Supernatural Horror Openings - The Omen (Genre Iconography & Themes) // Research

Genre Iconography

No props, costume or a proper location can be seen in this opening meaning there is nothing in those areas to comment on. However, in the horror genre a lot of the time less is more and it is enough with creepy, incidental music, titles, and a dark screen with a moody picture to portray an iconic opening as it leaves a lot of things to the audience's interpretation. This makes the audience imagine the worse things possible and work themselves up for what could happen during the film, therefore making it easier for the film to scare them.

The sound is particularly iconic of the horror genre as it reminds the audience of quite old, gothic horror themes and church, SATB choir music which can become quite creepy with the right song.

As well as this the lighting is quite iconic as back lighting is used which silhouettes the character and makes it so the audience cannot see any of his or hers features (making the character an unknown, unidentifiable being).



Titles and image given equal importance

The framing of the shot could also be said to be iconic as the titles are shown dominating the left side of the screen and the image of the man is on the right side. This gives the two things almost equal importance and when film openings of horror movies are done in a simple way like this the titles and image (or thing in the background) usually have equal importance as the director will want the audience to pay attention to the scene but also not ignore the titles.

Themes of the Genre

I would assume the theme of this film is the unknown, unfolding terror however I cannot be sure as not much is given away in the opening. I think it is probably this theme as in the opening not much is shown which therefore makes whatever the antagonist will be unknown. This antagonist is likely to unfold throughout.