JW - Deconstruction of 'Saw'

- Directed by James Wan in 2004
- Had a budget of only $1.2mil
- Made $55.1mil if the USA boxoffice, £6.6mil in the UK boxoffice and $102.9mil worlwide.

Saw is one of the most famous and memorable horror/mystery movies ever made, so much so that it went onto make seven sequels, each more gruesome then the last. It was hard to pick out when the opening scene actually ended, the actual scene doesn't end in a very recognisable way, it fades into a different scene/flashback. I decided this would be the best time to end it as already 15mins had been played.

- Opening Credits/Opening Scene (Ends after 15mins 36secs)
The opening credits consist of blue writing on a black background (slightly unconventional as most horror movies seem to have white writing upon a black background). The words are slightly distorted and are sort of 'swimming' around, this becomes apparent as the opening scene begins with a man in a bath. This could be the reason why the words are blue and appear to be 'floating', it fits in with the idea of the scene opening in water.
The rest of the opening scene is key to the whole story of the film, the mise-en-scene is incredibly important.



Above is a picture of where the whole of the opening sequence occurs, it is a grimey, murkey and quite depressing bathroom. This is the perfect setting for this film, it signifies simplicity and also connotes that they're in a run down area that has not been in use for several years.
The camera shots in this scene are also very significant, there is a very large amount of close ups. This done to show the sheer terror and anxiety in both of the characters faces, CUs are great for showing emotions. As shown in this opening scene. Secondly, there is a large number of panning shots. These are used to show the horrible situation these men are in.
Little editing is used, this yet again could be done, to add to the simplicity of the mess these men are in. The most significant piece of editing I could see it the 'blurring' effect both men have after the lights have been switched on. This adds to the realism of the film and also adds a last bit of narrative enigma as to who these men are.

This is three minutes of the opening scene to Saw: