Opening Analysis: 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre'

Opening film analysis: ‘Texas chainsaw massacre’

The opening begins with a fade in and fade out of several different images of people. They are damaged and one shows a close-up of a creepy baby who’s eyes have been blacked out. Non-diegetic music then begins playing which builds tension for the audience and creates suspense. More images continue to be shown until there is a close up of a name on a form. This creates an enigma code as the audience want to know what their purpose is. The camera starts shaking a little bit which makes the audience feel like they are present at the scene. Then off-screen sound can be heard of what sounds like someone comforting someone else, however, the voice somehow sounds sinister. There is also a close up of someone having material wrapped around their face. Their hands are dirty which suggests they have not been able to keep clean or have been involved in some sort of action. There is then a medium close up shot which reveals more of the identity of the person and we start to piece together a part of the story, or at least a part of the appearance of this character. There is then an extreme close up on one of the characters eyes which is looking around. This makes the audience wonder what it is about. There is then a wide angle shot of a windmill which allows the audience to establish some of the setting. A see-through close up of ‘age 9’ written in handwriting is layered over the top of the previous shot. This may be interpreted by the audience as adding psychological confusion.

The non-diegetic music then has a sharp incline before continuing as before whilst there is an image of what appears to be a boy. The light is so bright (high key lighting) that his identity remains hidden. There is then a medium shot of a section of an animal but all you can make out is the hair. The colours remain distorted which may confuse the audience and make them uneasy. There is then a wide angle shot of a house in a garden which quickly cuts to a closer shot of the house and the shots flicker between each other. The music continues, building with intensity in every camera angle change that occurs. Familiar shots of handwriting with ages appear on the screen to make the audience feel comforted as they recognise something. This feeling of comfort is then juxtaposed immediately by a close up shot of people touching what could be potential weapons, although they cannot be fully understood by the viewer. There are then several shots of different locations, items and a newspaper article with a headline ‘Texas Town Dies’ to help establish the storey line. A few shots later, there is an close-up shot of a lit match which could create the feeling of danger and also an enigma code as you want to find out what its purpose is. There is then an extreme close up of a piece of paper on fire. There are then several extreme close-up shots which are jumped between create a sense of unease for the audience. We see within this the same picture of the creepy baby but this time a set of hands rubbing it in a vicious way. There is then a close up of a chain which is filmed using a shaky camera. The ending shot is then a close up of the picture of the baby on fire and then the smoke coming from it. The use of smoke and the limit of control that you have over smoke, makes the audience feel on edge and uneasy.

In conclusion, I think that this opening uses a series of psychological effects to make the audience feel a false sense of comfort and then shocks them.