Film Opening Scene Research Task
Camera work – Long shot
of a man throwing money in the air,
Sound – Guitar,
Editing – Slow motion to show the intensity between the people still
alive in the sequence and the ‘zombies’ who are trying to kill them. When the
man with the crowbar breaks the window, it’s as if he interacts with the title
sequences name because as he breaks it the letters get shattered
This is a successful opening scene because it shows that some sort of
virus killed a lot of people who changed into zombies and the zombies are
killing every single living person left,
Camera work – Mid-shot of the army guy petting the horse, Establishing
shot of a person on a horse in the opening scene revealing the surrounding area
filled with dusty effect and the lighting is based in the centre of the scene
with everything surrounding the middle is darker and darker which connotes the
unknown for this character on the horse at this time.
Sound – violin and chorus males singing in the background, the horse,
footsteps, at the end we hear violin playing a positive vibe sound as the
character climbs on the tank
Editing – Creates the army person who kills the guy on horse as the
survivor and he is represented as the antagonist in the film.
This is a successful opening scene because it sets-up the tone for the
whole film of gruesome deaths in war.
Camera work – A mid shot of the bank, a close-up shot of the wheels of
the car, mid shot of the characters going to the bank, a close-up of the
drivers face revealing the intensity of the situation and the drivers reaction
of what is happening, a rapid close-up of the bank alarm as it goes off, an
extreme close-up on the characters hand as he operates the manual, a close-up
of the speedometer to show the speed which allows the audience to feel the same
rush as the characters on screen
Sound – The music is in sync with the action happening in the sequence,
this music is diegetic for the driver, sync such as car doors opening/closing,
wind-screen cleaner, the police siren is also in sync and the gun shots of the
shotgun in the bank, the bank alarm, engine start-up sound, the sounds the car
makes while driven such as engine sound, tire screech, braking and handbrake
also very well sync with the music, the traffic camera shot, car honk sounds,
when they drive into the cement parking spot, every time the camera shot
captures the car going by a cement block it follows the music’s rhythm, the car
producing sounds of the car doors open also sync. The sound of the robbers
being in the bank and threating the staff is half-muted to give the sense of
them being in the bank
Editing – Makes the audience support the criminals and be against the
police,
This is a successful opening scene because the music flows with the
action happening on screen, this allows the audience to engage with the action
and feel excited of what is happening on screen.
Camera work – Aerial shot in the first scene revealing the city at night
in Manhattan, Close-Up shot reviling the persons’ face on the motorcycle, A
mid-shot turns into a long shot as the motorcycles crashes into the car, a
close-up, low angle shot of the characters feet as he opens the door and exits
the vehicle to take a golden card from the motorcyclist, as he retrieves the
card the shot turns into an over-the-shoulder shot and back to a low angle as
the character gets back into his car
Sound – Reveals a motorcycle travelling at a very fast speed and a
crash. There is some beat music rhythm coming into the scene at a steady pace
when the character in the car is revealed chasing the person on the motorcycle
the beat off the music follows the action, we hear guitar being added half-way
through. The music stops when the character on the motorcycle crashes into the
car he was being chased in, we only hear the engine sound of the car which is
diegetic and the non-diegetic music changes the tone of the scene by playing a
western type music when the character in the suit retrieves a golden card from
the person on the motorcycle lying down on the floor. We hear no dialogue
between the characters we only hear the music playing in the background, the
sounds the cars and motorcycle produce such as tyre screech and engine sound,
we hear other cars honking their cars to connate danger for the two characters
been shown on screen.
Editing – We see a projector projecting onto a building a scene showing
us someone crashing into some barrels in black and white which mirrors the same
action that is happening in the real world of a biker falling off his
motorcycle. The editing makes the person on the motorcycle seem weak,
powerless, frightened because he kept turning around and was out of breath when
he was looking behind for the person he was being chased by.
This is a successful Opening Sequence because it sets-up John Wick’s
character in the second instalment, even though we don’t see his face in the
sequence we can still tell that he is ruthless from his driving skills and the
eager of catching the person on the motorcycle and the sequence flows at a
fast-pace making the audience feel hyped for the film.
Camera work – Camera-held in the first scene to show the audience the
danger on the bridge and as the camera was shaking it added suspense and when people
were running in the next scene, Long shot of a blue lightning underwater, Mid-shot of people in the hospital
struggling, frightened, Establishing shot and an Aerial shot of Manhattan to
show the atmosphere of the film, we could see that the buildings are smoking
and are in the process of destruction, Aerial shot from a helicopter recording
the news and the destroyed buildings, Low-Angle of people holding hands with
each other standing in line, Extreme-Close-Up revealing the persons’ infected
eye and as blood comes out of his nose the focus changes from his eye to his
nose, High-Angle and an Over the shoulder of a kid looking up at the robot,
Cuts to a black screen. An aerial-shot of the military boat delivering a
skeleton of a monster
Sound – Non-diegetic sounds
of typing computer graphics words, Narration of someone explaining the events
happening on screen, music plays in a up-beat and as if an echoed morse-code.
Electricity and fire sounds underwater, violin, camera shots
Diegetic sounds As
the bridge gets destroyed we hear sounds of wires being torn apart from each
other, cars body parts such as windows smashing, the sound of cars and parts of
the bridge landing into water this creates suspense towards the whole film of
what to expect, Military jet planes creating aerodynamic sounds,
radio-dispatcher in the jet, Cars honks, Alarm triggered in the hospital, Shots
fired in the background, buildings getting destroyed by the monster, water,
birds, computer generators, people cheering for the robot, fish swimming in
water, fire, news reporter, clapping, fire burning a sculpture out of hay
Editing – Flash backs to give more detail to the audience about the
plot, the narration flows with the editing shown on screen, the sequence flows
at a rapid-speed of destruction, makes the humans seem weak, powerless,
hopeless and the monsters are shown as villains, shows us different events that
are happening around the world at different times, when the controlled robot
hits the monster the scenes switch to a different location,
This is a successful opening scene because it tells the audience what
the film will be about without revealing much of the plot so the sequence is
mostly set in the past, brings tension of the events seen on screen and in the
background, shows different locations to see different perspectives of the
events happening. Reveals all the destruction happening on screen which gets
the audience hooked onto the film. The audience can predict either the monsters
get killed off or earth will die. The opening sequence isn’t confusing meaning
people who don’t have any clue what the film will be about have the ability to
follow the story shown.
Sasha
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting your research. You demonstrate evident knowledge and understanding of film opening sequences. You use a good range of genre specific films and as you progress through the analysis it becomes more detailed comment - as you warm to the task, for example you have brief comment on Horror – Zombieland. Do try to add as many images as you can to the blog post entries. You do need to address the last part of the research activity and evaluate the differences and similarities of different film opening sequences.