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.