The film opens with the shot of a woman running through some woods, with the camera following, alongside her. Cutting in and out of this is a close up of a spilt bucket of blood, a blood covered hand, someones head being covered with a bag, and other eerie images such as maggots and knives. There's also a close up of the woman's feet as she runs. The credits that come up are written in a plain, white font, which is a strong contrast to the darkness of the trees and images. Another contrast is the fact that the woman is wearing casual jeans and a t shirt, whereas other characters we see in this scene are dressed in more Gothic looking attire. A close up to the woman's face reveals her fear, what's she running from? It keeps the audience hooked, as they want to find out more about what has happened to her, or what will happen. You can tell straight away that the film is part of the horror genre, primarily by the importance of her location - the woods, and it is set at night, probably in one of the autumn months as the leaves have fallen. Also the idea that there isn't really any colour, mainly only greys, blacks, whites and greens which are quite solemn looking colours. Another thing adding to the horror of this opening is the shot of a building which looks like an abandoned mental hospital - a typical feature of thrillers.
In my opinion this is one of the most successful openings to a thriller that I have ever seen, as it does a very good job of building the tension and making the audience ask questions, and want to watch more. This is exactly the kind of thing that the viewer wants from a thriller...the first two minutes are extremely important as they are a window of opportunity to hook the viewer and draw them into the storyline.
Something we could be influenced by in this opening in our project is the cutting into shots of typically 'scary' things...i.e the blood covered hands etc. I also really like the idea of having a strong contrast to highlight something, as i think this is extremely effective.
