The overall feeling produced by the opening scene of the film M I would describe as one of impending danger and loss.
First, we are shown a circle of children innocently playing a rather sinister game which forebodes what will later happen in the film and what we will soon see and hear has already happened: the abduction and murder of a child by a mysterious menacing man. This scene is shot from above, which gives the eerie sense that someone is watching.
Next we see the mother of Else, the murder's next victim, as she prepares dinner for her daughter who is anticipated home from school