The Happening

The Happening

I was unable to find the correct youtube video for the opening sequence of this thriller, however I managed to study it by watching the first 3/4 minutes on DVD. The movie begins with a background of relatively clear blue sky and the titles of the movie and production crew and cast appear one by one by fading in and fading out.

There is music in the background which is non-diegetic and appears to be soft percussion which begins to play along with an ambient sound of wind which makes it feel more realistic to the audience.

As the sequence of titles continues with a variety of low angle shots showing the sky, the colour of the sky begins to fade from blue and clear, to more cloudy and darker shades of blue suggesting something bad is going to occur as the atmosphere is getting eerie.

The lighting in this shot is a lot darker than the natural lighting in the first shot of the opening sequence foreshadowing the bad things that are about to occur. The non-diegetic music goes onto a lower key in this shot as well which builds tension for the audience aswell as there being fewer ambient sounds such as the wind and birds in the background suggesting something unnatural is going to happen.

The pace of the music begins to increase at this particular point in the sequence which begins to build tension and curiosity within the audience as it becomes quite frantic with many clouds forming a mist in the background which can be seen as quite spooky.

The colour contrast between this shot and the first shot in the title sequence is huge as there were clear blue skies in the first shot and in one of the final shots the sky is an extremley dark grey or blue and there are lots of clouds clustered around the titles. The music continues to get faster and louder towards the end of the sequence, and after the final title, the sky background fades to complete darkness and as the title fades to black too, the music comes to a sudden stop which gives the audience a sense of relief although curiosity as to what will happen next.

The opening sequence footage begins in a familiar location of a park as there is grass and nature in the background of the low angle mid panning shot showing a man walking a dog which are typical scenes which we expect to see in the location where it is set. The sound is diegetic and reflects the natural environment such as ambient sounds of footsteps and the wind in the background. The scene starts off as a normal every day setting suggesting to the audience that the film will appear to be more realistic to them.

It then changes to a long establishing shot showing a busy path of people walking dogs, strolling through the park, going to work and cycling which all appear to be normal things, which contrasts with what we would expect from a typical thriller. Titles fade in at the bottom of the shot in the centre position informing the audience of the location 'Central Park, New York City' and the time '8.33AM' which gives the audience a bit of background information on the scene and allows them to relate with the setting and the idea that people will be going to work and taking their children to school and this explains the crowd of people in the long shot and their different roles such as a jogger, business man and mother of children. The audience are able to hear brief dialogue between some of the characters in this shot and childrens laughter can be heard which suggests the happiness at the time. The background is very natural and typical to a park such as trees, benches, fences and grass which reminds us of the reality this scene is trying to portray.

The next shot is an upwards mid shot of the sky with a surrounding of many trees and leaves showing the natural environment of the location again. We can also see the sky scrapers in the distance which are out of focus which sets the location as New York as this is where they are ususally associated with. The shot shows the wind blowing through the leaves which is a calm scene and suggests the idea of 'the calm before the storm' which then builds tension for the audience as to what will happen next. The sound is diegetic of the wind whistling which adds to the calm feeling of this scene building more tension for the audience.

A long shot is used showing two young woman dressed in casual clothes such as t-shirts sat on a park bench talking so dialogue can be heard, discussing the page of the book which one of the woman is reading showing her intelligence. The sound remains similar to the previous shots with added dialogue and a scream can be heard which leads to the other woman turning to the side dramatically. An eye line match is then used from a long shot of the lady looking to the side to a frantic pan shot of her point of view showing natural scenes of people walking etc yet there are less people around than before suggesting the rush hour before work has settled down a little. A side angle close up shows the emotion on the womans face which is worried and scared and her dialogue 'That's funny, it's weird, those people look like they're clawing at themselves. Is that blood?' suggests she is unsure of what is happening in the direction she is watching, and as her friend does not react, its suggest her characters insanity.

Another eyeline match is used as a long shot point of view shows people in the distance and one man is walking backwards which is unusual behaviour for anybody which shows the start of the spooky events which are about to happen. There is less diegetic natural noise such as conversations and footsteps in this shot which creates an eerie and tense atmosphere. Another scream is heard and the female character looks to the other side and her fear increases shown by a close up of her reaction, followed by another eye line match of the previous busy crowded path however everybody is stood asif frozen and one man walks backwards towards the character.

A long shot shows a a male and female in casual clothes stood still like statues however a pan shows a dog continuing to act normal running around the suspicious behaving humans. The only sound which is heard is the dogs footsteps on the grass which is diegetic.

A mid close up shot shows both female characters in the shot at the same time emphasising the lack of reaction from the other woman in comparison to the main character's worried emotion. Her dialogue repeats 'Claire' showing her concern that she is the only person seeing these unusual actions from the other people in the scene. The sound in the background is a low tone which builds tension to the atmosphere as she waits for a response from Claire

A close up is used to show the lack of emotion on Claire's face as she finally responds to the other lady with dialogue in a slow and simple tone 'What page?'. The shot expresses her concern as she asks the question as she appears to be unsettled about something and not making eye contact with her friend which you would expect in normal conversation. The quiet and eerie non-diegetic sound which represents the wind getting stronger can still be heard.

Claire raises her hand to her neatly tied up hair and a close up shows her forcefully pull out a silver stick which we are unsure of it's purpose. The slow motion effect of her actions builds more tension on what she will use the prop for and the silence other than the continuing wind sound creates an eerie atmosphere.

 An over the shoulder close up shot is used to show Claire from her mouth to her shoulders and the focus of the scene is on Claire however we are able to see the other female who appears to be the main character in the background who is slightly out of focus. The eerie non-diegetic sound can still be heard, and as Claire pierces the silver prop into her skin, we hear the exaggerated sound of it entering her neck. This adds a gory and scary element to the opening sequence suiting the genre of the thiller. This opening sequence ends leaving the audience curious as to what has happened and what will happen to both of the females afterwards.

 

Titles

Twentieth Century Fox presents

In association with UTV Motion Pictures

And Spyglass entertainment

A blinding edge pictures production

Mark Wahlberg

The Happening

Zooey Deschanel

John Leguizamo

Betty Buckley

Frank Collison

Ashlyn Sanchez

Spencer Breslin

Robert Bailey JR

Casting by Douglas Aibel, Stephanie Holbrook CSA

Costume designer Betsy Heimann

Music by James Newton Howard

Co-producers Jose L.Rodriguez, Deven Khote

Edited by Conrad Buff A.C.E

Production Designer Jeannine Oppewall

Director of Photography Tak Fujimoto ASC

Executive producers Ronnie Screwvala and Zarina Screwvala

Executive producers Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber

Produced by Sam Mercer and Barry Mendel

Written, produced and directed by M.Night Shyamalan

The titles at the beginning of the sequence are presented in white capitals in a relatively large and bold font which enables them to stand out from the background of the sky which darkens as the titles continue to fade in and fade out.