Opening Sequence Analysis - P.S I Love You

P.S I Love You begins with an angry looking women (Holly) walking at a fast pace, with a man (Gerry) walking behind her trying to catch up. This suggests that Holly may be angry at Gerry. Gerry tries to talk to Holly and reason with her but she stares at him blankly and keeps walking up a flight of stairs. The camera then tracks Gerry following the Holly up the stairs still trying to make her stop. The camera then cuts to Holly and Gerry walking through the door to what looks like an apartment they own together, arguing with each other. They both walk around the living room turning on lights and putting things away, which proves they own the apartment together.
The way the camera tracks the Gerry following Holly shows the pace of the scene. You are also able to track everything that is happening without it cutting back and forth between each person. This makes the scene more smooth. Holly is in front of Gerry on the stairs and the camera angles down on Gerry. This shows that he is powerless and not in control of the situation. It shows that Holly has power over him and that he is in the wrong. The apartment is very open planned which allows the camera to show both characters in different areas of the apartment and doing different things without cutting to each person.This is effective because it shows the normality of their relationship.

The diegetic sound is The Pogues - Love You Till The End. This music is quite slow but it is still able to show the pace of the scenes. It is playing quite quietly in the background so that you can hear the characters talking to each other. The music is effective because it makes the scenes flow more, and the lyrics make the genre apparent.

The opening sequence only shows two characters. This shows that they are the lead roles and suggests that the film will be based on their relationship. Gerry seems to be quite a genuine guy. He seems to have a good sense of humour and the way he deals with Holly suggests that he has had to deal with it before. Holly seems very angry and upset which could also suggest that Gerry doesn't treat her well. It also suggests that she enjoys Gerry following her and trying to apologise. The way that she doesn't tell him what he has done wrong shows that she enjoys him trying to figure it out, digging himself a deeper hole when he gets in wrong. Overall their relationship seems pretty normal. This is what you would expect in a romantic drama because the characters need to be relatable.

Opening Sequence Analysis - My Sisters Keeper

My Sisters Keeper begins with a  video of a kite in the sky. The camera is shaking which reveals to me that it is a home video. A young girl then starts talking over the video about how she was born. The camera cuts to several home videos of memorys of a young girl. You can't really who the girl is which suggests that it might not be a main character. The young girl goes on to say how most babies that are born are mistakes and that she is not a coincidence. That she was born for a paricualar reason. A scientist produced her so she has specific genes. The home videos then appear to have two young girls. The voice over then says that she was born to save her sisters life. From this you can see that the two young girls are the sisters.
The camera cuts quite quickly from each home video so you dont have long to see what is happening. It cuts to certain close ups of body parts like the girls smile, her hair and her legs. This to me suggests that she is the girl who is helping her sister. The shots are put in to show that the girl is just like any other girl despite the way she was conceived.
The music in the opening is quite slow.The diegetic sound is a piano playing a simple melody that sets the mood of watching the home videos. The music is quite quiet so that you can hear the girls voiceover over the top. The non diegetic sound of the girl talking is quiet soft and calm, which suggests she has no shame over the way she was conceived. The young girl sounds quite fiesty which suggests that she may have been picked on about it before and she has had enough of it.

In the opening the actors names flash up in white on the screen, this contrasts the black beackground which the videos are playing on. The videos do not fill the whole screen, they move around in different areas of the screen. For example, at one point one of the videos is playing on the left of the screen, leaving the right hand side back and the next video is playing horizontally, leaving a small area of the black above it and below it. This makes the video seem more like a home video becuase it isnt showing in the full screen which most films do.

