A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) Deconstruction of Opening Credits

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) Deconstruction

Opening Credits 0:00-0:36

Effects such as muffled off screen diegetic sound coupled with quick editing create a fast paced credit sequence that gives the impression of time progression and easily creates interweaving enigmas and effect of suspense within the audience.

0:00 - 0:05

For the first four seconds after the company titles, the screen remains dark and there is no diegetic dialogue or sound; this effect is commonly used at the start of slasher or psychological horrors as it creates suspense. This effect is followed by a flash of blinding white light and light orchestral music fades in. This music is contrapuntal to the sudden change in atmosphere within the audience and may reflect the mental state of mind of the characters within the upcoming film.

0:06 - 0:08

The screen then shows a sepia image of the opening title written in chalk on concrete in scruffy (presumably a child's') handwriting. The image is dark and only visible in the left of the screen, immediately creating the effect of a child (or children's) isolation. White text in a basic font is positioned above the chalk writing and repeats the same words to make it more clear for the audience, which emphasises the idea of isolation whilst creating an effect of the children being suppressed in way of something more rigid and controlled. As the background image fades out again, the white font overlay remains vivid and clear, again highlighting the conception that the children are being suppressed. The white font overlay is an effect used throughout the entire opening sequence suggesting regularity and inflexibility.

0:10 - 0:16
After a few repetitions of these effects (with different text) a black and white panning image or a typical street and street sign is used. The use of a black and white image instead of a sepia one may have been used to show how time has progressed because the audience has connotations with sepia images representing the 18th century and black and white images being common at the start of the 19th. This idea of time progression is reinforced at 0:43 at which a colour image is then used.
This colour image is a low angle, extreme close up shot of a child's feet whilst they play hopscotch. The board is drawn in the same chalk colour as the previously shown images, this creates a link between the multiple shots and the audience wonders is there is a significant pattern. Alongside the hopscotch board are lots of brown shrivelled leaves, signifying the change of seasons. The leaves also contrast with the tarmac as it clearly shows how nature is dying in the presence of the unnatural, it is a common convention of the horror genre to create symbolic images of ordinary events which may reflect sub-plots within the movie.

0:17 - 0:21
After yet another white flash the atmosphere of the scene changes as another low angle shot of feet is used however this shot has a grey tint and is focused primarily on the shadow the figure casts upon the concrete floor. By this time, the music has increased in volume though the tempo has remained constant showing how the "danger" remains the same though becoming more imminent. Off screen, muffled diegetic children's laughter can also be heard, this contrasts to the eerie orchestral music and is contrapuntal to what can be seen on screen. This is another common effect used in the horror genre as it creates an enigma about the persons identity and suspense as we believe the children are in danger.
The diegetic laughter continues and becomes gradually clearer after this point and we soon see several children's silhouettes running across the screen. This shot is tinted red which is usually connoted with danger and could hint at a possible gory end to these children as it also signifies blood and fire.

0:22 - 0:31
Three more low angle shots are used of a girls feet whilst she plays hopscotch before the image quickly flicks to an image of the old black and white school photograph of Badham Preschool, many faces in which have been creased or scratched. This imagery suggests violence as each scratch is deep and regular, as though it was done intentionally, but also creates a sense of unease within the audience as each student is no longer identifiable, resulting in a faceless crowd. This "faceless crowd" idea may have been created to symbolise how a murderer may think of his victims or how he may think of himself.
An eyeline match of one of the students in the photograph is used against a slow motion clip of a young girl with flyaway blonde hair. This shot reinforces the ideas of time progression as there are clear contrasts between the formal, uptight uniform shown in the image and the practical, slightly messy clothes worn by the blonde girl.

0:33 - 0:36
By this point the images of chalk drawings have been momentarily disbanded as stacked alphabet blocks are shown briefly before flames engulf them; this is symbolic of the death of childhood and growing up whilst the audience wonders who caused the fire and if it was created to intentionally to cause harm to someone else.
An extreme close up of a quickly wobbling vintage tin rocking horse is shown for a fraction of a second before a wide shot of it wobbling on the ground can be seen. The rocking horse is in the centre of a strange swirling pattern drawn in chalk upon the ground, strange symbols and languages like the ones shown are a common convention of the supernatural horror sub genre. Because the audience has linked the chalk images and writing to small children, this scene creates a deep sense of unease as the patterns drawn seem mathematical and for a supernatural purpose, this means the chalk now has two connotations neither of which are addressed in the next shot of a broken chalk stick which could easily signify either the fall of the innocent or the supernatural.
The orchestral music at this point becomes spiked with higher pitched synths at infrequent intervals which do not correlate to the editing on screen, this is significant of how the children and or the killer process what they feel and witness differently and at different speeds, again foreshadowing some of the sub-plots of the film.