The Ring Opening Sequence

The opening of The Ring begins with an establishing shot of a seemingly isolated house at night. We can hear the sound of rain and then a sound bridge of a girl speaking. We then see the interior of a girl's bedroom as two teenage girls watch television and chat. Teenage girls are stereotypically victims in horror films because they are seen as vulnerable. They are wearing school uniforms which indicates that they are young

One of the girls then establishes the enigma of the film by talking about a videotape that kills people who watch it. The other girl claims she's watched it and the scene begins to use close up shots of her face to show her anxiety. The girl then appears to start choking leading the audience to believe that the curse is taking place. However this is a false alarm because she starts laughing at her friend for falling for her prank.

The audience is given a few moments of relief while the girls have a pillow fight. But soon after a phone can be heard. This brings the tension back to the scene because a phonecall is a key part of the curse. However, this is another false alarm because it is just one of the girl's mother on the phone. The other girl leaves the room leaving the girl on the phone to her mother. As soon as she gets off the phone we see a television switch on through some frosted glass. The scene cuts to a close-up shot of the girls face to show her fear and confusion. The only sound we hear the is diegetic sound of static. the girl believes that her friend is pranking her and simply turns off the television. As she walks away, we see the reflection of the television switch back on and the sound of static returns. This tells the audience that something supernatural is happening.

The girl gets very close to the screen which causes suspense because knowledge of previous horror films would lead audiences to think something will startle them. She then unplugs the television and see's something move in the reflection and the camera does a whip pan to mimic her being startled. As she walks back into the kitchen we see a shot of the fridge door seeming to open by itself. The film plays on the typical horror conventions again because the audience believes that something will be revealed as she shuts the door. There is a high angle shot looking down at the girl at the bottom of the stairs and then a shot of her feet running up. There is no non-diegetic sound which gives the scene an eerie quality because we can hear odd noises from around the house.

As she reaches the top of the stairs, there is a very low shot showing water on the floor. We can also see what appears to be flickering light from a television and can hear static as well as an odd screeching noise. The scene cuts to a close-up of her face to show her unease and then a close-up of a door knob dripping with water as she grabs it.

The scene cuts back to her face before a series of very rapid shots. The first is a long shot of the interior of the room as she quickly throws the door open. This is followed by a very fast zoom out of a television featuring the image of a well. This cuts to a very fast zoom in on the girls face which appears to look deformed. The shots featuring the television and the girl are accompanied with a very loud, high-pitched noise which is intended to startle the audience. After this part, a series of surreal black and white images flash up on the screen such as a ladder, a window, a horses eye and many others. The scene then just cuts to static.