KS: SAW 111- Evidence of both 'Horror' and 'Thriller' genre

‘SAW 111’(2006)Darren Lynn Bousman
I have been researching openings of films under the genre ‘horror’ and ‘thriller’. The sequence of films ‘SAW’ instantly came to mind, crossing over both titles. Horror films are usually unsettling movie's that strive to elicit the emotions of fear, disgust and horror from viewers. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural. Horrors also frequently overlap with the thriller genre, where horror films deal with the viewer's nightmares, hidden worst fears, revulsions and terror of the unknown, a thriller however is a genre of film that uses suspense, tension, and excitement as the main elements. The primary subgenres are mystery, crime, and psychological thrillers.

• ‘SAW 111’ has a subgenre of a psychological thriller but can also be named a horror film as through scenes of tortures. With a man coming to terms with the death of his family members and presented with the opportunity to punish those who did not help stop the death of his loved ones; the film has large amounts of gruesome scenes which aim's to both startle and create fear and emotional turmoil for the audience. 
• The sequence has quick flashes of side close ups, mid close ups then an establishing long shot of the setting to instantly create a sense of panic in the scene and allow the audience to identify the character present, and the torture he is going through. 
• The prop of chains are used attached to the actor with the make-up of dripping blood to create a realistic presentation of the pain he is going through. Again a colour wash is used of a mellow yellow to intensify the setting and flashing lights and tables upturned to create a dramatic setting. 
• There are a variety of interesting camera techniques used, firstly the zoom to a close up of the man’s face not only presents the punishment he is going through by establishing a full body shot but by ending in a close up the audience can develop a sense of his terror and anxiety. The camera cuts from different parts of the man’s body as each chain is viciously ripped out. One particular shot of the man has the TV blurred by selective focus in the frame to show who he is controlled by, this is followed by a point of view over the shoulder shot where now the TV is given the prevalence but again the man is subsided in the frame to show how the TV influences the man’s punishment. The camera keeps cutting back to the clock which is counting down, a very successful technique to remind both the man in the narrative and the audience when the time runs out something dramatic will happen. 
• The combination of the screams as digetic sound and the jumpy fast pace music also creates suspense and tension; although the setting, the use of revolting images especially blood and pain derives from the horror genre, the fast pace cutting rate and increasing beat of the music creates a thriller feel of excitement and psychological thoughts rather than an eery setting. 

I think when it comes to us creating our opening we should definitely use some of the particular camera techniques Bousman used, such as the zoom and increased cutting and music rate. The opening credit ends with a plain black image with a white title, contrasting colours. I like how suspense is created throughout the sequence then the film title is revealed right at the end to put the horror into context. However it would be very hard to film with characters present, we would need decent actors to emphasize the pained facial expressions and create a realistic opening.