Initial Ideas....

To get started with our coursework we first of all need to pick a genre to work around. Firstly I have looked at my personal favourite opening which I believe to be good opening scenes.

My first film opening example is from Disney's Beauty and the Beast as this is one of my alltime favourites. This opening includes backstory and creates a narrative by the use of images along with a voiceover. In conjunction with the music on the soundtrack the audence automatically connects with this fairtale story and can see the world of one of the main characters; The Beast.

Here is the opening sequence....




My second example of film openings is The Lion King. Again this film has minimal titles like the one before possibly because they are animated films and we do not see the actor, just hear their voices. I like this opening as the audence immediatly see where the film is set as the first shot is one of a stereotypical african savannah at sunrise. The tribal music and vocals on the soundtrack chorespond to the visual context, and by making the most of the powerful music and its crescendo's, an atmosphere is built up and a tension of suspense as the images on screen show that something is going to happen.




My third example is Finding Nemo. This opening goes straight into the action of the film, the audience is directly introduced into the world of the main characters, under the sea. The story of moving in, and expecting children is portrayed in a way which everyone can understand as the film is aimed at a young audience aswell as old. Atmosphere is automatically created at 2:49 with the sudden contrast and stop to the flow of action. The music also emphasises the change in mood and a sudden blackout (used at 3:06) seems to be an effective technique.




The shock/horror/scary sequence in the opening lead me to look into the opening of this other type of genre; Horror. After research, I found that horros also follow a sterotypical "story telling" opening eg a death, the introduction of a villan and victim.
My first example of a Horror opening is from a film called Stay Alive. After a confusing begining the phone ringing on the soundtrack takes the audience to the real world and shows straight away how the rest of the film will progress. Death in the video game leads to death in real life. The 2nd scene introduces new characters with the same fate as the 1st character. This happens in other films too such as the ring.
Here is the opening of Stay Alive....


My last example is The Ring. In this opening there are some good camera shots/angle that we could use in our opening such as when the girl comes in and out of focus. The corridor creates possible inigmas ie something/someone is going to get her. The audience are connected ans scared straight away in this film with the use of atmospheres and moods created in this opening.



Danielle :)