MOCK EXAM – Film Opening Analysis

Directors use many techniques to engage the viewer during the first 2-3 minutes of a film.

When looking at how to engage the audience, it is mainly worth considering that opening scenes must, if at least, vaguely explain or establish the genre of the film that the audience is about to watch. When looking at films such as ‘Toy Story’, this is established by the childlike nature of the opening scene, which establishes that the audience is not about to watch a thriller for instance. When looking at films such as ‘Reservoir Dogs’, the genre of the film is only loosely established by means of the titles being plain and “boringly” presented, and the opening scene beginning with a conversation that is evidently not child friendly. The editing is cleverly done by means of panning the camera around the table where a group of 8 men are having a conversation, and cuts are made as the camera pans around the table and behind someone’s suit. When looking at how this engages the audience, it is simply because of how well constructed the scene is due to its slight ambiguity and questionable relevance to the rest of the film.

There are only a few hints given to the audience as to who the characters are – their accents strikingly resemble that of stereotypical gangsters, their clothing consists mainly of suits and ties etc. – another stereotype. Lastly their conversation topic is most likely that of a “typical” group of men in their 30s – a conversation including degrading slurs about women, especially that the girl featured in the song “Like A Virgin” by Madonna is a “regular cooze” who is a “regular fuck machine”. This conversation helps highlight that the characters in the film are most likely not very “nice guys”, however it also helps to humanise them before the main plot to the film actually starts, as it has probably been suspected by now that their roles in the film are not that of an innocent nature. This again helps engage the audience due to the ambiguity of the opening being very prominent.

When considering sound, music is especially important when hoping to engage the audience, therefore the use of music that helps set the genre of the film is very important. When looking at ‘Reservoir Dogs’, the music used is that of diegetic nature, as the opening scene is based in a café. Although this does not give the audience many ideas about the genre of the film, it does, once again, help to humanise the characters in the film, and in doing so engaging the audience to find out more.

[FILM OPENINGS] ‘ALLES IS LIEFDE’ – 2007

Alles Is Liefde is a Dutch romantic comedy, directed by Joram Lürsen , and starring Carice van Houten, Paul de Leeuw, Wendy van Dijk and Daan Schuurmans. It is rated as a film for all ages.

The film is set during the Dutch celebration called Sinterklaas, which typically includes Sinterklaas himself arriving from ‘Spain’ by steamboat. This is the main reason why the film is eligible to be watched by all ages, as ‘Sinterklaas’ is a holiday that both children and adults enjoy.

The opening begins with a non-diegetic narration, explaining what you believed in when you were younger, as the camera pans over old pictures of children enjoying Sinterklaas. Though the narration starts off positive, remembering good memories that many people would relate to regarding their childhood, the subject quickly changes to how quickly we grow up, and how ‘spinach doesn’t give you strength’,’Holland will never win the World cup’, and ‘Sinterklaas doesn’t exist’. It then goes on to say how love is just like Sinterklaas – if you don’t believe in it, it will amount to nothing.

Following the narration, the film opens with Dean Martin’s “You’re Nobody Till Somebody Loves You” playing as non-diegetic music. The music helps to set the mood and atmosphere for the film and gives us an idea of what the story is about.

The film then continues to follow the busy everyday life setting of different families as they get their children ready to enjoy the arrival of Sinterklaas. Throughout the opening, the camera cuts to various scenes depicting the different struggles that different families are experiencing in their lives, which helps to establish the genre as a romantic comedy due to the humour and mild swearing used in the clips.

Before Sinterklaas is scheduled to arrive, however, the man dressing up as him dies of a heart attack, sending the whole crew in panic. Luckily another man is readily available to take his place, and therefore the celebration can continue. The addition of this scene, also gives the audience a general feeling of what the film will contain throughout it (i.e. tragedy followed by joy). After this scene, the film’s title appears on screen – ‘Alles Is Liefde’ in red font, which then emits small red hearts as the title music starts to play. This scene provides a brief sense of relief for the audience, as the music is upbeat and cheerful.

Alles Is Liefde’s opening fits a lot of the criteria that a good film opening contains, as it establishes the genre of the film by using upbeat music and love songs, sets the location and introduces the characters. The unfortunate event where the old man dies is also a feature that grabs the viewer’s attention.

[FILM OPENINGS] ‘ GODZILLA ‘ – 2014

Godzilla is a 2014 American science fiction monster film directed by Gareth Edwards. It is a reboot of the Godzilla film franchise and retells the origins of Godzilla in contemporary times as a “terrifying force of nature”.

The film is set in the present day, fifteen years after the unearthing of two chrysalises in a mine in the Philippines. The film’s opening consists of a montage of film, newspaper clippings, old paintings and other research that has been done over the past few years. The opening acts as a time lapse to help the audience understand that the events that are being shown to them in the montage of imagery contain clues as to what the film will contain.

