Country Strong: Opening sequence analysis

Country Strong film poster 

Country Strong is a drama/music film starring Gwyneth Paltrow, directed by Shana Feste. The storyline is about a famous country-music artist who tries to live the life she did before hitting rock bottom with personal issues between her and her husband. She falls in love behind her husbands back with another rising country songwriter, but more complications occur on their journey to the top. The opening scene starts with an audience clapping whilst the titles start to appear on screen, written in a cream, elegant font on a black background. The man is speaking over the titles, his voice has an echo loud effect, we assume he is on a stage and is using a microphone. So far the titles have represented to genre and the title of the film as we begin to imagine who this character is and how significant he is going to be in this film.

As the title of the film is shown on screen the title scrolls up and the background fades-in to a high angle shot panning down and zooming in to a local community centre where people are standing outside talking, and country trucks are parked outside. Meanwhile, the credits are still on screen showing in the bottom corners of the shots. Live country music starts playing as the camera pans inside the building showing us a fairly empty event with a few couples slow-dancing and children playing around. The trucks parked outside and the way people are dressed in cowboy boots, hats and buckle belts sets the scene of a country environment. The camera zooms in on the band playing and close-ups of the man singing are shown on screen telling us he is a significant character. We see close-ups of couples laughing and smiling, which tells us the film is a happy film and not a dark, thrilling film.

The start of this film lives up to the expectations of the audience. The audience it is targeted at expect to see and hear country music and everything else which is country just by looking at the name of the film. Audience begin to imagine the film and this film includes everything to make the narrative clear and goes on to be a outstanding movie.    

Phonebooth: Opening sequence analysis

Phone Booth film poster

Phone Booth is a thriller film, starring Collin Farrell and directed by Joel Schumacher. The plot is about a hard-working man in New York who enters a phone booth and is threatened to remain in there by a strange man on the phone, to eventually reveal all of his secrets. The film starts with a camera shot moving forward through clouds, the titles are on screen whilst this is occurring. They are written in a square shaped, old mobile texting font, in white, which is hard to see as the clouds are also white, therefore it is easily blended into the moving background and less attention and focus is put on the titles. Whilst this is presented there is also non-diegetic music playing in the background of a man singing, accompanied by a few backing vocalists. They are singing the words "Operator, give me some information", which are all connected to the theme of telephones. This makes us understand and coordinate everything that happens, back to the title.

Although the film is a thriller, this is not clear in the opening sequence as none of the use of text or sound represent a thriller. The next scene takes us from outer space passing a satellite and zooms into earth. Inside a phone and then a long shot of a man dressed in a suit on the phone. The setting around him is New York City, Times Square. Its is a very busy environment and loads of people are walking past so you get multiple sounds. We are shown close-ups of the men singing, slow motion, focus pulls on different people on the streets and split screens. Most of these people are on phones, which relates back to the title. A voiceover is put on of a man giving us some information about the population of New York, and information about phones. He then tells us about a phone booth we are shown a long shot and as he informs us about it the camera zooms into the people using it. After we are introduced to a man by a circle opening editing effect, as he is walking on the phone.

Already the opening sequence has made it clear that the film is going to based on phones. The title of the film and certain parts of the sequence makes it very clear for us to see that. Although the genre is not represented in the opening sequence, it does become clearer as the film goes on.

Lord of War: Opening sequence analysis

Lord of War film poster

Lord of War is a drama/thriller film, starring Nicolas Cage, directed by Andrew Niccol. Unfortunately I have not watched this film, so I am not able to inform you about the narrative, but I have watched the opening sequence and my personal opinion is that it is one of the best I have ever seen. The camera pans and tilts down, giving us a high angle shot of a warehouse. Men are shown working and moving heavy loads around. The opening titles are in thin, white capital letters. The use of non-diegetic music is quite folk rock and is well suited to the opening sequence. We are then taken into a industrial machine and follow a bullet and see how it is manufactured and packaged. When it is being packaged in a box, the cover is put on, which blacks out the scene and slowly, slowly gets opened up first by a solider then by a few men. With the object being a bullet it is obvious that the genre is a thriller and action film. The bullet it finally loaded into a gun, this shot is fascinating because it closely shows you how a gun works and what it looks like from within and how a tiny object can end a life, as we next see it being shot into the little boys head.