Opening Sequence Analysis - The Holiday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGrSRXL7mYc

The film starts with quite an orchestral type of music playing over the top of the production company logo. This suggests to the audience that it is a British film because you would associate Britain with quite grand and royal things.
The scene then starts with a close up of some sort of tree in shallow focus, You can hear the diegetic sound of birds tweeting in the background suggesting that it is an area in the countryside. The scene then focuses and you can see the two main characters from Pride and Prejudice. This confuses the audience because they wouldnt expect to see an opening with a completly different film. The scene then zooms out and shows a computer screen playing the movie, this shows the audience that the film will be about other films or romantic films. the camera carrys on zzoming until you see someone playing piano, this shows that the person is playing the sound we as an audience can hear. You can see they are playing along to the film, suggesting they are writing the music to the film. As the camera keeps zooming out you can see that it is a man playing the piano. A women then starts talking about different types of love. The close up of the man then cuts to a women laughing on the phone, this suggests that the women talking, is talking about the women in the scene. The women then walks over to the man playing the piano and he kisses her hand. This along with the monologue over the top suggests that this couple are maybe one type of love and that she goes on to explain another. The camera cuts to a close up of the man, and then it tracks past a black wall moving the scene onto the next. As the camera carries on panning to the right, a car pulls up with a women inside. She then looks over at a man with a worried face. This suggests that this couple is the other kind of love the women is going to talk about.
Overall this opening two minutes, shows all the characters in the film, but not really anything about who they are, and how they are connected. This makes the audience want to carry on watching and see how the story will play out.

Opening Sequence Analysis - Drama - The Lifeguard

The film starts at 24 seconds

The Lifeguard is a 2013 comedy-drama film starring Kristen Bell.
The film opening with an extreme close up of two people kissing. You can not see the people very clearly which suggest that they might be hiding what they are doing. The camera then cuts to a mid shot of the two people. The camera cuts back and forth from extreme close up of each persons face to a close up of the two of them talking. This suggests that they are having a serious conversation. As the man walks away, non diegetic music starts to play. The women looks to be upset that he has gone whereas the man doesn't, suggesting that she is more into the relationship than he is. As he leaves, she follows him with her eyes as non diegetic music begins to play. There is then an establishing shot of New York City, the shot is fast forwarded to show the sun going down, showing the audience that the day has ended. The next scene shows the women in an apartment, interviewing a man about a news story. There is very low lighting suggesting that it is early morning. There is no artificial light, which makes the audience feel like the women doesnt really want to be there. There is then a series of close ups and tracking shots of the women looking for the story and the details. A shot showing the women bent over the window sill, finding it hard to breath suggests that she has problems. maybe she is depressed or has major anxiety.
The opening two minutes doesn't show much about the storyline of the film, but it definatly shows you the type of person the main character is. You can tell she is damaged and not happy. This suggests to the audience that the film is going to be about her journey finding herself and who she wants to be.

Opening Sequence Analysis - Inception

The opening two minutes of Inception gives you hints of what the film will be about through the camera shots, sound, and characters.
There are many camera shots and techniques is the opening two minutes of inception that may give the audience clues about the genre of the film. The first shot is a close up of waves crashing against a small set of rocks. This doesn't give much away about the setting which the first shot would usually do. The camera then follow the wave as it reaches what looks like the side of a cliff. This shows that they aren't very deep in the water.

The camera then cuts to several shots of the waves, which may suggest the film may be shot around the water. and effective shot is a close up of a man washed up on the shore. he looks like he's unconscious and unaware of where he is because as he wakes up he looking very confused. The camera is on the floor looking straight on the man and the water droplets on the camera suggest that he isn't fully out of the water yet. On the close up of the man the camera begins to wobble, this suggests that his vision and balance may be a bit wobbly and blurry. showing he isn't 100% healthy as you would expect a hero in an action film to be, especially at the beginning of the film.
Another effective shot is when the camera gradually zooms in on a man with his back turned, he looks as if he may be the antagonist because you would expect him to turn around slowly in his chair like a typical villain would do. One of the most effective shots in my opinion is the close up of a spinning top. This suggests to the audience that it may have an important role to play in the storyline because by there being a close up, they obviously want the audience to see it.

The sound in the opening two minutes of Inception is defiantly stereotypical to the action genre. There is very tense dramatic music which builds up until the scene starts. it then gets quiet and you can hear the diegetic sound of the waves crashing. When you see the man lying on the shore you can hear little children which suggests he is on a beach where people would come for the day. When the camera cuts to inside the building the music build ups as the camera pans in closer to the man with his back turned, this builds up the suspense of who the character is.

