I reviewed 6 different films opening scenes from 6 different genres (horror, thriller, western, action, sci-fi and war). These opening scenes were all unique, in particular I thought that the western opening scene I reviewed (from The Good the Bad and the Ugly) was completely different from the action opening scene I reviewed (from Batman: The Dark Knight Rises), since in the Western, the opening scene was set in the 1800s, and was all set up to exploit the fact that the man with no name was the good guy in the film, and the entire scene was to exploit that part of his character. In Batman, however, it was set in modern day, with a futuristic feel to it (better technology with Baines mask), and the entire opening scene was dedicated to emphasising Baine as a villain. I also thought that the sci-fi film that I reviewed (Guardians of the Galaxy GOTG) was the most unique and different out of all of them. It’s upbeat and humorous feel to it, whilst also being set in space and most likely in the future is nothing like any of the other films I reviewed. However, one thing that all the films had in common was that they all left the audience asking questions. Every single one of these opening scenes leaves the audience completely in the dark about certain things in the film, for example in The Purge, we don’t know what is going to happen to the family on purge night, and in Batman we have no idea what relevance the doctor has to the story line.
In my opinion, I believe the most successful out of the opening scenes is Guardians of the Galaxy, because it shows the audience the main character, and what he is like, sets the scene for where the film is set, and also leaves the audience asking questions. This scene for me is the best out of the opening scenes.
In my opinion, the least successful out of all of the opening scenes that I reviewed is The Purge for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, the opening scene for The Purge starts with what is supposedly a scary scene to foreshadow the coming night, which then suddenly stops and turns into dialogue. I also think that the dialogue left very few questions or cliff-hangers for the audience, as it explained the purge and how it is happening tonight.
This opening scene starts with about 5-10 men on a plane, three of them with bags over their heads. We assume that these men are victims to the guy who is asking them questions, until we hear that he is asking about Baine. After one of the men with a bag over his head is shot, and then thrown out of the plane, just before the next one gets shot, the third one speaks. This third one is then revealed to be Baine, who then talks for about 30 seconds, only to reveal that he is going to crash the plane “with no survivors”. Four men then jump out of another plane, onto that plane and shoot the majority of the people inside. Then, Baine grabs the doctor who refused to work with them and holds onto one of the grappling wires that is attached to the other plane, so he doesn’t die in the wreckage. This is how the scene ends. We can expect this film to be about Baine, and obviously Batman, as the film is part of the Batman trilogy. We can expect it to also rely fairly heavily on the doctor, as the entire purpose of that opening scene was for Baine to be able to get to doctor. This film’s target audience would most likely be men or teenager boys, as it shows elements of violence and action which stereotypically appeals more to the male gender.
The genre of this film is set up really well in this opening scene. It starts right away by shocking the audience, as they are led to believe that they guy who is throwing people out of his plane is the bad guy, until Baine reveals himself. This is then followed by a gunshot action scene, along with Baine punching the man who’s plane it is in the throat. This is then followed with Baine, leaving a man behind in the plane, and hanging by a rope from another aeroplane, whilst holding onto the doctor. Not only does this perfectly foreshadow the action to come later in the film, but also sums up what a super villain is.
There are quite a few characters introduced in this opening scene. There is the man who is asking all the questions, and throwing people out of his plane, along with a few of his soldiers beside him in the plane. There are two other men with bags over their head, and Baine, and also 4 men who rappel down from their plane onto the one that Baine is in. The main characters, however, are Baine, the doctor, and the man who is throwing people out of his plane. Baine is the main villain in the film, and clearly the mastermind behind the plane that is taking place, which is why he comes across as important in the scene. The doctor is the reason that Baine is on the plane, so we know that he is relevant to the rest of the film. Finally, the man who is throwing people out of his plane is also important as he is one of the roles with a lot of dialogue in the scene, which leads us to believe he is of importance.
The camera work is very effective in this opening scene. It starts with an establishing shot on the plane. This paired with the dramatic, non-diegetic soundtrack leads us to instantly believe that something is going to happen on this plane. Also, even when Baine is kneeling down, they use a low angle on him to make him seem more intimidating and stronger, like a super villain should look. This also reflects how vulnerable and weak the others are in comparison to him, and how they are now in serious danger.
The non-diegetic soundtrack plays through almost all of the scene but turns off for the first bits of dialogue until the men from the other plane rappel down. This use of the soundtrack is very useful because as this opening scene is full of action, the audience can then know when the action scenes are later going to happen by identifying the same section of the soundtrack when it's played. Also, as the action gets more intense as does the soundtrack, and it becomes synchronous and parallel to what’s on the screen. As the soundtrack speeds up, as does the pace of shots. In the most intense part of the action, the shots become faster and shorter to reflect the true urgency and tension of this part of the scene.