The idea of an opening sequence following an object fascinates and amazes me, because it is something, which is rarely done in film-making. It was an outstanding opening sequence.

The Tourist: Opening sequence analysis

The Tourist film poster

The Tourist is a action/romance film, starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. The narrative is about a tourist from America, Frank, as he is on a trip to Italy to fix his broken heart. Unfortunately he crosses paths with a mysterious woman called Elise who puts him on quite a voyage, but eventually it seems like fate. The opening sequence begins on a black backdrop with the titles appearing in a pale blue with red lines around it. The camera fades in to Elise walking down a street, with close-ups shown of her feet walking. She is dressed in all beige, looking very elegant and sophisticated, which already tells us a lot about her character. Her facial expressions do not express how she is feeling, so we are unsure on where she is going. We then see a few men watching her every move on a monitor, this attracts us to the film because we are interested in the character she is. She takes a seat in a cafe and gets handed over a letter shortly after. We see a close-up of the envelope and it has her name on it. The use of close-ups are shown in this particular scene to show us that she is sharing her confidentiality with the audience to give us an insight on the type of character she is. After the cutaway shot of the letter she takes a lit candle off the table and sets the letter on fire, she then gets up and leaves the money owed to the cafe for her order and leaves.

The use of monitors and the spying effect shows us that this film is a action film, also the softer side to Elise and her dress sense represents the romantic genre of the film and this is all well portrayed in the opening sequence, as we already know a lot by just watching the first few minutes. This film goes on to being a very intriguing and romantic film.

The Devil Wears Prada: Opening scene analysis

The Devil Wears Prada DVD cover

The Devil Wears Prada is a movie directed by David Frankel, starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway. The opening sequence begins with a black background, no music and the credits are rolling. The credits are written in beige and orange. Both credits have a old Hollywood feel to it, creating a feminine, fashionable start. The black background fades out and the scene fades in to a steamy and unclear surface. The camera follows down the surface, whilst the credits are shown and we see a hand enter the scene and wipes the steam off the mirror, which wipes off the titles and the reflection of Anne Hathaway brushing her teeth is shown. At the same time Suddenly I See by KT Tunstall starts playing, creating an upbeat, exciting tempo to the film. At this point we are immediately attracted to the film, we are aware of the genre of the film, which is a comedy/drama/romance and instantly want to see more. 


An establishing shot of New York City is on screen with "Devil Wears Prada" across it. Next we are shown multiple shots of different women getting dressed elegantly and fashionably. In comparison we are see Anne Hathaway getting dressed differently to the women shown. The women are putting on makeup, curling their eyelashes and choosing what to wear from a whole wardrobe of clothes. Whereas Anne does not bother putting as much effort into getting ready for the day as the other women are. They put on lipstick whereas she puts on lip-balm. We see this through close-ups and zooms, which helps us get an idea about the type of person the protagonist is. She arrives outside a tall building looking up, as the camera tilts up to what she is looking at. She goes inside with a long shot showing us how different she looks from all the other "glamorous" women walking into the same place. 


The opening scene ends with a medium shot of the lift doors opening, as anne walks out as she leads us into the film keeping us wondering where she is going and what she is going to do next. The whole film is absolutely brilliant and is definitely one of my all-time favourites. 

Changeling: Opening sequence analysis

Changeling film poster

Changeling is a drama/thriller film, based on a true story starring Angelina Jolie, directed by Clint Eastwood. The narrative of the film is about a mother, Christine Collins, who loses her son Walter after he is kidnapped anonymously. The L.A.P.D claim they found him, bringing back an impostor to show the public and news reporters that they are doing their job and to save their reputation. Christine is shaken and takes the boy in, but doesn't stop her journey to find her real son and what really did happen. 


