Deconstruction of opening scene: The Purge (2013)

Deconstruction Of The Opening Scene in The Purge (2013)

The opening scene clip from YouTube:

 

Sound

There is no talking in the whole scene, just calm and slow orchestral music, which is extremely contrapuntal to the scene where people are getting killed or beaten up, however the music could be highlighting the sadness of the events that are happening. This implies that the film is unusual and different to other films. The contrast between the music and what is in the scene causes viewers to feel uneasy and confused, this conforms to the horror genre.

Mise-en-Scene

There are a lot of dead or dying people in the scene, which gives insight into what the film is going to be about. The mise-en-scene also clearly shows the thriller/horror genre because of all the guns, axes and overall violence. The lighting also creates a sinister tone because it is dark from the effects and there are a lot of shadows, this makes what is happening in the shots hard to see in detail, which adds more suspense to the scene.

 

Camera Angles

The scene is mostly shot from a long shot which gives the effect that it has been filmed from a CCTV camera. There are tracking shots in fight scenes which allow the viewers to see everything that is happening and increases the amount of violence being shows in the scene. Most of the shots are long shots which make the people being attacked seem vulnerable and creates empathy from the viewers towards the people being attacked.

Editing

The many jump cuts create suspense because it makes the scene fast paced which causes the viewer to feel anxious. The whole scene is edited with a CCTV camera effect and the use of this effect makes the viewers think it is more real and emphasises to them how they can't change it because it seems so real. 

 

Typography

The letters are in capitals and are in white, which represents peace and purity but that isn't shown in the scene, so that is opposed to what is actually happening. This is like the music in the scene which is also contrapuntal, this could mean that the scene is setting viewers up for something unexpected and unusual.