I believe that this is a very successful opening scene. Since the previous movies in the trilogy have obviously included Batman, they use the opening scene of this film to introduce the villain. They portray him as a strong, smart and powerful character, and as the biggest task batman will have to face yet, which sets up the rest of the movie. Also, it leaves the audience with questions, for example: why was the doctor so important to Baine? Who was the man at the start, throwing people out of the plane? What relevance does this have to Batman and Gotham? This opening scene leaves the audience on the edge of their seat whilst simultaneously introducing a very powerful supervillain in all his glory.
This opening scene starts with 6 soldiers walking around what seems to be an abandoned village on the coast of France when they get shot at by German forces. All but one soldier gets shot when they start running away, and the camera follows this soldier’s journey throughout this scene to safety. He starts getting shot at by ally, French forces, who he then shouts that he is British and on the side. He then runs to where the French were shooting from to get to safety. Once he is safe, he finds he is very close to the beach, where it looks as if there are a load of boats ready to take him back. We can expect, since this is the beginning of a war film, that either this lad, along with possible offers are stuck in this town where they are in danger from the Germans and have to find a safe place to hide and not die. We can expect this film to be aimed at men in particular, but not exclusively. As the film is based on true events that happened in one of the most crucial moments in history that pretty much everyone has heard of, there won’t be a specific target audience for this film, but we can guess that it would appeal more to men.
We can tell that this film is a war film, as it starts with soldiers in the appropriate costume. They are then shot at by enemy forces who are also dressed in costume to look like soldiers. It also takes place in France where a very famous “miracle’ in WW2 occurred which is what this film is based on, but even if one hadn’t known that when watching the film, the mise-en-scene and the sound especially give connotations that this is a war film. In addition to this, at the end of the scene, we can see the character running towards a beach, where there is a load of green boats with soldiers getting into them, which we can assume are British boats taking soldiers away from the war.
As mentioned, there are multiple characters throughout this opening scene, but with a focus on just one. At the start there are 6 British soldiers that get shot at, and only one survives whilst under gunfire. When he escapes the German gunfire, he instantly gets shot at by the French, who after explaining that he is British, let him get to safety behind there barriers. Here we see another 6-7 characters focussing on the area that the main character came out of, to check if any Germans had followed. We then see this character running towards the beach, to try and catch a boat back to Britain. Although the scene focusses on one character in particular, it also emphasises that this is a war film with multiple other soldiers being used as a constant reminder that they are in war. The character that is focussed upon more greatly doesn’t come across as more important (as his clothing is the same as others, and he seems young and inexperienced), but we can tell that he has high relevance to the rest of the film, as he has had the majority of screen time in this opening scene.
The camera work in this opening scene is very impressive. For example, after the main character jumps over the gate, the shot after is a hand-held camera movement. This paired with the fact that the boy is under fire, and the fact that he is trying to un-jam his gun to fight back really builds up the tension.
The editing is very clever in this scene as well. At the start of the scene, when the soldiers are looking around the deserted street, the shots are long, and interrupted by information about the location, time and the situation that the soldiers are in. This doesn’t change at all when they become under fire from the enemy and start running away from gunshots, which suggests that battle, fear and oppression has become such a regular day to day situation for them that it seems normal. This emphasises again that not only are they in war, but the war is so hard and so long, that it has become normal for the soldiers. The sound is also effective in this opening scene. There is an array of diegetic and non-diegetic sound throughout the entire scene. For the most part it is diegetic ambient sound which again normalises the war. When the soldiers are under fire, there is use on diegetic sound effects to mimic the true loudness and harshness of a gunshot. At the start of the scene, there is a hint of a soundtrack, which intensifies the severity of the situation that soldiers are in, but at the end of the scene, there is a very faint bit of non-diegetic soundtrack, where a string plays a high note, which despite the fact that the soldier is in safety and behind ally barriers, keeps the audience tense and on edge.
In conclusion, I believe that this opening scene is effective. It emphasises that the film is a war film in every way, and it also emphasises right from the start that the good soldiers in the film are under attack, and in severe constant danger. There is also a clever juxtaposition at the end of the scene, where even though the soldier has made it to the beach and looks like he is going to be able to get on a boat and get back safely to England, there are tense strings in the non-diegetic soundtrack which contrast this. This foreshadows that the soldier isn’t going to get back safely on one of those boats, or perhaps isn’t even going to be able to get on a boat, which keeps the audience on edge for the rest of the film.
