How the genre of Sleepy Hollow is established in the opening sequence Essay Example

started in the mid/late 18th century. The first gothic horror story was "The Castle of Otranto" by Horace Walpole. Most gothic horror films fall into the stereotype; vampires, isolated castles/villages, dungeons, thunder and lightning etc.In this essay I am going to explain how the genre of Sleepy Hollow is established in the opening sequence.

The director uses mise-en-scene to show that the film is set in the 18th century. A few ways are: Van Garret is travelling in a horse and carriage, the use of a quill to sign the will, a wax stamp on the will (seal) and the date on the will. These all announce that the film is set a long time ago as all those things are now regarded as "old fashioned".The opening titles seem to appear out of the heavy mist. This suggests that unexpected things are happening within the mist which we cannot see.

This also makes the audience feel uneasy because they are not sure what's going to happen.In the opening scene there is a red substance dripping. The director may be trying to make the audience believe this is blood, which could be expected due to the genre of the film. The audience find out shortly after that it was for a stamp (seal) on a letter.Also in the opening sequence we witness a will being signed. This shows that a death has occurred quite recently.

The main part of the opening sequence is where Van Garret is travelling to Sleepy Hollow in a horse and carriage. In this journey he and his chauffer are killed by the Headless Horseman. There are both digetic and non-digetic sounds in this

scene. The digetic sounds are mainly the horses breathing heavily and the "swish" sound of the Headless Horseman's sword. The non-digetic sounds are up-tempo music in background and a church choir over the top of the music.

The music stops shortly when the driver is beheaded but continues when Van Garret goes to look out of his window to see what's happened. The music is quite dramatic and builds to a crescendo when Van Garret himself is beheaded.After the driver is beheaded, Van Garret jumps out of carriage to try and escape the Headless Horseman. Once he has jumped out the carriage he tries to escape him by running through a field. While he is running, the audience get a shot of his view while running.

He then comes to a stop when he gets near a scarecrow. The scarecrow has a pumpkin for a head which shows that it is trying to warn off evil. When Van Garret gets to the scarecrow, we get a low angle shot of it which makes it look a lot taller and more frightening. The Headless Horseman then comes galloping towards Van Garret and slices his head off. The blood is splattered across the face of the scarecrow which may make the audience feel uneasy again.The next scene is in New York - 1799.

This is the first time we see Constable Ichabod Crane. The first thing we see him do is discover a body in the water. This cements in the readers mind that the film is a "gothic horror".The director's use of de-saturated colours is effective because the colour is de-saturated throughout until the end of

the film where the Headless Horseman goes back to the "other world" and all the evil is gone. This shows that it is a bad time for everything.Ichabod Crane is the hero of the film.

He is keen to use rational thought and scientific methods to solve crimes. This links with the "gothic horror" genre as at this time everything would have been done by the word of God instead of using scientific devices (Science vs. Religion).When Crane is sent to Sleepy Hollow he releases a caged bird. He does this to signify that he is going on a journey.During Crane's journey, there are a lot of "gothic horror" elements.

One of these is pathetic fallacy. The pathetic fallacy in this sequence is where the weather reflects the mood by having very dark, cloudy days to show a very dark mood. Another is when, during the journey, the actor's name's appear on screen (i.e. the credits) and are reflected in the river, or take forms as one splits and falls like the leaves.

This connotes the supernatural. Another element during the journey is that there are no leaves on the trees towards the end of it. This shows it is nearing winter and winter implies death. Also in Crane's journey we see him hit the same bump that woke Van Garret on his fatal trip.

The director uses symbolism to show elements of good and evil in Sleepy Hollow. One way is the way the characters are shown, i.e. the virtuous maiden is always dressed in white/light colours to show innocence whereas the Headless Horseman is always wearing black and riding a black stallion to show

evil.