Analysis of two film openings

Opening 1 - Sin City

• Narrative: It opens with a black/ white background with a woman walking on the balcony with a contrasting red dress. A man approaches her an offers a smoke. They talk flirtatiously and express a kiss. He tells her everything will be alright and that he loves her and that he'll save her from whatever shes running from. He then proceeds to shoot her with a silenced pistol and says "i'll never know what she was running from, i'll cash your cheque in the morning." This line itself is an enigma, who is paying him? Who is he? and why did he kill her?

• Editing: The editing is quite slow as there isn't a lot of action going on, however, it cuts to still images that appear hand drawn, like a comic as if your watching the film in still frames.

• Cinematography: This film in designed to have all the features of a film noir and as such has all the camera techniques associated with it. For example: close-ups on the characters faces to show their emotions, rule of thirds to make the shots more interesting, the characters speak without eye contact to give a serious impression.

•  Mise-En-Scene: The woman is wearing a red dress and red lipstick which sharply contrasts against the background to make her and her body stand out and seem more attractive making the audience concentrate more on her. While the man tends to blend in which may be because he intends to kill her silently and the blending in may accentuate that.

• Titles/ graphics: The titles have the same contrasting appearance as the woman in the red dress, making them stand out and appear more noticeable.

• This opening grips you in a different way to other film openings in that is less action packed and filled with enigmas gripping you, making you want to know more. 

Opening 2 - The Fast and The Furious

• Narrative: The main plot opens with a truck load of DVD players and TVs being loaded up onto the back of a lorry, which then cuts to night and the lorry is being pursued by three black, tinted cars which is the enigma in this film opening. They are defined by a green neon underglow so you know they the same through out the film. The lorry is then surround by these mysterious cars and pinned to the middle lane and no way of escaping. An unknown figure gets out of the sun-roof in one of the cars and fires a grappling hook into the lorry to attach them both together so they stay the same distance, he then jumps and attacks the driver and taking control of the lorry.

• Editing:  The editing is very fast paced as this is a very action packed first few minutes designed to make the viewer want to carry on watching. The different camera angles are cut together to perhaps make the viewer feel a bit disorientated like the driver of the lorry which adds to the effect of the film opening.

•  Cinematography: There are lots of different camera angles used in the sequence for example lots of close-ups to show the viewer what is going on and showing in detail all the action they want the viewer to see. There are many different camera angles used to disorientate the viewer to help give the viewer the same experience as whats happening to the driver, making the viewer more on-edge and excited while watching it and grabbing the audiences full attention.

•  Mise-En-Scene: The characters and cars are all dressed in black which makes the audience perceive them as mysterious and evil. The truck driver is in ordinary clothes which makes him look innocent compared with these unknown figures. The cars are also black to look more mysterious, thus adding to the enigmas effect making us want to know who they are. It's night time which means that they can't be seen and because they are in black it means they are doing something which they shouldn't and don't want to get caught.

• Sound: The sound is quiet until the cars arrive mostly focusing on the cars engines which gives the perception that they are driving really powerful, fast cars.

• Titles/graphics: The titles are perfect for the films theme, they are chrome alloy titles that relate to the cars high performance and fast look and have an engine sound as they appear on screen which adds to the high speed effect. 

• The opening grips you really well with an action packed opening with plenty of enigmas that keep the audience wanting to know more.

• This film opening helps to set-up the film by establishing one of the main plot points of the film without giving away everything and shows the audience what the rest of the film is going to be like.

The Fast and The Furious opening

Sin City opening

Evaluation of The Exchange

Brief
Our task for the exchange was to create a short sequence in the style of a film thriller which involved the exchange of an important item. The location of the film was to be decided by us. After the footage was shot we would then edit the film, choosing some music and titles that were appropriate for what we were trying to achieve.

My responsibilities included: acting, ensuring the continuity was the same from the last shot, help direct the film, editing and some filming. Acting - i was one of the main actors in this piece and so it was my responsibility that we got the shots we needed to use and that the continuity flowed throughout the film. I also helped to direct the film, giving suggestions on ways we could film etc. I did some of the editing of the film and parts which i was not taking part in, i helped film.

I think that i contributed a lot to the project, helped to make it flow and ensure that we got everything that needed to be done on time and got the shots we needed to make the finished project in the end. I could have helped more by doing more of the camera-work and improving cinematography.

I learn that working as a team really helps make the project more efficient and it takes less time when taking action and just doing everything instead of arguing how everything should be done.

I felt the production value of the overall finished video was really good and what may be improved if we had a few more shots that could have allowed for the video to be a bit longer or to get more close ups.

Our general use of ECMS was good however, our cinematography could perhaps be changed so that it seemed more film noir/ thriller.

I felt that my ideas came through in the finished project, the audience understood what was happening during the sequence and the audience feedback was mostly positive although they commented that the music was a bit over-dramatic compared to what was happening on screen.

What went wrong?
The music was considered too dramatic to what was happening on screen and we didn't have enough shots and had to re-use one of the shots again to make sure we had enough footage. I thought one of the main best points about our movie was the close up of the important object and how the actor shook his hand as he received it, gave a mysterious look about the object which i felt went well with the theme.

If i was to do this again, i would be sure to get more shots to ensure that we have enough coverage to work with and to ensure we have all the shots we need when editing. I would also try to use music that was more appropriate and try to ensure that it works well and compliments the work we are trying to achieve.    

The Exchange