Opening Sequences

What I have learnt from analysing these opening sequences is that, when I make my own, this is what I should attempt to include:

• Typical conventions and iconography to hint strongly to the viewer that the sequence is of the 'thriller' genre.
• The main character of the film must be one of the first people seen or heard in the opening sequence.
• Small things which hint at aspects of their characteristics and identity. They must be simply portrayed, without too much detail.
• Camera movement, shots and angles must all focus mainly on the character and their motions/activities, to show their importance and reveal status.
• They must also preferably show the setting and hint at narrative.
• To add tension and decrease tension, alter the pace of the editing, music, sounds and action.
• Keep the lighting and colours appropriate to the subject matter and genre; dark and/or cold.
• Mise-en-scene should also hint at narrative, characteristics, setting, time, location etc. This should be done using props such as clothing, equipment, makeup etc.
• Most importantly, the opening sequence should leave the audience with questions they want answered. This will intrigue them to keep watching.

'Hard Candy' Opening Sequence Analysis

TITLES:

• Lion's Gate Films


• Vulcan Productions

The screen is bright white, with only 2 black lines on it, which gives the appearance of the edges of walls of a doorway. There is also a red square which moves around screen and where it moves, titles appear in simple black font. The lines on screen move around and change too, but they always look like they are outlines of parts of a room such as skirting board, windows and doors. This may show that something is ever changing and not what it seems.

*Click here to watch the title sequence*

This may also be so that we get an idea of a room that is shown later on in the film and is of some importance.

The colours contrast really well. The shocking red against the bright white really stands out. The red may stand for blood, passion, lust, death. The white might stand for innocence, purity, goodness. This may mean that something may tarnish some one's innocence.

SOUND:

• Non-diagetic: the music during the titles is reminiscent of a music box or lullaby, this makes it seem (as we know it is a thriller) quite eerie. It also, reminds you of children and childhood so it suggests age is a strong factor in the film.


• Diagetic: The sound of silence is prominant, there is a really low frequency hum which is barely noticeable. The only noise made is the sound of typing and the notification 'ding' sound that the computer makes when a message is received and sent. This puts emphasis on the conversation and how it is not in person.


• Once the girl sends the last part of the conversation saying goodbye and clicks 'enter', the screen goes black and the low frequency hum of the sound of silence cuts out. This makes it seem very final and menacing; like what has been done cannot be 'undone'.

CAMERA:

• stays as an extreme close up of the screen, only changing angles and positions every now and again to keep the audience's interest and to focus on different parts of the conversation.

MISE-EN-SCENE:

• The first thing you see is in black and white and its an extreme close up of a computer screen and the conversation going on it on an instant messaging programme.


• As the conversation goes on, the conversation matter changes from flirting to actual plans to meet up. When this happens, the screen changes from black and white into colour, emphasising the importance of the plans.

CHARACTERS:

• It introduced to us two characters, known only by their screen names; 'thonggrrrl14' and 'Lensman319' , and we know that it is the former character whose computer we are looking at as you can see what she types before it is sent to the other character.


• You don't see any physical people, but you witness a conversation happening. The messages they are sending to each other are filled with shameless flirting and banter, this shows us the relationship they have and what kind of people they are.


• The character 'thonggrrrl14' mentions her big sister, showing that she is quite young


• Lensman319 has a camera as his icon, linking this with his screen name, shows he might like photography or that he is a photographer.

To me, it seems like the 2 characters have met online and have some feelings for eachother. The slight hints about age make me feel like there is some unethical behaviour going on here. Thonggrrrl14 seems to be quite young. The way she 'speaks', her screen name (the repetition of letters in the word 'grrrl' (girl) shows she is young, and having the number 14 suggests that she is, in fact, 14yrs old), and the mention of her 'big sister', hints at a youthful person. The screen name Lensman319, suggests the character is older because it says 'man' and the subject matter he talks about seems more adult too. This reveals to me that Lensman might be an older boy or even a pedophile and that 'thonggrrrl14' is his next victim. As it seems he likes photography, I assume that, following stories of girls hoping for their 'big break' who get kidnapped by men disguising themselves as photographers, that he may have promised her the chance to be a famous model or something along those lines.

NARRATIVE:

The characters meet online and decide to meet up. The events that occur after that will be based on the fact he is older than her and how unethical his intentions may be.

WHAT KEEPS US WATCHING?

it makes us ask questions:

• Who are these characters?


• How old are they?


• When did they meet?


• How do they feel about each other?


• What will happen when they meet up?


• Is he a pedophile?


• Are they who they seem?


• Is he a photographer?
  
• Is she in danger?
  
• WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT??

