Research- Film Openings Initial Research

I have looked at many different film openings, over 15 to be precise, and I have been trying to find out just what is expected of a film opening, and what is typical to be seen in the first few minutes of a film. I have looked at films from the genres:

• Romantic-Comedy
• Horror/Slasher
• Action
• Period Drama

The first thing that I noticed is that the most effective film openings do not start off with the title scenes but have an opening shot which then cuts into the title scenes. The opening shot usually consist of the introduction of the main character, and having certain signifiers that anchor the characteristics of the main character. You would also expect to see a narrative enigma, which would then usually be explained later on into the film.

I watched many film openings, but here are 4 of the best ones that I watched:

Sin City (2005) Directed by Frank Miller

• Sin City flashes in red on the title sequence to signify blood and death.
• The nick name Sin City is also the nick name for Las Vegas and comes into the name because of violence (Basin City).
• The film is based on 4 comic books.
• Narrative Enigma: Who are the two characters, and why did the man shoot this women?
• Counter type as man is a prostitute, and women is not.
• Film Noir: Film genre populated in America with a lot of shadow used in production.
• Male and Female dressed nicely signifies upper class.
• Only women in red dress and red lipstick is shown in color, this signifies that she is going to get killed as it makes her look like she has blood on her.
• Non-Diegetic music of slow saxophone that does not change so there is no indication of when the shooting will happen.
• Diegetic sound of police sirens to signify a lot of crime in the city.
• $40 000 000 budget.

East is East (2000) Directed by Damian o'Donnell

• Budget £1,900,000
• Won 9 awards and was nominated for 12.
• Hybrid Genre: Social realism and Comedy.
• Music is played by a band named Blue Mirth (1999), this brings across an appeal to older audiences.
• Terrace houses signify working class and also have an intertextual reference to Corination Street because of the high angle shot.
• Typical English dull weather.
• Brass trumpet connotes comedy to a British audience.
• Asian people holding cross of Jesus, while looking happy, showing they feel apart of British Culture.
• No Core Protagonist shown yet.
• Fast cuts to show as many characters as possible, also appeals to a younger audience.
• White blonde girl signifies typical 'Blonde' character.
• Binary opposition of fat women next to blonde character.
• Narrative Enigma: Why are the kids not in mosch with dad rather than in a christian parade.
• Pigeons showing negative stereotype to Northern England.
• Dutch angle used, as kids run away, to signify that something is not right.
• While kids run, they are happy and do not understand the vast difference between Christianity and Muslim.

300 (2006) Directed by Zack Snyder

• Warner Brothers sign has been changed to look both rusty and dinted. This signifies the rusty location.
• Warner Brothers sign made to look like shield.
• Music used (Drumming) to create a irregular heartbeat for the audience to help create tension.
• Sound of a slashing blade to signify fighting and action genre.
• Rusty cloud cover on the Warner Brothers sign is used because the Spartans is all about Gods and the cloud cover is showing God covering.
• Lightning in background used to also create an irregular heartbeat.
• '300' looks like blood on the title, this has an intertextual reference to Scream.
• First shot we see is skulls which signifies there will be a lot of deaths in the film.
• Skulls shown in opening has an intertextual reference to Terminator.
• Close up used on baby's face to show its innocence.
• The baby is seen as being 'dark' because half of his face is covered by shadow.
• Bright white lighting on man signifies this man is a 'God' figure.
• Dutch angle used to show something is not right.
• Music used to build more tension.
• Black background of child signifies evil.
• Exaggerated Diegetic Sounds played.

iRobot (2004)

• Produced by Fox.
• Slow-paced music gets more dramatic.
• No recognition of Producer or Director.
• Titles give a little information of film.
• Titles fade in and out from action.
• The background of titles is mixed into the opening scene.
• Fast pace editing, this appeals to a younger audiance. 
• Genre appears to be horror, but is actually action.
• Titles bubble out to create an under-water effect.
• Close up shot of male waking up shows to audiance that this was just a dream.
• Central protagonist used on Will Smith, a well known actor.
• Diagetic music played as CD Player turns on.
• Music levels go higher and lower to create tension.