Intro of Sleepy Hollow

I looked at this because i think it is a good example of a thriller that has a lot more scope than most genres. This is following on from the point me and Yolande made in our blog about thriller sub genres. Sleepy Hollow is a horror thriller which includes a bit of romance between Christina Ricci and Johnny Depp's characters as well as the Crime which the headless horseman comitts throughout the movie.

Title: Sleepy Hollow, 1999

Directed by: Time Burton

Staring: Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci

The first titles seem to almost swim into existence like a halucination and disapear like smoke. That and their cold colour let you know that one of the big themes in this will be ghosts or the paranormal. Also there are string instruments playing which seem to be hurried. May be there is an emergency. The scene starts with someone writing a will and testiment and cuts between that and what looks like dripping blood as the music plays out. It turns out that the blood is not blood but wax used to seel a letter which makes you think that even though it's only wax, the presentation of it suggests something more gory is to come. It also shows you that this is a period piece. Hardly anybody seels letters with wax anymore. In the second scene the writer of the will and testiment is riding in a cariage. The night is dark, foggy and a strom is starting to break. Lightning tears across the night sky. The dark night is horror mes en scene and by this point we are expecting something to happen. There are lots of close ups on the tense faces of the driver and rider. Shwing!(onomatopoiea) The rider peers outside of the carriage to see the headless driver's body lolling forwards.