'District 9' Opening Sequence Analysis

TITLES:

• Tristar a Sony Pictures Entertainment company: the film should have a good budget as it is a well known company.

CONVENTIONS:

• aliens, spaceships, fighting, discontent, government, a larger force trying to be in control of other things-these are all conventions of a sci-fi thriller

MISE-EN-SCENE:

• A man with a microphone being interviewed
  
• office behind him
  
• props: computers, phones, uniforms etc


• Aliens (aka Prawns)


• Spaceship
  
• Other Interviewees

CHARACTERS:

• the man is the first person we hear and see. He is the main focus of the first few shots and seems to be important throughout the whole of the opening sequence.
• We learn that he is working in an office, one that handles alien issues.
• He seems to be quite slow, nervous and slightly unintelligent by the way he fumbles about with the microphone not knowing where to put it and taking so long with it. Also, in the way he rambles on about his wife and doesn't know where to look whilst talking.
• He is from Johannesburg.
• His name is shown on the corner of the screen, as is his occupation.

CAMERA AND EDITING:

• looks like an interview and/or documentary-has the character's name and occupation at the left hand corner of the screen and is constantly focused on the character without movement at a medium/close up level.


• Some shots look like they are taken from a hand held camera as it wavers, zooms and focuses within the shot. This is predominantly when filming the spaceship so it looks like a civilian has filmed it or as if an official person who is an untrained cameraman has been hired to document the goings on.

• quick shots and camera movements to show destruction. Makes it seem more panicky and rushed.

SOUND:

• the muffling of the microphone being moved about


• the dialogue of the main character, the interviewer and the other interviewees


• the prawns


• the sound of the drill cutting into the spaceship


• these are all diagetic sounds which all seem to be part of the 'documentary'.

WHAT KEEPS US WATCHING?

It is a very unconventional way of filming and that intrigues us.

It also makes us ask lots of questions:

• why did the spaceship break down?


• Did the ship actually break down or is that a cover?


• what will happen to the aliens?


• why do the people disrespect them?
  
• whats going to happen?
  
• what is the man's role in all of the future events?


• are the aliens hostile?


• will they get to go back to their planet?

NARRATIVE:

• I think that the film is about an alien spaceship which has broken down over Johannesburg. The aliens inside are trapped and when the humans free them they create a horrible slum for them to live in. It seems that the aliens are treated unfairly and unethically and that events will progress from there. The man introduced at the very start will be a main character in the film, and, due to the fact he seems to be quite clumsy and awkward, something bad will happen to him.

*click here to watch the first 5 minutes of the film.*

'Sin City' Opening Sequence Analysis

TITLES:

• Dimension Films and Trouble Maker Studios are not well known, meaning that perhaps the budget for this film was not as large as it could have been if been made by other companies.


• It skips right ahead to some action and doesn't wait for the opening titles to finish first. This may be used to separate this event from the future ones and/or to put some importance on it.

LIGHTING AND COLOURS:

• The opening sequence is all in black and white, with only a few accent colours such as red (of the woman's dress and lipstick-representing blood, death, passion, lust?) and green (the woman's eyes- to emphasise the man's compliment, show that there is some importance to them?).
• The lighting is reminiscent of film Noir, black and white in colour as well as the dark shadows and contrasting light on subjects needing emphasis.

• Changes slightly, in the way that it stays black and white, but whilst the man and woman are kissing, they change into white silhouettes and the rain turns white as well making is seem more like an animation or comic/graphic novel.

CHARACTERS:

• Narrator- is also the man speaking in the scene. He gives us an overview of whats happening and uses poetic and beautiful language making it seem like a romantic scene.


• He is also apparently an assassin/murderer who has been sent on a job.


• Woman in red- the victim of this man, seems very trusting but, according to the dialogue, had something to hide and something to run from.

SOUNDS:

• Diagetic: Police siren, rain, lighter, dialogue between characters, footsteps and the gunshot.


• Non-diagetic: Jazzy Saxophone music: stereotypically seen as romantic, sexual music, which is also quite old fashioned and more associated with older films. This matches in well with the black and white, but it contrasts with the fact the man, who seems very romantic and lovely at the beginning, kills the woman by the end of the 3 minute long section of the opening sequence I watched.

Camera:

• LS- to show where the characters are, on a balcony over looking a city.
  
  
  
  
• MS- to show characters- man walking up to the woman

• CU-To show facial expressions and reactions of the characters, also used, in this case, to show when the woman's eyes turn bright green (envy?).
  
  

  

• CU- of cigarettes
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Shot-reverse-shot to show dialogue

• High angle- when the woman dies- used to be dramatic as this is a typical shot that was used in dramatic scenes in romance films.
  
• all the shots kept a tight focus on the characters and their motions.