You only see around 5 characters in the opening two minutes of the film, most of these people are foreign which rules them out as being the protagonist because you would usually think of the main character as someone who speaks English.
The first person in the film that you see is Leonardo DiCaprio, this suggests that he may be the main character because he is a well known actor. The man with his back turned in the chair suggests to the audience that he is the antagonist because he is what you would expect a villain to look like. Being in the chair makes him instantly look like a villain because the stereotypical villain would swivel round in his chair and say something to scare the hero.

Overall this film follows the conventions of an action film because it introduces the hero to the audience, the music is very tense and dramatic and you see guns (although they aren't being used). Although this film follows some conventions it doesn't get straight into the action which you would expect an action film to do.

Opening Sequence Analysis - Quantum of Solace

 

 

The opening two minutes of Quantum of Solace makes the audience want to watch the whole film because it gets straight into the action.

The first shot of the movie is an establishing shot of a mountain and water. This suggests that the film is set on an island in the middle of nowhere. The camera then cuts to an extreme close up of the front wing of a black car which is driving at speed, and then cuts to several other extreme close ups of different parts of the car. These shots show off the speed of the car and excites the audience because they don't know where the car is going or even where it is driving but they know it is extremely fast.

The camera cuts back to the establishing shot which starts to pan along the water as if you were on a boat, getting closer to the shore. You then see another close up of the car and then cuts again to an extreme close up of a roll of machine gun bullets. This lets the audience know that the reason for the car driving so fast must be because someone is shooting at the car. it also makes the audience wonder who the characters are because you haven't seen a single person yet. the camera cuts to a close up of two cars driving close to one another, you cannot see the people driving as the windows are tinted. this confirms to the audience that it is a car chase but still doesn't show you the characters. The tinted windows suggests that there must be someone important in the cars who doesn't want anyone to see him/her.
The camera cuts to the establishing shot getting closer to what looks like a bridge, this may suggest that's where they are heading. the camera continues to cut to extreme close ups of the car driving and then quickly cuts to an extreme close up of a mans eye and nose. The way the shots are linked together suggests that this man is the one driving to car. The camera then cuts to the establishing shot getting closer to the bridge and the music reaches a tense climax. over the next few seconds you see many cuts, from the car overtaking traffic, to the wing mirror of the car, which you can see the other car coming up behind.
The camera cuts dramatically to a man hanging out of the window shooting a machine gun at the other car. This suggests to the audience that the man shooting is the antagonist because he has an evil look in his eye. The next camera shot is a low angle shot of the wheel of the car, this is showing two other cars following behind one of the has the man shooting. This shot is effective because you are able to see all of the cars in the shot. The camera ten shows an over the shoulder shot of a man driving with a cracked windscreen. The camera keeps cutting between the car that is being shot at and the car that is shooting. This allows the audience to follow what is happening.
The next shot is a dramatic scene of an ordinary lorry being shot at which causes it to swerve and crash into the wall. One of the black cars manages to move around it and you see a mid shot of the man driving that car. This suggests to the audience that this is the main character because he is surviving all the dramatic crashes. In the next few cuts, a part of the lorry goes through the mans car and they get stuck to one another, they get free and the man swerves around all the oncoming traffic, this shows off his skills. The last shots of the opening sequence show one of the cars crashes and wiping out and the other left to fight it out.

In this opening sequence there are over 50 dramatic cuts. This is the factor of the opening that draws peoples attention because the amount of cuts shows off the pace of the film. The opening camera shots are what draw you to the film making you want to watch more.

The music is the opening sequence if very tense and dramatic showing the importance of the car chase. The music begins very tense. there is no beat to the music, only one note playing with what sounds like a violin in the background. the music stays very straight forward and the violins play the same tune over and over until they reach a dramatic climax and cut out all together when the close up of the man changing the gears. The sound then changes to the diegetic sound of the car engine and the sound of the car swerving. When the guns start shooting the shots take over the all the noises which shows how powerful the gun is. throughout most of the rest of the sequence, there is no music, only very loud sounds of crashes, gun shots and tire squeaking, which makes the shots look more dangerous. As the car chase gets more exciting the music starts playing again to portray that, but you  cant really hear it because of all the other diegetic sounds.
The music in the opening sequence really portrays the excitement of the scene which only makes the scene look better. The music creates the tense atmosphere and dramatic climaxes which really make the opening scene what it is.

