JD - Technical Analysis - 'Signs'

The opening of 'Signs'(Shyamalan, 2002) begins with the 'Touchstone Pictures' and 'Blinding Edge Pictures' titles, both of which fade to black. Then a blue circle fades in and non-diagetic music starts. The music begins as slow and 'pulsing' at the beginning with the titles cutting to the rhythm of the music, and then suddenly becomes fast and ominous with the titles still fading in and out over the blue circle. The music helps to build up a lot of dramatic tension before it suddenly stops and the blue circle fades out to black.
There is then a shot of a window of a back garden and the edge of a crop field, which then pans into the room. It cuts to a close up of a photo of family of 2 parents with their 2 children and in the same shot a man suddenly lifts his head up into the shot breathing in suddenly and heavily. It then cuts to a medium shot from the end of the bed of the man sitting up. It then cuts again to him opening the door of his bedroom and walking towards the camera. Then there is a motivated cut to a close up of him listening through a door that appears to be into a childs room from the pictures stuck on the door. It then cuts to a medium shot of the man walking away from the door and picking up socks off of the floor and throwing them into a basket. Then it jump cuts to a medium shot through a bathroom door. We then hear a long childs scream during the same shot and the man jumps into view from the right of the door holding a toothbrush. All the sound in these shots are diagetic (doors opening, footsteps) and help the shots seem more 'realistic' and make you feel more like you are there.
The introduction to this film helps to create an enigma for the rest of the film, as the girls' screams create a mysterious feel to the introduction.