This opening scene contains one character. We can presume he is the good guy due to his positivity, his dancing and his general like-ability throughout the scene, even though we haven’t seen him do anything that proves he is good. He is in space, or on a different planet or in a different universe due to the abnormal alien like creatures, and the dark, space like atmosphere. He also collects something that looks like it is part of an alternate universe or from outer space. However, we know that it isn’t from the future, because the man in the scene is shown listening to music on a Sony Walkman which was a product issued in 1979, which means either that is the time this is set in or that was the most recent time that he was on earth. We can expect the rest of the film to take place in space, along with perhaps a battle over the lit-up-ball that he finds at the end of the opening scene. We can expect this film to be a light-hearted, action sci-fi with elements of comedy throughout. We can expect the target audience for this film would be pre-teen children, teenagers or young adults along with a few exceptions. Since the Marvel movies have become so popular, however, pretty much everyone is a target audience for this film, but since it is based around sci-fi and action, we can mostly expect younger men.
The camera work in this opening scene is very effective. The very first shot of the scene is a full body shot, which gives us the full perspective of the only character in this scene. This familiarises the audience with him right from the get-go. Also, the camera zooms in on the characters face so that the audience can see and know who he is right from the start of the film.
The sound in this opening scene is very interesting. It starts with non-diegetic strings playing the soundtrack of the film which accompanies the first shot of the man. This then suddenly cuts out when the man shows his face, and soon after the camera cuts to his side, where it shows that the man is carrying a Sony Walkman. He puts his headphones on and starts the music, which when it starts for him the audience can hear. This is non-diegetic, parallel and synchronous sound. Since the song that is being played is happy and upbeat, we can assume that the man is not only the good guy but has just accomplished something in the film. This keeps the audience interested and intrigued from the start of the film as they wonder what he has accomplished and why the ball that he finds at the end of the scene has any importance or relevance to the story. The editing is also in sync to the song, and the scenes are short, and change quickly to the beat of the song, with each shot revealing more about the place the guy is in and giving more and more of a sci-fi comedy feel to the film.
I think this is a very successful opening scene as it shows who we can assume is the main character of the film and his personality as a character. It also sets the scene for the rest of the film and gives us a general time period. Finally, it sets up questions about the film, such as what does the ball do? What relevance does it have to the rest of the film? And although we are fairly sure already, is the guy in the scene good or bad?
The clip starts with a POV camera angle of a remote-control vehicle that looks like a scary baby, owned and driven by a boy who was trying to scare his mother. After the mother sees the scary baby, she asks the boy to come out for dinner. The rest of the scene is dialogue about the upgrades the boy has made to his remote-control vehicle, and about the purge, and why it is seen as necessary in this film amongst the characters. Based on the fact that this film is a thriller, and from this opening scene, I would guess that in the rest of the film, the baby drone thing starts malfunctioning and becoming dangerous and scary to the people in the house, and so they would have to go outside in the middle of the purge, which would lead to more tension and danger.
Based upon this opening scene, I would say that this film is targeted at teenagers, especially 15-19-year-old boys. This is because it is clearly going to be a violent film, with tense and scary films, and stereotypically men, especially younger men prefer that kind of films. The genre of this film is thriller. You can tell this from the opening scene because of the tense first part of the opening scene when the drone is approaching the mother. Also, you can tell because of the dialogue between the mother and son about the purge and how they are protected, but evidently are not going to be protected otherwise they wouldn’t make the film about them. In this scene, 2 characters are introduced. One is a mother, and the other is her son. They clearly have a good relationship and are shown to be fortunate financially, as they live in a big secure house. They talk for the majority of the second half of the opening scene and seem pretty unsuspecting of the events to come.
The camera is used very uniquely in the opening scene. It starts with a POV low angle shot. We can tell that this is a remote-controlled vehicle being operated by someone who isn’t there but is looking through the camera on this device. The camera work is very effective, because despite being a low angle shot, when the vehicle looks up at the mother, she doesn’t look strong and intimating (like low angle shots usually are used for), but rather vulnerable to the threat the device could pose.
The sound of this opening scene is also very effective. The first part of the scene is a combination of scary, one note non-diegetic soundtrack and unsuspecting diegetic ambient sound. The second part of the scene has diegetic dialogue between the mother and the son, which explains the events that may occur in the night ahead. This dialogue is paired with the shot/reverse shot technique that is very fluently used to make the conversation more realistic and feel like it’s actually happening
In conclusion, I believe that this was a successful opening scene because it sets the scene very well for a thriller. It has the scary drone part of the scene which puts the audience on edge right from the get-go, whilst also explaining to the audience what the purge is and how it works (foreshadowing the context of the danger they are going to be in later).