The lighting in the opening sequence is very limited. The scene is shot in what looks like a tunnel. this doesn't have very much light which makes it hard for you to see sometimes. The only source of light is the natural light coming through the archways on the tunnel, this makes you only able to see the cars when they are going past that section. This excites the audience as they want to be able to see everything that is happening.
The camera is facing away from the arches of light for most of the scene which makes you only able to see glimpses of light. this creates drama and excitement.

he music, lighting and camera shots join together in the best way possible to create an incredibly dramatic and exciting opening scene.
The only negative aspect of the opening sequence for me is that it doesn't show or tell you much about the characters in the film or the storyline. the only hook for the audience is the dramatic car chase which makes you want to watch more. if they had a small shot in the sequence of the main character talking, I think it would make the opening much more hooking to the audience.

Overall this opening sequence has lots of cuts which makes you keep watching because you don't want to miss an important shot or clue to the storyline. The sequence is exciting and hooking and makes the audience want to watch more.

Opening Sequence Analysis - Indiana Jones Raiders of the Lost Ark

The opening of Indiana Jones shows the audience the genre by the camera shots, characters and sound.
The opening shot is an establishing shot of an exotic location, this follows the conventions of an action film because action films are normally set in places that you wouldn't normally have been to. There is a range of shots in the opening sequence that create tension and drama. One of these shots is a tracking shot of a group of men walking through the woods. you see them through branches which creates tension because you cant see everything going on. The tracking shot shows they are on a journey because you can see them wearing backpacks and walking in a line. Another example of an effective shot is a mid shot of two men looking nervously behind them, this increases the tension in the scene and engages you, making you feel like you are there. Close ups are effective in action films because they show the emotion and reactions on the characters faces and they can also emphasise certain objects you need to see. In the opening two minutes there is a close up of an arrow sticking in a tree. you can see two men looking at the arrow in alarm. This shows that there is danger around them and shows the audience that there will be more danger and action coming.
Overall the shots in the opening sequence are effective. They show the audience the genre well and make them want to watch more.

The sound in the opening two minutes is very tense and dramatic. The non-diegetic sound is very constant throughout the opening and only changes twice. It is very tense and makes the people in the scene look scarier. The music follows the conventions of an action film because in action films the music always creates the tension and drama, this is a common theme in action films.
The diagetic sound shows the location of the film in the opening sequence, you can hear the sound of trees swaying and birds tweeting, you can also hear the sound of tropical animals in the background, this helps the establishing shot in showing the audience where the film is set.
Overall the sound in this opening follows the conventions of an action film. It shows you where the film is set and creates tension, drama and mystery.

The characters in the opening 2 minutes of the film gives hints about where the film is set and what it will be about.
You see the first character from the back, he is wearing a cowboy hat. This denotes he may be from Southern America and that he is on some kind of adventure. You would normally wear a cowboy hat in the heat to protect your head so this suggests that they are in a exotic place where a hat is essential. As the other character follow the man in the cowboy hat, you see them wearing light brown canvas jackets and cowboy hats. The men are carrying bag and rucksacks. This suggests to the audience that they are on some sort of adventure. There is one clear leader on the walk, this suggests that he is the main character Indiana Jones becuase you wouldnt expect the hero in an action film to be following other people.

Overall the characters in the opening two minutes suggests to the audience that they will be going on some sort of adventure. It ssuggests that they may be looking for something or running away from something.

