the orphanage (el orfanato)

Film Background:
The Orphanage (Spanish: El Orfanato) is a 2007 Spanish-language horror film and the debut feature of Spanish filmmaker Juan Antonio Bayona. The film stars Belén Rueda as Laura, Fernando Cayo as her husband, Carlos, and Roger Príncep as their adopted son Simón. The plot centers on Laura, who returns to her childhood home, an orphanage. Laura plans to turn the house into a home for disabled children, but a problem arises when she and Carlos realize that Simón believes he has a masked friend named Tomás with whom he will run away. After an argument with Laura, Simón is found to be missing.

Opening scene.
Camera:
During the memory sequence at the very beginning of the opening scene the camera will always follow the same little girl, which we later find to be Simóns mother, she remains at the centre of focus throughout the flashback, however there is a moment of shot-reverse-shot between Simóns mother and a woman who works at the orphanage.  The dream sequence begins with an establishing or master shot which sets the scene and foreshadows where the action will take place, there is then a vertical track down towards the girl hitting the tree and counting
During the opening credits we see a very clammy grey coloured arm reach in slowly revealing more flesh and a grey sleeve the hand of this person, which can be assumed to be a child as it looks like the arm of a young girl, however, that is a personal opinion, is seen to then scratch at the grey wallpaper background revealing a bright crimson and gold wallpaper with the same design there are also tears and cracks in the wall, i will talk about this more and discuss the connotations and semiotics of such a shot later in this article
The camera uses a conventional horizontal track which goes through the wall while the woman is heading to tend to her adopted son Simón, (we do not know it is Simón at this point however).
Editting
The editting used in the beginning of this film was seamless or continuity editing, this is where the cuts between shots are fluid and barely noticeable, however there are a few slow cuts but music is played over the top of the cut to mask the edit, this is a media technique
Sound:
The music begins very sweet and innocent during the memory sequence but then once the opening credits begin the music builds up causing tension and has an eerie sense to it
Mise En Scéne:
A big house close to the sea (lighthouse depicted during Simóns nightscares)
The scene starts in a birght summer place looking very picturesque, completely opposite to the conventions of English and American horrors
Now i am going to talk to you about Semiotics as forementioned
Sign - Orphans in grey dresses
Signifier - Represents school? Group? Shows uniform
Signified - they belong in that set group and that this is a part of them, also the grey conveys a sense of unhappiness
Sign - Wallpaper, Grey-Crimson/Gold
Signifier - The ripping of the paper, the fact that something is not right
Signified - The ripping hints at something being broken or changed, or even that something has been covered up by this grey paper, there is also the colours to consider the red is known to be symbollic of - rage, anger, courage, longing, malice and wrath all things which could be portrayed in this film, and the grey symbolises unhappiness and has a dull sense about it, you could also talk about the gold pattern meaning wisdom, however again that is a  personal opinion