The opening sequence helps set the mood and atmosphere for the film by using tense music throughout it. The genre is not necessarily established during the opening sequence, although it is clear that the audience will not be watching anything particularly light-hearted. The actors’ and actresses’ names are displayed amidst text that appear to be research and other scripts written by ‘researchers’. These are only shown on screen for a few seconds before being covered over with a thick white line to bring the attention to the names being shown on screen. The names of the actors and actresses are not shown in a fancy or complicated font, and are kept rather simplistic. Their size does not differ for the first five to seven actors/actresses, however when more minor roles are displayed on screen, the names are put in sets of two’s which signifies their position in the film.

As the director’s role is established, the music intensifies as it cuts to a scene of a nuclear bomb being launched at Godzilla – this being part of the plot to the movie that the audience is about to watch. A mushroom cloud appears, and as a result of the impact, the waves grow larger and rapidly move towards the camera, eventually obliterating the screen to a white background. Following this, tiny pieces of burned debris slowly fall down as the title ‘Godzilla’ fades in and zooms in on screen, the font of the title coloured black and distressed looking.

[FILM OPENINGS] ‘ THE GODFATHER ‘ – 1972

The Godfather is a 1972 American crime film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and produced by Albert. S. Ruddy from a screenplay by Mario Puzo and Coppola.

The Godfather stars Marlon Brando and Al Pacino as the leaders of a fictional New York crime family. The story spans from the year 1945 – 55 and centres around Michael Corleone who transforms from a reluctant family outsider to a ruthless Mafia boss.

The film opens with Michael Coreleone begging Vito Coreleone to help him get ‘justice’ for what his daughter’s boyfriend did to her. Vito refuses at first, stating that Michael has never treated him as a friend and that he now seeks helps after looking elsewhere, first. To this Michael asks Vito to name a price for the justice that he seeks, however Vito still refuses.

I like this opening because of the atmosphere it creates. The opening scene paints a very detailed picture of what the film is about and immediately establishes the hierarchy within the film. The feeling that exists throughout the opening is that of intimidation and danger, and it is clear that the film will feature graphic scenes.

[FILM OPENINGS] ‘ SEVEN SAMURAI’ – 1954

Seven Samurai – 1954 – is a Japanese period adventure-drama film, that was co-written, edited and directed by Akira Kurosawa. The film takes place during 1587 during the Warring States Period of Japan. It follows the story of a village of farmers who hire seven samurai to combat bandits who will return after the harvest to steal their crops.

The opening firstly features a brief scene where a narrator tells the story of the seven samurai. He explains that four of the seven samurai died in battle to protect the helpless farmers. He also explains that the three remaining samurai left and that they were never heard from again.

Then the clip cuts to footage of the samurai preparing to go into battle. It also shows the banner that they fought under and additional footage of the samurai discussing the symbols that are painted on the banner. The footage also depicts the names of each actor that played each samurai, in order:

• Kanbei, the leader – Takashi Shimura
• Gorobei, his aide, Yoshio Inaba
• Shichiroji – Daisuke Katoh
• Kyuzo – Seiji Miyaguchi
• Heichachi – Minoru Chiaki
• Katsushiro – Isao Kimura
• Kikuchiyo – Toshiro Mifune

The rest of the opening consists of fighting scenes between the bandits and the samurai.

I like this opening because of the simplistic, yet effective way that it presented. Whilst I personally do not care for films of this genre necessarily, the opening is enticing and leaves the audience feeling as if they have been part of the journey. The opening is also not too graphic, which in my opinion helps as a film with a lot of blood and gore would take away from the story that Kurosawa was trying to create.

[FILM OPENINGS] ‘M’ – 1931

“M”  is a German drama-thriller directed by Fritz Lang wherein the plot revolves around a child murderer. The film is based on a newspaper article by Egon Jacobson, and stars Peter Lorre, Otto Wernicke and Gustaf Gründgens.

The opening begins with a group of primary school children playing an elimination game in a school yard. The elimination game involves a chant about a child murderer. Worried parents can be seen waiting anxiously outside a primary school for their children. A little girl called Elsie Beckmann leaves school, and bounces her ball as she walks. She is then seen bouncing her ball up against a wanted poster that warns for a child murderer. A dark figure is then seen to loom over the young girl, compliments her ball and then asks what her name is. After Elsie tells him, he buys her a balloon. Later on, the camera cuts to some bushes where the ball can be seen rolling away. The balloon has floated up into some telegraph poles. This scene implies that Elsie has been murdered.

I really love this film opening because of the dark, yet realistic nature of it. Whilst indecent acts involving children may have happened a lot during times such as the 1930s, this film opening makes it clear that these sorts of things were not as commonly known to happen as in the modern world. Because of this, I feel like the opening has an added dark vibe that can provoke an emotional response from its audience – especially parents.

FILM OPENINGS

Film openings are arguably the most important part of a film. Film openings are usually  responsible for providing the key features of the film, such as the character openings and establishing the genre of the film. Additionally film openings introduce the audience to the narrative and plot of the film and help set the location and setting of the film. One of their main aims is to grab the audience’s attention and to make the viewers want to continue watching.