Analysis of the opening to Frankenstein by James Whale, 1931

Analysis of the opening to Frankenstein By James Whale, 1931.



The narrator, shown in this picture above, sets the atmosphere for the movie because he talks about how the audience still time to leave if they don't think they can deal with being terrified while watching the movie. His monologue will frighten the audience and they will be worrying about what will happen in the film. This is because the monologue is very dark and scary and he helps creating a dark atmosphere by the use of his tone of voice, body language and facial expressions, which will all help to spook the audience. The narrators voice is very deep and slow, which enhances the audiences mood and reaction to the monologue, which appears just before the audience begin to watch the movie.

This picture is of the opening credits, just after the narrator has finished his monologue. The music in the credits sets the mood of the film by the use of the instruments, which adds an eerie atmosphere,  and the pitch,which builds suspension, as well as how loud it is throughout the opening credits, right up until the first scene in the graveyard. The music is very ghostly and intense, due to the instruments that are playing because the music along with the eyes turning and the face appearing adds an eerie feel for the audience because of the way they turn and the fact that you can't fully see the features of the face. This is because it is slightly blurry and covered by the credits and the music fits in time with the movements. The eyes turning would give the audience a feel that they are spinning or being hypnotised, making them unsettled and worried. The credits are in a white colour and that contrasts with the dark background, which will make them stand out more so it is easier to read. The white also represents skeletal features or ghostly characters, which gives the audience a clear idea of what the genre is.   

 

The first scene takes place in a graveyard where a funeral is being held, giving the audience a strong feeling of death as it states the intention of the director to the audience.This opening scene is showing a traditional horror convention; a gloomy, dark, spooky graveyard, which would make the audience feel scared and would want to find out what the graveyard's significance is in the story line. All of the characters are dressed in black, making the scene look darker than it really is as there are no bright colours to stand out again the dull background. As the camera pans, the audience sees the woman crying and this creates a sad and gloomy feel to the film as the remaining characters are silent. There is minimal lighting, making it look like it is a dull and depressing day. 

The skulls in the clothes increases a ghostly feeling for the audience due to the fact that they look like the grim reaper, which symbolises death and remorse. The fact they are in the graveyard gives off a uncertain feeling, as it looks like they are guarding the graveyard of unwanted visitors. However,there is no sign of unwanted visitors, enhancing the eerie atmosphere.Their hands are crossed and the clothing is rapped around them, making them look superior and like they are looking down at the people who step into the graveyard, which would give a spooky feel for the audience. The broken sticks in the background makes it look wild and discarded which could mean that not many people go there. This enhances the mood for the audience, due to the fact that it is empty the majority of the time. 

The two main characters are hiding behind the fence and the branches, representing a prison cell, which is a coincidence, considering that these two characters are about to commit a crime. The fact that they are hiding would make the audience wonder if they are waiting for the funeral to finish or are they waiting for the characters attending the funeral to go before they enter the graveyard, as they might be well known for committing previous crimes. They look like they could be villains due to the fact their body language and facial expressions give a stereotype of a villain, which could make the audience think that they are hiding because they are going to do commit a crime, so they have to make sure that everybody has left ,so that nobody is around to see what they are doing and get them in trouble.

The sound of the bell chiming creates a spooky atmosphere because there is an eerie silence and then when the bell chimes its breaks the silence before quickly returning back to the silence before the bell begins to chime again. The silence creates suspense because the audience are eager to know what is going to happen therefore it makes the audience worry about what could possibly happen next in the film. The characters that were attending the funeral are now walking out slowly and ghost like.This adds to the suspense of the opening scene because they could resemble to the audience the ghosts of people who have died and are buried in the graveyard they were in. The fact they are walking out slowly shows how miserable they are and adds a gloomy feel to the opening.





This photo shows the two the characters that were hiding behind the fence digging a grave within the graveyard they were watching just moments before. The audience see the characters start to dig at a fast pace, looking like they are hurrying in case someone enters the graveyard and sees them. This makes the audience wonder why they are digging the body back out of the grave that it is currently in, which creates tension because what possibly could they want with a dead body? It is quite creepy for the audience to watch them digging the body back out of the ground, which would also add to the atmosphere because it creates a disturbing feel for the audience that are watching. One of the characters is hunched over and walks awkwardly, making the other character look more superior because he is taller and walks with a straight back, looking more important. This tells the audience which character is more important and therefore they know which character is the main character. 

His speech, while holding the coffin they had just been digging out of the ground, increases the spooky atmosphere for the audience because of the way he speaks and his body language. He is shown almost hugging or cradling the coffin. This shows that the coffin is of importance to him and makes the audience question what he is going to do with the coffin now it is out of the ground. His speech lets the audience know more about the story line and what might happen as the movie goes on because he speaks to his companion about what he is planning to do with the body, once they get out of the graveyard. This creates a unsettling thought for the audience because they get a clearer image of what the character is like. The lighting is still dull, making the atmosphere spookier as well as making the opening a dark, mysterious scene.

When the two main characters get the dead corpse down from the post, it adds to the tension of the opening because the audience will want to know why they got it down and what are they planning to do with it and the body they had already dug out of the ground? It also gives more away about what the two main characters are like because they now have two dead bodies, although the audience doesn't know why they have them. One of the main characters, the more superior of the two, says how they now need to find a brain, making the audience confused as to why they would need a brain and more disturbingly, where are they going to get a brain from? The opening scene closes there having left the audience wanting to know more, as well as having a disturbed and unknowing feeling.