The Ring Opening Sequence

The Ring is a psychological horror film that focuses more on atmosphere and building up suspense rather than contently scaring the audience. It perfectly makes the audience become extremely tense until the climax which is quick and ends within a few seconds.

 

 

 

The sequence starts with a shot of a teenage girl about to walk out of her kitchen when she hears a static sound. The screen then goes into a close-up shot of the girl to show her shock and confused expression. This lets the audience know that something is obviously wrong. The TV is then shown to be the source of the sound and has been turned on however the room is empty and the remote lays on the sofa untouched. This creates a sense of enigma, the audience know that something is happening but nobody, neither the audience or character, know what is causing the problem but the audience wants to find out more. The girl turns off the TV and places the remote down however the TV turns back on causing the girl to stop in her tracks. The character blames another person in the house however the audience will know that something else is causing these problems. There is then a noise causing the girl to turn to face where it came from, only to see nothing suspicious. The fridge then flies open and after closing it the girl travels upstairs to find the only other person in the house. However the is a liquid all over the floor by the door and dripping of the door handle. There is a shot of her hand slowly opening the door before a flash of events. She bursts open the door, sees the TV on the death tape, the camera zooms into on her face, it is difficult to see what happens but it looks like her face melts or (as it is psychological) has been possessed. There is then several image flashed onto the screen followed by the TV static.

The audience is left to only guessed what the images are as they flash up for less than a second and what happened to the girl. A large sense of enigma is left behind as there are many unanswered questions that the audience will want answers to.

Using sounds to create a sense of atmosphere is key for a psychological horror and this opening used it perfectly. There is music on very quietly in the background and makes the scene even more sinister. Static is also a key sound and is heard 3 times during the sequence and hints that it will be a important feature that the audience will have to look out for later on in the film.

The camera shots are also different instead of all being medium shots such as high angle from the top of the stairs to make the character seem smaller and a close up of her hand on the door handle. This makes the sequence more interesting to watch as although the continuity edits are very smooth it is still a creative way to show the basic activities that the girl is doing.