Opening Sequence Analysis - The Possesion

In the opening scene of The Possession, conventions of the genre are portrayed through the music and characters. The first shot is a long shot of a wall in someones house covered in framed photos of random people. The camera pans along the wall showing the photos and in the background you can hear a person whispering in what seems to be another language. The slow panning of the camera is a typical feature of a horror film because it builds up tension and drama. The sound of the person speaking along with the slow panning creates an eerie atmosphere. The different language the person is speaking in makes the audience listen more to try and understand the words.
Once the camera stops panning, it cuts to a close up of the old lady. You can see that she has tears in her eyes and is clearly distressed by something. The camera cuts to a mid shot of a wooden box, the camera zooms in slowly on it, keeping up the tension building. The camera cuts back to the women, getting more and more distressed by the sounds that seem to be coming from the box. The camera cuts to a long shot of the back of the women from the wall. It then quickly cuts to an extreme close up of the women's hand reaching out to the wooden box. You see her jump as the box makes a noise. The camera cuts back and forth from the women to the box and then back to the women. You see her backing away from the box as if she knows what is going to happen. The camera cuts to a mid shot of a clock ticking. This creates tension as it makes you feel like you are waiting for something to happen. You see the women walk into the kitchen and put a tape into the tape player. Old fashioned music starts playing. This may be the music that she is into and she may be playing to cover the disturbing noise from the box. The women looks back at the box and dries her eyes with a tea towel. The camera cuts to an extreme close up of the women pulling a clump of her hair out. This may suggest she has an illness or she wears a wig.
The camera then cuts to an extreme close up of the women walking along holding a hammer. This suggests she is going to try and break the box to stop the noises. The camera cuts to a driveway and a car pulls in. This may suggest that someone is going to witness what the old women goes through. As the women lifts the hammer, her eyes droop as if she is having a stroke. She starts shaking uncontrollably and falls to the fall as if someone through her down. She starts moving around as if she was having a fit and the camera cuts to the man in the car standing at the doorway listening to the banging. The women gets up and slams against the wall. It is as if she if being pushed around by someone. You hear the man shouting "mum" through the door. The camera cuts to the women on her knees, she falls forward, smacking her head on a glass table and rolls over. She looks as if she is dead.

A connotation of the first scene is the old lady. this denotes that she will be the main character because she is shown first. Having an old lady as the main protagonist breaks the conventions of a horror film because you would usually expect a young person the be the main character because young people are targeted by psychopaths and serial killers. The women looks like she is being possessed which links in with the title of the film. This makes the audience understand the plot a little bit because the story gets straight into the action.

The camera movements are mostly close ups and panning shots. The close ups are effective because they make the characters emotions clear. Close ups can also help the audience see specific details that they may not a necessarily seen if it was a mid shot.
The slow panning shots create tension which is key in a horror film. They make the audience keep watching the scene and usually something would jump out and scare everyone. The shots in the opening two minutes are effective because they build tension and drama and let the audience know specific details.

In this opening two minutes, the genre is blatantly revealed to the audience. The camera shots give it away by creating the tension, but also the sounds give it away. At the beginning you hear a women whispering in a different language, this creates a scary atmosphere because you don't know what the person is saying. The old fashioned music just make the opening more scary because it creates a sense of normality which isn't usual in a horror film so you know that something bad is going to happen.

In my opinion this opening does a good job of letting the audience know the genre. It conveys many of the codes and conventions of a horror film, like the whispering, the dark scary scenes and the way the women was being possessed. But on the other hand, the old women breaks the conventions because you don't expect an old women to be a main character in a horror film. 

Opening Sequence Analysis - Dear John

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiNz-Vdrf0A

The opening sequence of Dear John starts with a monologue from a man. The camera cuts from black to a scene with an injured soldier being helped by another. The man continues to talk to the audience about what he thought about before he blacked out. Its like the man is talking to the audience which makes the speech more interesting. He says that the last thing he thought about was coins. Coins then start falling down onto the two soldiers and the camera quickly cuts to a young boy watching falling coins. The coins falling down on the soldiers and then near the boy makes the transition to the next scene flow more smoothly. The man talks over the scene as you see the process of coins being made and the little boy watching. The camera cuts back to a the man injured and he goes on to say "I am a coin in the us army" he then goes on and explains how he can relate to the coins and how he now has two small holes in him. This makes the audience understand that the man has been shot.
He continues to talk over the scene and tells the audience the very last thing that came into his head before he blacks out. he says "you". This suggests to the audience that the man is actually talking or reading a letter to a love interest.

