Research into a Sci-Fi opening scene

Guardians of the galaxy opening scene:

 

 

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?

 

Research into a thriller opening scene

 

The Purge opening scene:

 

 

 

 

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).

research into a western opening scene

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly:

 

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.

Genre

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'. 

Comparing two title sequences

 

Comparing two title sequences:

Grease:

Very creative with the use of the word grease

Synchronous music with the title sequence

Font implies it’s a fun and happy movie

            Colour

                        Big and bold

            Vibrant fonts

                      1950s style (advertisement)

            Font is animated (especially with the word Grease)

           Hints at a comedy/romance/exaggerated (musical feel)

Smooth transitions

Character names and the actors (links in with the school yearbook vibe with the tone and setting)

           Drawings

           Characters

                Plays into stereotypes connotated through mise-en-scene (specifically costume)

Theatre/musical style of intro

All hints at the genre which is going to be a musical comedy

Long shots to show character detail

Editing is iconic USA 1950s (Elvis, Martin Luther King)

Soundtrack

      Musical/comedy

                     USA singer

                Frankie Vallie and the 4 seasons

Diegetic sound as he turns on the music

                   First day of school

American Horror Story (season 1):

Bold, thick font (in your face)

            Gothic in its style as well

Transitions – fast (soundtrack)

Soundtrack

                      Parallel

                     Synchronous

                     Horror genre (uncomfortable, unpredictable soundtrack genre and narrative) Camera

                      Close ups on certain details throughout

                      No iconic imagery of time/place or location or characters

                     Lights and clues

                    Basement vibe

Iconic horror (mise-en-scene)

                     White clothing

           Skulls

           Photographs

           Fire

           Smashed glass

Editing is mysterious

                     Fast and jumpy

           Horror and mysterious

           Jumpy

Titles

Titles:

 

-   Titles give the institutional and creative names involved in funding, making and producing the film.

-   However, while they are incorporated as credits at the end of a film, they key information is often shown before the film its what’s referred to as a title sequence.

-   There are usually 21 titles found in an opening credit sequence appearing in a set order (it is important to note, though this may be the rule, rules are often broken)

1. Money

2. Production

3. Directors name film

4. Main star

5. Film title

6. Actor 1 – (end of main section)

7. Actor 2

8. Actor 3

9. Actor 4

10.  Actor 5

11.  Casting

12.  Costume designer

13.  Music

14.  Editing

15.  Production designer

16.  Director of Photography (DoP)

17.  Executive Producer

18.  Produced by

19.  Based upon

20.  Screenplay (writer)

21.  Director

-   What applies to the creative aspect of a title sequence?

o   Font/Style

o   Colours

o   Framing/Screen placement

o   Pace of credits, transitions and edit

§  These choices link directly to:

-  Genre

- Style

- As well as links to the narrative 

Examples:

Here is an example of a very creatively chosen title sequence from the animated film Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse. This shows all the different spider people to come in the film that follows, and gives the audience an impression of their characters through the font and screen positioning of the titles that appear. 

Another similar example is from Incredibles 2, however, since it is the second Incredibles movie, and the audience already knows about the superhero family and what their individual strengths are, the opening title sequence focusses on all of the villains the family has taken down. 

Finally, the film Crazy Rich Asians uses a very creative title sequence. It uses patterns of diamonds and expensive jewellery around the titles that are shown on screen to exploit the fact that the characters in the movie are really rich, so the audience knows this from the get go.