowing in a dinghy boat. The close up handheld camera brings us right into the action taking us on a scary ride of the river. We immediately know the girls are thrill seekers and the scene is happy with their joyous screams and feel-good actions. However, the camera cuts to a long shot and we get a sinister feel of something watching over them. In contrast we cut to a husband and daughter of one or more of the girls. The daughter shouts "mummy!" and their smiles keep in with the happy scene, full of love and adventure. The next few moments are a flash montage of the girls dipping and swerving around a tough part of the river, full of dangerous rocks and crashing waves. They are enjoying it and endure the moment with difficulty but with skill as they reach a calm part of the river again. We feel more settled when they make it to calm again with the daughter clapping from a nearby cliff. The girls steer the boat to a calm channel of water where the daughter and husband are standing and we feel calm at this moment when the characters all meet up safely. This moment is accompanied by peacuful happy music (much like found in "the shire" parts of 'Lord of the Rings') and the gilrs begin play fighting in the river, splashing and pushing each other. The scene is pure happiness and togetherness, with the whole time, opening credits appearing in shapes made by the different shots and locations. The girls clamber out the water and the mother is reunited with her daughter in a touching moment. There is happy chatter amongst all the characters and a sense of completion. However, there appears to be a tiny bit of unease in the music as the husband takes off the helmet of one of the other two girls. She is wearing red whilst the others are wearing blue suggesting she is a danger or different. The audience are uneasy about her in a seconds moment of passion between her and the husband of the other girl. This is not meant to happen and almost spoils the happy clam nature of this introduction. However, the scene quickly moves on as the husband and wife leave in a car with the daughter as the other two girls finish clearing up the equipment. The girl in red briefly looks after the family as they leave with jealousy and hate. We cut to pictures of the family talkin as the car drives down a woodland road (the credits still going on). There is no music now, just the sounds of a chattering family, making us feel slightly uneasy again. We get the feeling there is something on the husbands mind as he drives with unease (making us think about that moment of passion) and the wife picks up on this commenting on how distant he seems. The next shot we see facing the windscreen so we can see where the car is going in. The man faces his wife and says he is fine but is not looking at the road. We sense immediate danger as a van heads straight towards the car. There is a very sudden crash, making the audience jump and taking us completely away from the calm nature of the introduction. Our sinister senses are fulfilled as we knew we could sense danger and an accident has just happened. Sharp poles from the van go straight through the windshield and through the husbands head killing him instantly. As the wreckage of the cars lie there we do not know what has happened to the wife or daughter. A high pitched violin note slowly kicks in making us very uneasy as we fade into darkness signalling the end of the introduction. The next shot we see the daughter facing the wife as she blows out candles on her birthday cake leaving her in pitch black. This suggests the light has gone out in her life too leaving only the wife alive in her hospital dead. The scene is very sinister and she panics as she cannot see anyone else around. She begins to run down the hospital corridor with the walls and darkness chasing her. The music builds up tension here too but she is caught by another woman as she falls and we are brought back into the real world of the busy hospital leaving an emotional scene of the wife crying in the womans arms. Finally we are introduced to the title of the film, 'The Descent', in a slow beam of light from the darkness jsut like the opening titles. The gentle fade in to this darkness and back out gives a sense of time passing, just like after the crash leading to the hosptial scene. This way we know this whole introduction was a significant moment from the past and now we are heading into the main story of the film.
1) Introducing the main story - 'Saw' (0:00-2:55)
For the first 45 seconds all we see are titles; the companies who produced the movie ('Lions Gate Films' and 'Twisted Pictures'), the producers and the main director, 'James Wan'. This is all done very slowly and tentatively in total darkness. The whole time we can hear a faint high-pitched note held on a violin string, so we know something is about to happen. There are many eery and creepy noises, with lightning and barbed wire sounds shocking us on the logos, and then echos, quiet blowing wind, dripping water and small bangs and clunks lurring us into the atmosphere of the film, making us tense before the film has even begun. The first thing we see is quite ambiguous. Out of the darkness a blue light appears to hover over a mans face. We can only see his eye, then his mouth, then his neck. The light disappears. Then out of the darkness, the words 'Saw' appear in the same blue light - with this title moving towards us with watery effect. We get the impression the man maybe in water judging by the blueness and liquid movement of everything. After the title we go back to the blue light hovering over something we cannot make out clearly (this is still probably the man). Next there is a close up shot of the man waking up under water. This gives us a shock, as from the quiet eeriness there is sudden noise and panic. At this point we our totally confused just like the man. The sequence is near total darkness so we do nothing is given away about the location except that the man has woken up in a bath, as he scrambles from out the bath full of water and the blue light in the next shot. We keep switching back to the plug hole and the music is building up so we are on the edge of our seats. The blue light is swallowed down the plug hole and disappears so we never know its purpose - this is very sinister and we get the feeling that the man has been set up and woken at this time by a programmed light for a reason. The man staggers out of the bath and we are still very tense due to the rising and falling of this eery sinister music. The man stands up and begins to cry for help. He is full of panic and terror and we can tell he does not have a clue where he is. This makes us frightened. A low voice speaks from the corner of the room to our shock and the man spins around to ask who it is. Still nothing is given away, but we hope that some answers about where they are and their situation may arise from the next conversation, but nothing is except we realise the low voiced man is in the same situation as he does not appear to know anything. The frightened man keeps asking questions, with the whole seen being very disorientating due to the darkness and