The Opening Scenes of Sleepy Hollow and the Truman Show

The Opening Scenes of Sleepy Hollow and the Truman Show

In this essay I shall be concentrating upon the role of the director,

looking at the films Sleepy Hollow and The Truman Show. The director

has enormous power and authority for everything that happens on the

film set.

The two directors of Sleepy Hollow (Tim Burton) and The Truman Show

(Peter Weir) both set out to make different kind of films. Tim Burton

set out to make a gothic horror film whereas Peter Weir set out to

make a serious comedy.

When the opening credits of Sleepy Hollow began the audience know what

genre the film was by the mood and atmosphere. The colours black, grey

and white along with the mist and fog creates a spooky atmosphere and

the audience associates this with the unknown. The heavy tones of the

orchestra fades into one single voice, which emits a ghost like chant.

The opening shot is a close up shot, which appears to be blood. The

colours change from black to red and this creates the setting for the

horrors that are about to unfold. The following scene is a close up

shot of a hand moving towards another hand. The third scene is a

close up shot of the last will and testament. Although these scenes

were all close up shots the audience still got information about the

time setting. For instance the quill and the ink stand. The camera

then goes to another close up scene of the wax just about to be

sealed, and then the wax is sealed with a stamp. The camera then

zooms in to reveal the name Van Garret.

The audience is made to feel claustrophobic by the way the camera is

used. The music becomes very fast and loud which has changed the

mood, and is used to reflect the running horses and coach. Then a mid

shot appears of the horse and carriage moving down the foggy lane.

The director is using many images to do with the horror genre as he as