In the opening scene of the Western movie ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ (G.B.U), it begins with a man coming into the shot on a horse and being shot by a man in the foreground of the shot. The man who was shot is then surrounded by a group of people so he cannot run away and is taken into the town. Once in the town, we see the man who was shot in a special suit so he cannot move his arms and has restricted movement in his legs. He is then set up on a horse with a rope around his neck, and a man is about to whip the horse so the man will be hung in the middle of the town, in front of all the people of the town. However, just as he raises his whip, Clint Eastwood’s character ‘the man with no name’ saves his life by shooting the rope that is around the man’s neck, and the horse runs away with the man on it. The man with no name now jumps down from where he was, gets on his carriage, and runs away so that he won’t be caught.
Based off this opening scene, I would guess that after this, the man with no name would be seen running away, and the people of that town would have followed him, trying to kill him, resulting in a battle of him vs them.The target audience for this film would be an older male audience, due to the blood and gore, and the lack of main female characters that I saw in the opening scene. Also, at the time of release I think that the target audience could have also included teenage boys and younger men, but now the majority of the people that would watch this film would be older men.
The consumer can tell that this film is a Western from the opening scene. It is based in the desert, which is where Western films are stereotypically set. Also, it is set in an earlier period of time, specifically this film is set in 1862. Another way you can tell that it is a Western is because it has a sheriff as a character, which is very common and stereotypical of Western movies.
In the opening scene, the man with no name is introduced. There is also a man who is shot, and a sheriff, and a lot of the town folk. The main cast consists of actors such as Clint Eastwood, Elli Wallach, Lee Van Cleef, Aldo Giuffrè and Rada Rassimov. The camera work in the opening scene is used very effectively. It starts with a high angle wide shot, which establishes where the film is set, and also shows the person coming on the horse. Since the camera shot is so tranquil and unsuspecting, it makes the audience surprised when the man on the horse gets shot.
The sound is very effectively used in the opening scene. For the majority of the scene, it is diegetic sound, including sound effects for the gun shots, and a lot of dialogue between what we can presume is the main characters. However, in the opening scene it does have a snippet of the main sequence of the non-diegetic soundtrack. When the camera is in a close up on the man with no name, the soundtrack plays this riff, which shows that he is not happy with what he is seeing. This is paired along with an eyeline match which shows us that the man with no name is looking at the man who is about to be hanged and isn’t happy about it. This editing along with the soundtrack shows us that he is not only a main character, but a good guy withing the context of the film. Also, at this time of the scene, the shots have gotten quicker and shorter, denoting the tension of the moment.
In conclusion, this is a very successful opening scene. It establishes what we can presume are the main characters, whilst simultaneously and almost instantly submerging the consumer into action and tension from the get-go. This keeps the audience watching and sets the scene and tempo for the rest of the film, which is very effective. It also establishes the main motif of the soundtrack and what it means when its used, which will allow the consumer to know what’s happening throughout the rest of the film.
What is genre?
Genre is the category a movie is defined as based on the theme the majority of the film presents.
How and why is it used?
The genre for a song needs to take into consideration the audience, and what they are expecting based on the genre. The institution has a set of rule or guidelines to follow, to make the film meet the expectations of the genre.
What is sub-genre?
Sub genre is a more specific category within a genre, for example a Japanese horror or psychological thriller.
What is a hybrid genre?A hybrid genre is combination of two main genres, for example horror-comedy.
The story line, the theme and the tone are all things associated with genre. The plot is especially important as the majority of scenes and occurrences must be relevant to the appropriate genre. With different genres come different connotations. With action we associate fight scenes, a bad guy or group and a good guy or group, with a final fight that is what the climax of the film builds up to. Examples of action movies include 'Ava, 'Extraction', and 'The Hunt'.
Horror films are films that are supposed to scare the audience or consumer, whether they like it or not. They tend to keep the audience on their tones using clever editing effects and also a scary soundtrack to go with it. Examples of horror movies are 'The Conjuring' (2013) and 'The Visit' (2015).
Thriller movies are also very popular and they consist of also fast action scenes (like found in an action movie) but also with more of an element of fear involved. My favourite thriller is 'The Purge', directed by James DeMonaco released in May 2013.
Romance films are films that tell somebodies or two peoples love tale. They usually are films that tend to make people cry, or have a catch in them that tends to make the love that much more desperate to the audience. For example, the film 'The Fault In Our Stars' is a tragic love story between a boy with osteosarcoma and a girl who has lung cancer, and this twist allows the audience to sympathise with the two as they expect that one of them will die.
Western films are films that are set in the late 19th century in the old west areas of America. These films consist of cowboy shoot-ups and bank robberies from robbers who ride horses. This genre has many very popular movies to it, for example 'The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly' (1963).
Sci-fi movies are futuristic movies that tend to display a future world or place with technology not of now. The sci-fi film genre has many block-buster, huge movies and franchises to it, for example the 'Back To The Future' trilogy, the 'Star Wars' franchise and 'Blade Runner'.
