Jennifer’s Body
The opening shot of the film is the camera moving over a garden toward a house. Within shot there is a tire swing attached to a tree which suggests that there were or are young children in the house. The garden is dark as it is night and this gives a creepy feel to what might otherwise seem like a nice family home. There is instrumental music playing in the background and what sounds like someone heavy breathing. During this shot there is the ‘fox presents’ titles and lasts about ten seconds.
This shot changes to a close up on a girl scratching her arm whilst the scary music continues.The colours used are dark, blues and greys. This makes the flesh of the arm stand out and also create a creepy ambience. The same instrumental music is played but this time we can hear the diegetic sounds of a TV in the background and the sound of her scratching her arm, this sound seems exaggerated as it is very clear and louder than it would be in real life.
From this we seem to continue on from the first shot as the camera moves through the garden, getting closer and closer to a window, this is the only window in the house that shows light from the room meaning that we are focused on this one, and also giving the rest of the house a deserted look. The music continues but this time instead of breathing it almost sounds like footsteps running.
Then it flashes back to what we assume to be the person from the second shot, but this time it’s a close up on their mouth as they chew their hair. From this shot we can draw assumptions about this character, it seems the character is a girl because of the shape of her lips and we also assume her to be quite young as most adults don’t chew on their hair. Again we can hear the sounds of the TV so this reaffirm’s that it is the same character. From her actions we can tell that she’s quite calm and relaxed.
The next shot is of the camera moving, more slowly this time, up to the window. From the flashes between these shots we can assume that the girl is inside the room that the camera is moving to. We also get the feeling that we are getting a perspective shot and that the camera is actually someone who is sneaking closer to the window and consequently the girl. Through the window we can see the TV that has been playing in the other shots and this helps up put the two different locations together.
The sound of the TV continues as the screen flashes to black and then the title of the film ‘Jennifer’s Body’ fades in as the camera tilts upwards. As the camera tilts the black fades away and we see that we are at the end of the bed in the room. We first get a look at the back wall of the room, which is painted light pink, there are two laps on either side of the bed, but only one is on and there is a collage of pictures stuck between the posters of the bed. From this we can again draw assumptions, based on stereotypes, that the character is a girl and not yet adult. Then the camera moves over the bed and we see the character fully for the first time. Here the male gaze may be used as she is lying on the bed wearing long socks and shorts, the camera moves over her slightly and we see that she is not really watching the TV but focusing on something in her hands. As assumed it is a girl who seems to be in her late teens. We then get a close up on the TV that has been playing and see that it’s some sort of work out program, this adds some light comedy and also contrasts to the next shot.
Suddenly the sound of the TV disappears and there is a loud, non-diegetic, noise that kind of sounds like an explosion or a gun. This is very surprising and makes the audience jump. Simultaneously the camera jump cuts to a side-on view to the girl on the bed, who now looks like she is asleep. The lamp has been turned off and this makes the scene darker. Also from this position we can see there is a face at the window, which we can guess is the window from the beginning. It is dark outside so we cannot see the face very well, but we can see that it is a girl with long hair, because of the lighting she looks almost ghostly. This shot only lasts about three seconds.
The next shot is also a side view but this time from the opposite side. The character turns her head to face the camera as though she was looking at the window. There is then a flash to the said window but this time there is no-one there. There is the sound of wind and the window rattling.
The shot changes back to the girl and there is a slow zoom onto her face, a non-diegetic narrator starts talking and there are background sounds of girls laughing. Narrators are very common in movies such as Teen Drama’s and Rom-Coms.
Then, as the narrator continues the camera flashes to another location, as the camera zooms out and then tilts down we are in what seems to be an institute or prison of some kind, we can see this from the bars on the windows. As the camera continues moving down we see another character from behind, this one different from the other two in the previous shots. As the room has toys and books in and as she is wearing what looks like a hospital gown we can now presume that she is in some sort of medical facility, we also guess that she is the narrator. The camera moves down and across the floor of the room.
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