Hand of God

The famous opening of Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 film, Psycho begins with a birds eye view of the city of Phoenix, Arizona. The camera pans across the city and shows the houses and cars, to create mise-en-scene. The camera begins moving in and focuses on a building, zooming until it reaches a window that leads the viewer into the opening interactions of the protagonists. The blinds are closed, leaving only a small gap in which the viewer looks into. 

This sequence is known as the hand of god, in which the audience plays the role of God, and has the advantage of seeing what happens to the characters. This technique allows for the voyeurism of the viewer, while also creating fear, as the protagonists seem to be randomly chosen. This allows for the moral codes of horror to resonate with the audience.

The Cherry falls (2000) hand of god serves a similar purpose while also creating verisimilitude of a small, guarded and conservative community. The close up on the church spire and the serene water combined with the creepy singing create a sense of unease, making the reader question what is behind the image of a perfect town. 

After some location scouting I began the process of shooting the scene:

ANALYSING FILMS: Cherry Falls

 Film Analysis: Cherry Falls (2000)

Director: Geoffrey Wright

BBFC 15/18 MPAA R 

Opening Length: 11 minutes

Budget: $14 m 

Box Office: n/a

Theatrical Distribution:  European only, US TV movie

Production Company: Rogue Pictures, Good Machine, Industry Entertainment

Distributor: USA Films, October Films

Synopsis: In the small town of Cherry Falls, a psychotic murderer is killing off the virgins of the local high school. (IMDB)

LINKS:  wikipedia , imdb, The Numbers.com

Trailer:

Key aspects of the opening:

• This was the only ident shown, as one of the production companies. The ident only lasted 5 seconds, which is unconventional and very short for a main ident in a film. 
• The use of a single ident is unusual, especially considering the time of filming and co-financing of the project.
• The first shot is an Extreme Long Shot (ELS) of a spire. This framing is conventional as films often open with an ELS or establishing shot, to set the scene. 
• There are no titles before the opening shot excluding the ident. The title of the film is seen 4 minutes in, to transition to the main part. The font connotes a gothic and eerie style, and the white connotes innocence and purity, an interesting contrast against the dark background.
• The lack of names or other idents is highly unconventional, and could be due to the straight to DVD format of the film. 
• This ELS provides exposition of the town. The covered sign is a small detail perhaps connoting the hiding of town secrets. The picturesque, bright setting is unconventional for the opening of a slasher film. 
• The shot of the sun setting further creates a sense of peace, as well as creating an ellipse to transition into the night. 
• The shots and sounds of nature and water are typical for a slasher, as they conventionally take place in a forest or isolated location. The cryptic shots build up narrative enigma as well. 
• The full moon has connotations of the supernatural, magic and horror. This ends the sequence and the pitch black shows the change of timing into night. 
• There is an audio-bridge of instruments with a wailing song. This creates a gothic atmosphere and contrasts the bright opening images. This is amplified by the diegetic sound of the church bells and water. Once it becomes dark, the music quickly switches to a fast paced track matched with the drawn out wailing from before, creating contrast and discomfort for the viewer. There is a voice-over of a conversation, and the character is introduced around 10 seconds later, further building up the narrative enigma and suspense.