Opening Sequence

Jeepers Creepers

The film stars Gina Philips and Justin Long. It is directed by Victor Salva and sponsored by American Zoetrope, Cinerenta-Cinebeta, Cinerenta, Medienbeteiligungs KG and VCL Communications.
The film is set in the outback’s of the USA during spring break in modern times (2001). The film is a teen horror aimed at frightening young adults in an entertaining manner.
Throughout the opening scene there is an eerie sound signifying a spooky atmosphere, there is use of dramatic non-diegetic music, which enables the audience to be fully captivated by the horror theme. The camera is used to exasperate quick movements on the scene adding more thrill, the use of tracking, close ups, deep focus, crab shot, crane shot and low angle shots are all used advantageously also creating excitement, mystery and shock.
The mise en scene is quite basic which denotes just how little they have around them, how alone they are etc. The characters are very average people, a brother and sister from a low income family, no superman-like persona which enables the audience to feel more sense of similarity to the characters which then in turn lets them become more engrossed into the plot.
The editing is just basic quick cuts from scene to scene. Overall the opening scene provides an obvious narrative “ one moment everything is okay, then it goes wrong, but then it all ends solved”. Effectively the film provides teens with a jumpy horror with quick moving scenes easy plot to understand.