Marchlands opening sequence

Marchlands are a gripping story of three different families living in the same house in the 1960’s, 1980’s and the present day. The families are linked by the spirit of a young girl – the 1960’s family’s daughter who died in mysterious circumstances.  However this is not a film I believe that the opening sequence of this is particularly good as it abides the codes and conventions of a thriller using sound, lighting, mise en scene, stereotypical charactering and editing to make the audience fell tense and on edge. The first shot we see is an establishing shot of what appears to be an abandoned forest, however a few seconds later a young girl come into view from the left hand side of the screen. There is use of ambient sound of birds although as the young girl fades away into the trees a more sinister sound creeps in ‘incidental music’. The shot then cuts to mid shot of the same girl running though the trees, the shot is shown out of focus and in slow motion this making more emphasis upon the main character. The camera changes angles from both high to low to show the girl running this put the audience in an emotional position as they can see the girl is running from something this also makes them feel tense to what it could be. A transition is then used to slide into the next shot, the camera then goes into a low angle mid shot to make the young girl seem vulnerable  and defenceless. Synchronous sound in the form of heavy breathing also comes into this part of the scene which also builds up the tension as it suggests the character is truly scared of something which makes the audience feel a wanting of helplessness towards the character. We then are taken though a number of different short shot’s such mid shot’s, long shot’s and point of view shot with both the music and pace quickening. The camera then cuts to a high angled shot of the forest floor with leaves and twigs before a quick cut to women’s eye. The mise en scene within this sequence is practically good; with the stereotype of a girl is used, she is young and dressed is ‘normal’ the lighting is ambient although editing decisions such as contrast and glows have made areas of the sequence seem more intense.