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Title: Children of the Corn

Year: 1984

Certificate: 18

Director: Fritz Kiersch

Starring: Peter Horton, Linda Hamilton, R.G. Armstrong

The beginning sequence is a montage of shots of a run-down piece of farmland. The establishing shot is of an old-looking weathervane, with what looks like corn on it. This cuts to an image of a head of corn, the camera then panning across and down the stalks. It then cuts to a crane shot of the corn field, and then to a run down, unused harvester, then a shot of the harvester next to a barn, infront of which is a muddy track. It cuts to a close-up of the mud which is dry and cracked. The sound throughout this is diagetic, nothing but birds twittering, which is often used by this genre to establish the setting, and usually the back-story to the place.

The shot cuts to close up of chapel window, proclaiming a corn drought. There is the sound of the bell ringing. It zooms out to show the whole window on the side of a building, and then cuts to a shot of the bell ringing in the steeple. There is an insert of the time and place ‘Gatlin, Nebraska. Three Years Ago’.  Jump cuts to a close up of the doors of the chapel opening and the reverent and his congregation coming out and shaking hands. Here the sound is diagetic, people mumbling. It then cuts to zoom in low shot, focusing on a small boy and his dad. Cuts to a close up of the child’s face. The sound becomes asynchronous non-diagetic as the boy begins to narrate a voiceover. The shot cuts to the boy’s point of view, looking up at his father and the minister shaking hands. It jump cuts to close up of the boy again, as they turn and walk off camera.
The shot then cuts to an old couple in a diner being served. It pans round to the door, as the boy and his dad enter. The shot zooms out slightly as they approach the bar, a tracking shot follows kid to the counter. The dad talks to the boy and moves off camera.  Cuts to dad picking up the indoor payphone. And then cuts to the boy at the bar, then a close up of his face. The camera cuts to shot of ginger kid at what looks like a pinball machine. In  a point of view shot, the camera pans from behind to infront and back till he’s centre. It cuts to the boy, and then back to the ginger teenager ‘Malachi’. It then cuts to the door as two teenagers enter, and then back to a high mid-shot of the boy.

The shot types used here, especially the montage at the beginning, and the use of a voiceover are all things commonly used in this genre to create image, usually of a run-down town with a mystery, the café scene is the type usually used in conjunction with this.