The opening sequence gives us quite a large amount of information about the setting and narrative just by the use of establishing shots. Its begins with a black backdrop and non-diegetic music playing. The slow music playing consists of brass instruments, this creates an old and mysterious effect, which gives us an insight into the genre of the film. Along with this music, we see a teardrop running down the black backdrop, which creates a sad effect representing the drama genre, but also at the same time the use of black creates a dark, thriller genre telling us that this film is a bit of both. The titles begin to roll still using a black backdrop with plain, white writing and the exact music is still continuing. The music slowly, slows down and eventually stops, but straight away starts again this time with a slightly more relaxing, positive melody, this time using the piano. This instantly creates a positive atmosphere for the audience and they are really anticipating to watch the rest. 


The fade-in takes us into an almost black and white establishing shot of Los Angeles. We know the place and date because we are given the information at the centre of the screen saying, "Los Angeles. March 9, 1928". The lack of colour in the shot represents the information of date given to us, it tells us the story is old, and in the past everything was black and white, as in America it was called the "Jazz Age", which also tells us about the use of brass instruments in the beginning. As the camera tilts down we see some cars, which are very different to the ones used today. The use of old cars gives us some background information about that era. When one "Clover Dairy" vehicle passes the black and white colour fades and the shot turns into colour. Camera fades-out and we are taken into a house by a camera pan as Christine Collins is woken up by her alarm clock and she puts on the radio and wakes her son Walter up. Then we are taken into the film, dialogue is exchanged between the characters, which gives us knowledge about the type characters they are. We then get closeups of a moving tram and camera pan of the different people sitting on the tram, in relation, the mise-en-scene is different, which is the clothes, hair and makeup they are wearing is unlike the twenty-first century style and more like the 1920s with the top hats, long coats and broadsheet newspapers. 


Already we are given a lot of information by the specific detail in mise-en-scene, such as the old radios and newspapers. All of this gets us slightly interested in the film as it is different to other opening sequences, because most of them begin focused on an individual character whereas this one is more focused on the setting and place, which is important and gives you a interesting insight and opinion into the movie. On the whole it is a very enlightening opening sequence and the film itself is absolutely beautiful and gripping.   
          

Forest Gump: Opening scene analysis

Forrest Gump film poster.

Forest Gump is a movie directed by Robert Zemeckis, starring Tom Hanks. A fade in takes us into the scene showing us a blue sky, the titles are in a plain, white, round and almost swirly font that sets the genre of the film, which is a drama/comedy/romance. The use of non-diegetic sound starts off quiet and delicate, which may be representing the feather as we follow its journey. The journey of the feather starts off high up in the sky. The camera begins to tilt down and follow the feather as it blows in different directions to eventually land somewhere. We are shown buildings at first, then as the feather continues we see trees, cars, people and roads. The feather finally lands next to a man's shoes, this is shown to us by a close-up. He picks up the feather and takes a look at it before opening his briefcase/suitcase and placing it inside a book. At this point we are completely drawn to this character, because of the items in his case, such as clothes. This already sets the story for us and leads us into the story wanting to know who this character is and what his story is about. Overall it is a fantastic opening scene, which is very simply done.  


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7voy1vit6Y   -(Forrest Gump- Opening Scene)

Preliminary exercise- Evaluation

Today I have completed my preliminary exercise. The sequence was under a minute long and I really enjoyed the task. My favourite part of this task was the editing, this is because I really enjoyed looking back at everything I had filmed and also I was able to learn new skills and use my creativity to cut different shots, in order to put them together with different effects.

 For my sequence to attract to a audience I used a soft sense of suspense and mystery, I showed this by not revealing what the letter was about and by not giving a lot of dialogue to the actors, so this created an effect where the audience might be waiting to find out and wanting to know, which attracts them more to the narrative. Using Final Cut and camera equipment has really made me more comfortable with using both of these, I now feel prepared with all the challenges I faced in my preliminary to continue and take what I have learnt into making my final piece.