Analysis of the opening of 'The Others' and how effective it is

How far is this an effective opening to a horror film?

In the opening to ‘The Others’ set in 1945, the opening starts with a women voice introducing a what sounds like a bed time story or it could all sound like a story from the bible, this them make the audience question what are they watching and what is about to happen, the voice then is sound bridged over to a set of illustrations that open with the first drawing being of the sun and the sea and animals the drawing relate with the dialogue that is being played over of a woman voice. In one of the drawings the young girl looks identical to the first woman you see waking up from a nightmare, this leads to the enigma of is it the young woman in the drawings. The drawings then become more disturbing finishing of with a decapitated angel, this leaves the audience feeling disturbed as the pleasant music just runs over all of the illustrations and it makes the audience feel uneasy of the two thing they are exsperencinggs as the two to not match. 

The illustration then changes to a drawing of a house which turns into be a real house set in a rural place which is typical to the horror genre as where it is set is very isolated and dark and dusky it makes the audience feel a little bit more confused of how the elegant and calm illustrations related to a dark and isolated house, this is also a graphical match when the illustration turns into h house. 

There is then a very sharp and piercing scream which is a typical convention used in horror films to ask what the woman is screaming at, the action then cuts to a close up of a young woman in bed screaming, the camera then rotates on the axis and zooms slowly out. This gives a sense of enigma of what was the young woman thinking of or what did she was dream of to be so scared. The young woman is dressed in a set of old pyjamas and her bed and bed sheets suggests that the film is set in the past, as her hair and her clothes suggest that this is period film.

There is then another sound bridge of a woman cackling outside, the shot then cuts to a long shot of three people walking up to the house, in the shot the lighting is quite dark and the fog is very low which gives a sense that something unsettling could happen. The three people then walk up to the house which is a very old building which enforces that fact that the film is set in the 1940s. 

The door bell rings, and the young woman comes to the door, there is then a close up on her face to show the confusion that she was not expecting any one to turn up to her house, this is one of the first points when it makes the audience ask who are these people and why are they there? as you can tell on the woman face she was not expecting anybody. The shot then cuts to and over the shoulder shot of a the two woman having a conversation of why they have turned up at her house. The young young lady interrupts the older woman speaking as she thinks she knows why they are there but she dose say ‘that she wasn't expecting them this early’  this suggests they are not the people she thinks they are. This relates to Barthes theory as this acts as an enigma code.

The young lady then lets them into her house loudly shutting the door behind them the post added foley sound of the door shutting is over exaggerated, this gives a sense of entrapment. The young lady then suggest the older gentlemen must be the gardner, after that he then replies slowly with a yes, the camera focuses on him and by his facial expressions they can tell he is not the gardner, this is then gives another sense of enigma of who is he and why did he lie?. She then ask the girl can she iron and she does not reply, The older woman on her behalf says yes and tells her that the girl is mute. The camera then focuses on the young girl and again she looks unsure and not believing. The hole time they are speaking the camera sticks to the 180 rule. 

The hole time you are watching the opening it gives a sense of enigma which is a very effective way of starting an opening of a horror film as it make the audience ask questions and makes them want to carry on watching the film to see the answers to there questions.