The Third Opening Analysis (Get Out)

Promotional Material for Get Out (2018)

    Directed and produced by Jorden Peele, Get Out is a horror/thriller film released in 2018 and outlines a weekend where a young man visits his girlfriends parents' place for the weekend. But, the place is not as it seems. The film stars Daniel Kaluuya and Allision Williams and covers serious issues like racism and discrimantion. The film was met with positive reception for its mature narrative and even won the 2018 oscar for Best Original Screenplay, among other awards. The positive backlash has made this film a very high standard for horror and thriller films alike.

    I feel as though the opening of any film is a part of film not many people talk about, but, is still extremely relevant to the overarching story. Get Out is no exception.

    The entire opening is a two and a half minute long take of someone getting abducted. But, through the use of dialogue, the audience is clued into the surrounding themes and tone of the narrative. At the start of the opening, the main character enters through the right of the frame and begins talking to his friend on the phone. We know this because he talks extremely relaxingly with whoever is on the phone through his wild pronunciation of "Suburdb". Even though we can't hear the other end of the phone, the main characters dialogue. He also notes how he "sticks out like a sore thumb", showing how he is not exactly comfortable being in the area, alluding to the fact that he does not live there. As he mutters to himself, a white car drives by, but the camera mysteriously follows the white car as it tracks the main chracter, showing potential foreshadowing into the importance of the car.

The Main Character Getting Ambushed

    Just a few seconds later, the white car takes a U-turn and turns around. The white car drives with the main character as he walks. The car plays an ominous song, which disturbs the main chracter. The main character tries to remain cool and turns around from the way he was walking to walk the other way, trying to shake the car off of him. He walks towards the street, and the camera is positioned in a way where the kidnapper cannot be seen in view. The camera is positioned towards an open door on the car, emphasizing how he has left the car. The camera then pans to the left to view a man with a black mask choking the main character until he is unconcious, where he drags his lifeless body into the trunk of his car. While he is dragged, the camera only focuses on his legs, showing how they are not working to get out of the current situation. The rest of the scene of shown in a wide-shot of the character being placed in the trunk and the car running off.

    The opening credits are displayed over this wide-shot. The opening credits take up much of the screen, which provides the viewer something else to view as the previous scene was intense for an opening of a film, providing the audience with a sense of relaxation before plunging into the horror right after the opening scene is over.

    The scene is displayed in low lighting, emphasizing how the scene is taking place at night, where it may be easy to get away with an ambush.

A frame that illustrates the low-key lighting of the opening

    The opening is extremely well made at establishing the tone of the film. Since it is a horror film, the tone should be offputting and uncomofortable, but the opening sets the standard for the film. In the film, the characters does come back, but the viewers are quite oblivious to this fact, since he is actually not the main character of the film. But, while seeing the film, it does set up his character, which is to be explored later in the movie.https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5052448/?ref_=ttawd_ov_bk

Sources: Peele, J. (Director). (2017). Get Out [Film]. Universal Pictures / Blumhouse Productions.    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5052448/?ref_=ttawd_ov_bk