Analysis of The Omen

This post will analyse the beginning of the film The Omen. I have chosen to analyse the beginning of this film as it comes under the genre of horror which is the genre I am focusing on as my 2 minute film beginning will be of this genre.


The film begins with diagetic sounds of cars moving along the street around the car that the main character is in. The shot is filmed at night, as usually at night bad things happen to characters in horror films so this creates tension to begin with. There is medium shot of the main character in the car, sometimes his face is lit up by street lights passed by, this creates tension as there is not proper lighting, creating the idea that something bad could happen any moment. In this shot there is a voice in the main characters head saying "The child is dead", this could be some relevance to happenings in the film, but the viewer will not be sure yet as they have no idea what he's talking about.
In the next scene a baby is shown in a nun's arms, slow piano and harp music is used to create tension for the audience, making them question, is there something wrong with this child?
As all of these scenes are to do with having a child, this shows that this is what the film is like.
At 1:39 this long shot/ establishing shot sets the scene to show where the film is set. As this film is set in the city, as it shows a lot of lights and busy streets full of cars even at night, it shows that something typical wont happen in the beginning of this film. For example if the setting was rural, it would suggest something bad will happen to the main character and they will not be able to get any help from anyone. Whereas because it is set in the city, this shows that help can be easily acessed.
At 2:24 there is a high angle shot. This shows the two characters as being small and having no power, showing whatever the bad character in the film is, that they will have power over these two characters.
At 2:35 there is a two-shot of the two male characters. This shot shows the emotion of the two characters through their body language. The character on the left seems concerned and the character on the right is upset.
At 4:25 there is a medium shot of a man speaking, and another man speaking in a medium shot follows. This is to emphasise their emotions about their conversation. A shot/ reverse shot is used for this to clearly show they are talking to one another and no one else is involved.