"Happy Death Day" Opening Analysis

          The opening scene of "Happy Death Day" (2017) starts off with a tilt shot of a tall brick building, in the background there are other buildings similar to the first which makes the setting appears to be a school. This becomes the establishing shot for the scene and shows the audience that the movie is set at a college. The church bells echoing loudly in the background also adds a mysterious tone to the location. A jump cut then introduces us to the film's protagonist, Tree Gelbman, through a close up of her sleeping. As Tree wakes up and the camera slowly backs away, a number of items become visible: a bed, an unorganized dresser, heels, and a messy kitchen/living room combo.

          The handheld shot technique is applied at this time in the scene to give the audience a "disoriented" POV from Tree as she wakes up (from what the audience assumes is a hangover). After touring the audience around the room a new character is shown, the man in the shot is later revealed to be Carter Davis. Reverse shots between the Tree and Carter provide the audience with information on why Tree is in Carter's dorm room. After Tree gets dressed and gathers her things, an over the shoulder shot is shows the audience Carter’s reaction to Tree telling him to not tell anyone about last night. Humorously, just as Tree opens the door, a fellow student is there to greet her as she storms out.

Part of the reason why I like the opening scene for “Happy Death Day” is because it stands out among other horror comedies. This sequence differs from others in its category by not killing off a character in the first 5 minutes, a typical tactic used in many horror films such as “Scream” (1996). Instead, the audience gets to watch a seemingly normal, nonetheless awkward situation play out for a young college student. This makes the audience wonder what can be so horrific about the movie, making the plot twists and action ahead all that harder to solve. As mentioned earlier, the scene is an incident younger audiences (PG-13) would find humorous. The comedic features used in this opening gives me ideas to use for my project, since my partner and I plan on our film’s protagonist being a college sorority girl.

Sources:
YouTube, YouTube, www.youtube.com/watch?v=2K3iB7LcfQw&feature=youtu.be.