Film Project Genre Research - A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)

The opening scene starts as the villain, Freddy Krueger, is making his now-iconic knife-ended gloves. The scene then cuts to a girl in a nightgown walking down a hallway of an industrial factory with Freddy muttering and laughing as she runs down the hall. The scene continues as the girl starts to realize that she is being followed. The girl ducks into a hiding spot, when Freddy jumps up from behind and cuts her is the stomach. The girl wakes up as her mother walks in and says that she is having a bad dream, but her nightgown is cut from where Freddy left his mark. This sets up the rest of the film as Freddy is trying to murder the teens of Elm street.

This movie makes great use of ambient noise, costume design, and close-ups. The ambient noise used in the scene amplifies the horror aspects as the sounds of the factory are eerie and create tension for the audience as they know that the girl is being hunted, furthermore the sounds of the factory hide the sounds that Freddy is making to confuse the girl into what is actually going on. The costume design in the scene is set up as Freddy is making his gloves as he is showing his weapon of choice to torment the teens within the film. The gloves set up the fact that Freddy is the villain within seconds of the film opening. After the girl wakes up, the camera gets a close up of her face, which allows the audience to see that he is sweating and breathing very heavily. This is a great example of how to portray the character's feelings from body language and the basic rules of "show don't tell."

The credits of the scene are displayed throughout including the directors, producers, and starring actors/actresses. In the shots were Freddy is constructing his gloves the film is sectioned and the credits are underneath, but as the girl starts to walk down the hallway the credits are seen in white in darker parts of the set.

Budget: $1.8 million ($4.5 million today)
Box Office: $25.5 million ($63 million today)
Awards: Avoriaz Critics Award (1985), Avoriaz Special Mention for Heather Langenkamp (1985), OFTA Film Hall of Fame: Motion Picture (2019).
Nominations: Saturn Award: Best DVD Classic Film Release (2007), Saturn Award: Best Horror Film (1985), Saturn Award: Best Performance by a Young Actor - Jsu Garcia (1985), Young Artist Award: Best Young Actress in a Motion Picture - Heather Langenkamp (1985), Young Artist Award: Best Young Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture - Johnny Depp (1985).