The opening sequence to this film suggests that it is a war film and that it will be about the journey that the young soldier has to recovery. But at the very end he mentions somebody who could potentially be a love interest in the film which would ruin the chance of it being a war movie.
The film is actually a romance, and the beginning of this film would confuse the audience who think they are watching a romance film because you wouldn't expect a romance film to have war scenes in it. This opening breaks the conventions of a romance film because you would normally have seen both the main characters by now and you have only seen an injured soldier.

Opening Sequence Analysis - 10 Things I Hate About You

10 Things I Hate About You is a teen comedy movie. The opening two minutes hints this genre to the audience by the music, setting and characters.

The music begins right from the start and is very upbeat, as the movie starts, the actors names come up onto the screen as the camera pans across what looks to be New York, this is effective because it immediately lets the audience know where the film is set. The camera continues to pan and shows a group of young girls driving along and dancing to their stereo. The camera then pans to another car pulling up next to it with an angry looking girl in it and the music quickly changes to rock. This shows the typical conventions of a teen film by having the popular girls listening to popular music that's in trend and the non popular girl listening to more indie music that isn't a trend. You can see the hatred on the popular girls faces as they look over at the other car and vice versa.

The unpopular girl rolls her eyes at the popular girls and drives on, this shows that the girls obviously don't get on.
The camera then cuts to boys playing hockey outside the school gates and the camera pans upwards onto all of the children waiting outside school for the bell to go.
 The camera cuts to the unpopular girl walking towards the school doors, she sees a poster that reads "Padua Prom". She reads this and then rips it down. This shows that the girl doesn't care about the school and what goes on in it and isn't interested in the prom whereas people who are popular would care about these things. You then see a girl who is organising the prom, look at the girl in disgust, this shows that the unpopular girl really isn't liked by anyone and you can tell by her facial expressions that she doesn't care.
This opening sequence is effective in hinting the genre of the film to the audience because it follows the conventions of a teen comedy. Popular people and unpopular people are also the main characters of these types of films and this film has exactly that. from this opening you see that the unpopular girl is the main character, this suggests to the audience that she may go on a journey throughout the film and may end up not being so hateful and hated.

Opening Sequence Analysis - The Matrix

In the opening 2 minutes of The Matrix, a clue of the genre is given to the audience. The Warner Bros advert is unusually in green and the music has quite a scary tone which hints at an action or horror film. As the opening title starts rolling, codes and numbers appear on the screen, the music matches this as it sounds as if someone is typing trying to figure out a code.

40 seconds into the opening a man and women start having a phone conversation, the codes are still in the picture and numbers begin scrolling which may suggest that someone is trying to hack into the line. The codes and the secretive way the man and women speak, already suggests to the audience that this film will be an action film because someone is trying to find what seems to be the two main characters. Another hint to the genre is when the man talks about finding and killing someone named Morphious. The women asks the man if the line is clear. This suggests to the audience that the conversation is meant to be a secret, which would also explain why someone is trying to hack into the phone line.
As the conversation ends, the camera zooms into what seems to be a light. As is continues to zoom a bright lamp is pictured. As the camera pans, you see a group of policemen in a dark building holding guns and torches. The torches are the only source of light which shows it is night time. This is effective because the audience can only see what the policemen can see when they shine the torch in a particular place.
An old policeman kicks down an apartment door and finds what looks like a man sitting against a wall. The room is empty which suggests to the audience that the man sat down is weird and creepy. The audience immediately believe that this person is a villain because they are being chased by the police.
The camera cuts to the person sitting at the computers face and it is revealed to be a women. This shocks the audience because having a women enemy or hero breaks the conventions of an action film because you would expect a male to be playing a lead role in this genre of film.

Overall this film has an effective opening because it reveals what the genre is but it doesn't reveal to much about this plot. This makes the audience want to watch more because it confuses them that a women would be a villain or hero in the film.