The Conjuring (horror)

The conjuring is a supernatural horror film directed by James Wan in 2013, it had a budget of $20 million and made $319.5 million at the box office. The cast wasn't too well known at the time and it was many of their breakthrough performances, although, since the actors including Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Joey King and Lili Taylor have earned their A-list names. There are now seven movies part of the conjuring franchise including the sequels Annabelle and the Nun, Warner bros have grossed $2.1 billion from the 7 movies while having a combined budget of $178 million, making them the second-highest horror-movie franchises.  

Common conventions of a horror film are: a chilling storyline, a brutal death early on, and lots of emotion. The opening scene to the conjuring suggests that it is going to follow most of these conventions. It's apparent that the opening scene is set in 1968 in the US, despite being told the date we can also tell that it's not modern due to the costume alongside the camera quality, the lack of technology makes the opening scene scarier as it appears more real to the audience almost as though it could happen to them. 

The first 7 seconds are a blank screen with a diegetic male voice speaking, the blank screen gives us no hints as to the narrative, although soon enough a hard cut reveals a horrifyingly scary doll, the doll alone highlights the horror genre through its scratched face alongside its exaggerated smile. The tone is pretty dark and chilling, this is necessary in order to scare the audience and make them genuinely scared. Were introduced to three characters who appear to be roommates, they are filing a case about the doll and how it has haunted them. The use of female characters creates a damsel in distress vibe while at the same time getting an emotional attachment to two best friends. 

Moreover, the dark lighting and pleonastic sound effects also enhance the horror genre. The dark lighting reflects the dark and chilling tone, whereby the darkness also connotes mystery and evil which allows more room for fear from the audience as well as engaging them as they are left on the edges of their seats as they are unaware as to what will happen next. 

The use of editing further conveys the horror genre, the repeated cutaway shots of the doll reiterate fear into the audience as paranormal movement is reflected through the doll. 

Moreover, the parallel non-diegetic soundtrack builds tension, whereby as suspense is heightened the music becomes louder and more chaotic instilling fear within the audience as scary moments are exclaimed, the soundtrack and the doll are directly linked with each other, whereby once the doll is supposedly gotten rid of the soundtrack stops, this reiterates the horror genre making the audience weary of the doll. From the opening scene, you can assume the narrative will either be surrounding the trio in the interview although this is unlikely due to the end of the opening scene whereby they appear to have been terrorized, therefore it's more likely that the rest of the film will be about the doll and possibly its next victims.

I think that the opening scene to the conjuring was successful at establishing the horror genre, the use of varied camera angles and movements add to the fear instilled into the audience, for example, the birds-eye view of the doll being disposed of followed by a zoom exaggerates the complexion of the doll. Additionally, the suspenseful soundtrack helps to enhance the horror genre.