The Ring Opening Scene

In the opening scene of 'The Ring' the camera starts to zoom into the house to show the setting and location and what time of day it is. this gives the audience a feel for what type of film it is. When the camera cuts to inside the bedroom with the two girls, there are over the shoulder shots of when one girl is speaking to her friend and then another so we can identify that the conversation they are having is important within the film. The camera shows a close up of both the girls faces to show their emotion and the worried expression as they are telling the story. This shows the audience that their conversation has importance to the film. When the two girls hear the phone ringing, the camera zooms into the clock to show the time of the phone call. The time shows 10 o'clock and we know it is at night because it is dark outside. The camera focuses on the clock to show that 10 o'clock at night is a strange time to get a phone call.
A t the very beginning of the film, there is non-synchronous sound of the rain and wind which we could not see because it is dark so the sound is added to show us that the weather outside is not good. This adds to the tension. There is also very important dialogue near the beginning between the two girls. They are talking about the tape and one of the girls has a worried expression on her face so the other girl asks her "Whats your problem?" She replies "Ive watched it". This adds to the tension from the very start of the film. There is also synchronous sound when the girl is just walking out of the kitchen after getting herself a drink when through the glass, the TV turns on by itself. We can hear a static noise but we know that the volume of the TV has been increased so we know that it is important.
There are a lots of shot reverse shots where the two girls are sitting on the bed having a conversation about the tape. It shows one girl talking and then another girl talking and it switches back and forth from them.
We know that the scene is set in a house because it shows us that at the start and we then can identify it is set in the bedroom because the two girls are talking on a bed. The girl who is the main focus is always in the centre of the shot so we know we are focusing on her and how she is feeling. Both the girls are wearing a school skirt and a shirt which means we can identify them as being school girls. The first scene has very low lighting to create more tension and suspense because the scene is shot at night.