Since our group have decided upon the genre we will be basing our film on as well as the actual storyline, we decided to look at some examples of previous As film openings that have relevance to what we are planning to do.
Here are a few that I like:
What I like about this film opening:
The mise-en-scène I like how it is easy to make a contrast between the two people through the use of costumes and props. For example, the first guy shown in the film opening is seen wearing smart clothes such as a blazer along with a suitcase in his right hand. The second guy also known a stye antagonist, however, can be seen dressed more trampy wearing all black (could symbolise death) with his hood up. This helps the audience to establish who the bad person or ‘villain’ will be in the whole film. Body posture and voice/tone also has been used effectively in the film opening in order to intrigue the audience. For example, towards the end of the short opening, the smartly dressed guy finally stops running and he stops and kneels down gasping for breath to make it look like he has actually been running for a long time thus adding to the realism of the film/chase. I also like how we do not see any close ups at all of the two men’s faces and this could add to the suspense atmosphere created, where we wanted to see if the man would catch the man who killed his wife, as the audience want to see who they are.
Music/Sound In the film opening, they use a range of non diegetic and diegetic sounds in order to add to the suspense atmosphere. For example, at the beginning, when the man has just witnessed his wife being murdered in the block of flats, we hear the sound of screaming which makes the scene look more realistic otherwise we would not know why the man looks up deciding to run. Music has been incorporated into the opening and has been played all throughout. It is fairly quiet at the beginning and then as the man witnesses his wife being murdered, the pitch of the music begins to change to a much more deeper tone at a higher volume which signifies a change in mood/atmosphere.
Titles/Transitions I also like the use of titles and transitions in this film opening. For example at the beginning, titles are used in order to inform the audience of who produced the movie as well as who the actors and directors are etc. The choice of colour was also good as we could read it clearly without it blending in with the actual filming
Camera Shots A variety of camera shots/angles/movements were used in the film opening such as the establishing shot being a long shot to show the setting of the scene. A high angle long shot has also being incorporated where it looks like it has been taken on a bridge, and this also helps the audience to establish the setting if they didn’t already know where he was from the establishing shot. The fact that the shot has been taken from behind him gives the impression that someone may be watching him. Panning has also been used on the man chasing the antagonist as he turns the corner to go through the doors. The effect of this allows the audience to follow his route/footsteps as if we were actually in that scene watching him.
By Sophie.C
yardproductions 