ICONOGRAPHY:

• Red (symbolising blood), guns, police sirens, rain, darkness- these are all very stereotypical of dark thriller films.

Also, cigarettes, expensive suits and elegant dresses can all be linked in with some kind of mafia gang, which could mean that this is a gangster thriller


WHAT QUESTIONS DO WE ASK?

• Why did he kill her?
  
• Who was she?


• Who is he?


• What was she running from?


• Who paid him to do it?
  
• Does someone get revenge?


• What happens next?

NARRATIVE:

• What i learnt from the section of the opening sequence that I watched was that the film may be based around this man. One of the main focuses may be the fact he is an assassin and thus, the film may be based around who he kills, who he kills for, why he kills and what the results of these killings are.


• It being called Sin City makes me assume that the city the film is set in, is not your average city and is filled with unethical organisations and people. This is also emphasised by the noise of the police sirens at the beginning.

The real narrative of the film is more complex. I used Wikipedia to find out the plot and found that there are many sections to the film and that the characters I saw in the opening sequence are not the only main characters. The film goes on to a selection of different stories, following different characters, but my main focus is the start. My interpretation of the narrative is not completely incorrect, nor is it completely accurate. I thought the man was an assassin and that he was sent by someone to kill the woman. This is true, but it turns out that the woman sent for him to kill her, so it is essentially her committing suicide. She had previously been in a relationship with a mobster who, when she decided to end the relationship, said he would kill her in a most terrible way. She decides that she doesn't want to find out what this terrible way of dying will include and uses her contacts to hire the assassin to take her life so she doesn't have to suffer and 'run' anymore.










*Click on the above picture to watch the opening sequence*

'What Lies Beneath' Opening Sequence Analysis.

TITLES:

• 20th Century Fox: shows that they have a large budget and can afford to have famous actors/actresses (such as Harrison Ford and Michelle Pfeiffer) in their films.
• The title first appears underwater and fades back into it. This shows that water will be of some importance later on in the film.

• The titles appear in a white colour, tinted with blue. This, along with the mist around it, adds to the cold and ghostly feel to the opening.

MISE EN SCENE:

• Lighting: it is quite cold, reflecting the overall tone of the opening sequence.
• Straight after the titles just for a few seconds you see, what you presume to be, the face of a dead woman. It then quickly changes to a close up of the main character's face. This shows that there may be a connection between the two.



• The woman in the bath is the main focus of the first scene. This shows that the woman is the main character and that the bathroom, especially the bath, has some significance.
  
• She also has quite a large house, this may mean she is waelthy, but it also makes her seem more alone.
• Next, she opens the curtains which reveals to us that there is a large lake by her house. Once again, this makes water seem very significant.

COLOURS:

The main colours in the opening sequence are black, when the titles are playing, and white, the colour of the titles, the bathroom and the woman's clothes. Showing that there is a contrast between dark and light and that could mean that something 'dark' and horrible will happen but after that there will be 'light' and contentedness will resume or it could be that maybe someone who seems good (the light/white) is not what they seem (darkness/black).

SOUNDS:

• During he titles, there is 'haunting' music played. It is predominantly music from a high pitched piano and violin, both of which have 'creepy' connotations.
• Then there are the diagetic sounds of the woman gasping for air. This reveals that something isn't right, that she is panicking and/or that she is scared.
• Silence: throughout the scene, there are no other noises in the background. This draws the audience's attention to the noises the character makes (gasping, the hairdryer etc), putting importance onto them and making it seem like she is alone.

CAMERA MOVEMENTS:
The main camera movements are slow and flowing, keeping direct focus on the woman. This shows how she is important in the film, and the slow movements make it seem calm, but also more 'spooky' and 'eerie'.


WHAT CAPTURES THE AUDIENCE'S INTEREST?

• The opening sequence leaves us with lots of questions which intrigues and makes us want to carry on watching to find out the answers. Here are some that I came up with:
• What's the significance of the face under the water?
• Why is she under water?
• Whose face is it?
• Is she dead?
• What is the link between the face and the main character?
• What is the significance of water?

But mainly, the big question is;

What is going to happen next?

NARRATIVE:

There is not much given away in this opening sequence. All we know is that water (more specifically the bath or lake) is important and so is the female character introduced to us. There is also the 'dead' face that is shown underwater to us for milliseconds after the title. To me, this adds up to the possibility that the woman may be murdered or drowned and her body will be left, or discovered, in the lake. That, or the main character discovers the body herself.

Also, the way that, when you see the 'dead' woman's face, her eyes open, this means to me that she may come back to haunt someone or come back from the dead to get revenge or justice.



(Click on this photograph to get to the YouTube clip I used to watch the opening sequence.)