staggered camera. Next the scene is suddenly drenched in light as one of the characters finds a light switch. Very bright lights keep turning on all around them almost blinding the frightened character and almost blinding us too. From these first few shots in light we learn more about the location, with the bathroom type tiled walls, dirty grey metallic ceiling and pipes. From the mans point of view we see a blurred picture that turns into a clear view of the lights and ceiling. Then for the first time we see the other character standing under some pipes. He has blood on his face and shirt, and both characters appear to be drenched and messy. We then see a very clear onlook of the whole room, where we see a bath, a toilet and some sinks. It appears to be a very old, dirty and abandoned bathroom of some sort, with all the metallic grey surfaces suggesting a garage or warehouse. Suddenly the music builds up and both characters as well as the camera itself begin moving towards the centre of the room. We know something of presence is there. The camera tilts down to show an arm in a pool of blood. The camera then spins up simultaneously with 'Psycho' type music, as a dead body in a huge pool of blood is revealed, lying in the centre of the room. This is very shocking, and the audience gets a new sense of perspective - that both characters have woken up chained to opposite sides of the room, both facing a corpse in the middle. Cutaway shots to a tape recorder and a gun that the corpse is holding does not give us any clues as to why they are here, but simply intrigues us more. We are desperate for answers just like the characters but nothing much has been given away, making it a truly nerve-jangling introduction to a film. From this point the scene continues as it is the main scene in the film, and the audience learns little by little their situation by peicing little bits of information together. The pictures seen in this introduction become significant later in the film.
2) Introducing a short subplot that links to the main story - 'Saw II' (0:00-4:40)
The first 30 seconds are very similar to 'Saw' above, with the same titles, darkness and noises. On 33 seconds we see a lightbulb begin to shine and flicker, before more titles appear out of the darkness. This again is all building up tension and giving us random bits of information about the scene we are about to see. We switch from lightbulb to title until about a minute in, the lightbulb shines fully and the camera starts to look around the room, to a vent, then to a corner of the room, then to some strange looking mettalic gadgets scattered around the floor. A hand appears and grabs a mirror turning it to face the character. We suddenly realise we are looking from the characters point of view and we hear panting noises. The characters face comes into view through the mirror, revealing he has a swollen bleeding eye and a machine wrapped around his neck. The music begins rising in volume and we can hear the character panting more rapidly as his heart begins to race. The tension buils enormously and the camera swings backwards to reveal the man trapped in a chair in some sort of dimly lit basement, prison cell or torture chamber. It looks very sinister and we panic because the characters is panicking out of control. We get a feel of his total confusion and disorientation as the camera keeps swinging out of control and rapidly, revealing the trap the man is in. He begins to cry for help as we cut from panic close up shots of his face to close up shots of some sort of face mask he is wearing with huge spikes on the end. The mask looks like it will close, crushing his face and head with the spikes - very disturbing for the audience. The half naked character staggers up and begins searching the room. He suddenly sees a TV and the infamous 'Jig Saw' appears on the screens. Unlike the previous 'Saw' we now have a clue as to what is going on, with this villain notorious for setting his victims in traps teaching them a lesson about appreciating life. There is always a way out but the outcome is usually a disturbing death, so at this point we know exatly what is about to happen to the character. The next few moments are very different to that of 'Saw' as we learn alot of information about the character and his situation, giving us the feeling the climax of the scene will happen soon, and that this is not the main part of the film. We learn the character is 'Michael' and that he is a snitch in society. We then learn that he is wearing the death mask that will close on his head after a minute unless he finds the key to open it. The only thing we do not know is where the key is as we see pictures of the villain operating on Michael's body before. Then 'Jig Saw' gives us Micheal a clue as to where they key is, flashing x ray images of the key behind Michael's swollen eye. We know that he has to retrieve the key from behind his eye. Michael begins to panic and charges away from the machine only to release a minute timer. We hear the clock ticking and the music changes pace. Our hearts begin to race. Michael looks down at a box and takes a knife from it. He looks in the mirror and begins tryin to cut his eye out to retrieve the key. The quick flash montage of shots builds up huge tension as we are heading towards the climax, with close ups of his eye and the knife bringing us closer into this brutal, disturbing and gruesome situation. Close ups bring out pure emotion in the mans face of terror, panic and pain, and he gives up as he begins to sob and cry. The whole time we can hear the clock ticking, the music building and we can see the camera moving out of control very fast, showing Michael at different angles. He tries one more time to cut his eye out but the pain is overbearing and he throws the knife on the floor in agony and surrender. He kneels down, screaming for help, but is helpless. The music gets faster and the montage of shots gets faster until the ultimate climax of the scene where the clock reaches 60 seconds. Everything stops briefly, the the pace picks up all over again suddenly as Michael begins shouting "no!", the montage becomes totally out of control with the techno music unbearable for us, all building up to the point where the mask suddenly slams shut on Michael's head. The music and noise disappears leaving a faint echo, and the monatge finishes with the camera resting on a shot of the dead man as he falls to the ground with the mask on, blood dripping from his head. This fades to black and then the title 'Saw 2' appears from the darkness in the neon-green electricity made by the lightbulb. This title only appears at the end of this scene as it was a simple subplot introducing the film, and the sub-story is now over as we switch to a totally different scene with the main characters. This killing simply introduces us to the villain and how he is still killing his victims. It just sets the gore scene of the film and prepares us for what might be in store - in contrast to 'Saw' where we did not know what was going on and were introduced to the main storyline straight away in order to begin piecing the story together.
