A Nightmare On Elm Street 1984 Opening Credits

A Nightmare On Elm Street is unusual for horror films of its time as it uses two opening scenes to create suspense within the audience. The first scene is the most common and uses the "flashback" conventions of psychological horrors to show the creation of the antagonist (Freddy Kreuger) whereas the second focuses on the victim which we know is set in a dreamlike state as she wakes up at the end of her scene.

• The production company titles use a flickering effect which reflects the static commonly seen of old televisions at the time of the films release (in 1984). The effect changes the typography and background of the titles from black to red and vice-versa, making the audience uncomfortable as the text is obscured.

• This red - black colour scheme is a convention of horror movies as it connotes blood and death whilst red lighting is effective for conveying ideas of heat or confinement.

• Initially, diegetic footsteps can be heard to time with the feet entering the frame from the right.. The noise is distorted and hushed, reflecting Kreuger's mental state and continues as the camera pans left to follow the feet in an extreme close up shot.

• Extreme close ups of feet and other body parts (besides the face) are prominent throughout this clip which creates an enigma as to what Freddy Kreuger looks like and also creates tension as we are able to see what he is doing with his hands, even before we realise what he is creating. 

• Non diegetic whispering voices and high pitched synth is overlapped onto the diegetic sound, these are both conventions of supernatural or psychological thrillers as they make the protagonist/antagonist seem delusional or mentally unsound.

• The very first opening shots make the audience nervous as they do not understand what is occuring within the scene though by the ed of the scene specific iconography like the gloved hand is created.

• Titles are shown in a white font over a black background. This is especially noteworthy as the actual footage occupies a small portion of the screen and has been diminished in significance by the size of the titles.

• The typeface is a rounded sans serif font that is uncommon horror movies as it it plain and usually gothic style is used. Additionally, capital letters are not used at the start of a title and only occur when a name or company name is shown. This is a convention of horror movie titles and draws the attention of the audience onto the capitalised words rather than the less significant text.

• Strong, industrial sounds like bashing metal and a blow torch are introduced alongside the already existing sound track as diegetic sound. These noises connote to factory, medical or mechanical work though sound sinister as they are muted and match to the grim, dark lighting and mise-en-scene.

• By this point, the audience feels anxious about what the faceless character is doing and why he is relevant to the plot narrative. This is a necessary effect upon the audiences as it will make them much easier to scare as the film continues as they know the origins of the "monster"

We will incorporate:

• Lots of relevant mise-en-scene
• A mix of similar shots taken from different camera angles
• Hiding the characters face from the audience to create an enigma