3) Introducing a past event significant to the main story - 'The Descent' (0:00-3:25)
The first 20 seconds are titles of the company, producers and director, as they appear on random parts of the screen out of the darkness in a little beam of light much like a hole in a cave revealing the outside sunlight. This and the eery echo filled sounds that accompany it set the scene and make us feel tense and uncomfortable. We fade out from the darkness to a bright contrasting scene of American wilderness - a pine forest upon pictoresque hills drenched in sunlight. We cut to a crashing white water river with 3 girls team-rowing in a dinghy boat. The close up handheld camera brings us right into the action taking us on a scary ride of the river. We immediately know the girls are thrill seekers and the scene is happy with their joyous screams and feel-good actions. However, the camera cuts to a long shot and we get a sinister feel of something watching over them. In contrast we cut to a husband and daughter of one or more of the girls. The daughter shouts "mummy!" and their smiles keep in with the happy scene, full of love and adventure. The next few moments are a flash montage of the girls dipping and swerving around a tough part of the river, full of dangerous rocks and crashing waves. They are enjoying it and endure the moment with difficulty but with skill as they reach a calm part of the river again. We feel more settled when they make it to calm again with the daughter clapping from a nearby cliff. The girls steer the boat to a calm channel of water where the daughter and husband are standing and we feel calm at this moment when the characters all meet up safely. This moment is accompanied by peacuful happy music (much like found in "the shire" parts of 'Lord of the Rings') and the gilrs begin play fighting in the river, splashing and pushing each other. The scene is pure happiness and togetherness, with the whole time, opening credits appearing in shapes made by the different shots and locations. The girls clamber out the water and the mother is reunited with her daughter in a touching moment. There is happy chatter amongst all the characters and a sense of completion. However, there appears to be a tiny bit of unease in the music as the husband takes off the helmet of one of the other two girls. She is wearing red whilst the others are wearing blue suggesting she is a danger or different. The audience are uneasy about her in a seconds moment of passion between her and the husband of the other girl. This is not meant to happen and almost spoils the happy clam nature of this introduction. However, the scene quickly moves on as the husband and wife leave in a car with the daughter as the other two girls finish clearing up the equipment. The girl in red briefly looks after the family as they leave with jealousy and hate. We cut to pictures of the family talkin as the car drives down a woodland road (the credits still going on). There is no music now, just the sounds of a chattering family, making us feel slightly uneasy again. We get the feeling there is something on the husbands mind as he drives with unease (making us think about that moment of passion) and the wife picks up on this commenting on how distant he seems. The next shot we see facing the windscreen so we can see where the car is going in. The man faces his wife and says he is fine but is not looking at the road. We sense immediate danger as a van heads straight towards the car. There is a very sudden crash, making the audience jump and taking us completely away from the calm nature of the introduction. Our sinister senses are fulfilled as we knew we could sense danger and an accident has just happened. Sharp poles from the van go straight through the windshield and through the husbands head killing him instantly. As the wreckage of the cars lie there we do not know what has happened to the wife or daughter. A high pitched violin note slowly kicks in making us very uneasy as we fade into darkness signalling the end of the introduction. The next shot we see the daughter facing the wife as she blows out candles on her birthday cake leaving her in pitch black. This suggests the light has gone out in her life too leaving only the wife alive in her hospital dead. The scene is very sinister and she panics as she cannot see anyone else around. She begins to run down the hospital corridor with the walls and darkness chasing her. The music builds up tension here too but she is caught by another woman as she falls and we are brought back into the real world of the busy hospital leaving an emotional scene of the wife crying in the womans arms. Finally we are introduced to the title of the film, 'The Descent', in a slow beam of light from the darkness jsut like the opening titles. The gentle fade in to this darkness and back out gives a sense of time passing, just like after the crash leading to the hosptial scene. This way we know this whole introduction was a significant moment from the past and now we are heading into the main story of the film.
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