- Best known for his design of title sequences, film posters, and corporate logos.
- Worked for some of Hollywood's most prominent filmmakers, for example Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, Otto Preminger,
- Best known title sequences: Was the animated paper cut-out of a heroin addict's arm for ‘The Man with the Golden Arm’ or the disjointed text that races together and apart in Psycho.
-Also he designed some of the most iconic corporate logos in North America: (for example: Bell System logo in 1969, AT&T'sglobe logo in 1983, Continental Airlines' 1968 jet stream logo and United Airlines tulip logo.
- He provided effective, memorable title sequences by inventing a new type of kinetic typography, for the films North by Northwest (1959), Vertigo (1958), working with John Whitney, and Psycho (1960).
“DO LESS FOR MORE” – famous quote
- "Try to reach for a simple, visual phrase that tells you what the picture is all about and evokes the essence of the story". – famous quote
-“Making the ordinary extraordinary" - famous quote
- He used a variety of techniques,: cut-out animation for Anatomy of a Murder (1958), fully animated mini-movies such as the epilogue for the Best Picture Oscar winner Around the World in 80 Days (1956), and live-action sequences.
Elaine Bass
- worked for 40 years alongside Saul Bass
- they developed many projects for directors like Martin Scorsese and Danny DeVito
- she is one of the main designers and she helped to elevate the short film and the title sequence into an art form.
- the Basses were rediscovered by James L. Brooks and Martin Scorsese
- the basses were payed to create short films for various corporations and events.
- two of their short films were nominated for Oscar competition; Notes on the Popular Arts in 1977, and The Solar Film in 1979.
-Elaine is not widely acknowledged as co-creator of these important cinematic works
- critics of the 60s generally focused on Saul alone
- it introduces new scenes and tell the audience where and when the action is happening. They can also set up a point of view or help develop character.
Long shot
- it is a scene shot from a considerable distance, so that the subject appears as small shapes. An extreme long shot is a view from an even greater distance, in which people appear as small dots in the landscape.
Medium shot
-is used to emphasise the actor and their surroundings by giving them an equal presence on screen.
Close up
-it adds emotion to a scene. It closely frames an actor's face, which makes their reaction the main focus in the frame.
Extreme close up
-it frames only the actors facial features. It frames only a portion of the subject. Shows the
actors emotions.
high-angle shot
-is a cinematography technique.
-the camera points down on the subject from above.
-they are used to make the subject or object seem vulnerable, powerless, or weak.
Low angle shot
-is a shot from a camera angle positioned anywhere below the eye line, pointing upward. ---it can even be below the character’s feet which is called an extreme low angle shot.
-it can make a hero seem powerful
-it can make a hero seem vulnerable
-it can increase perceived height of an object
point of view shot
-isshotas if the audience were looking through the eyes of a character.
-theshotis common in horror film.
over the shoulder shot
-the camera is placed just behind an "off-screen" actor so that theirshoulderis in the frame while the camera captures the "on-screen" actor'.
In todays assignment I am going to be covering these genres:
-Horror
-War
-Action
-Thriller
-Sci-fi
Practically I have to choose an opening sequence that is in a specific genre that I’ll be talking about and have to answer following questions we got assigned to answer.
I choose these following opening sequences for these specific genres:
-A Quiet Place - (Horror)
-Unbroken - (War)
-Spectre - (Action)
-A Simple Favour - (Thriller)
-Avatar - (Sci-fi)
A Quiet Place
‘A quiet place’ is a horror film that was released in the year 2018 by Paramount Pictures. The film is directed by John Krasinski, who also plays the main character in the film.
This is the main cast list I found on the IMBD website:
Emily Blunt portraying the role of Evelyn Abbott
John Krasinski portraying the role of Lee Abbott
Millicent Simmonds portraying the role of Regan Abbott
Noah Jupe portraying the role of Marcus Abbott
Cade Woodward portraying the role of Beau Abbott
Leon Russom portraying the role of Man in the Woods
screenshots from the opening sequence:
The story line of this film seems to be set in either the future (or it could even be fictionized present). The characters are a family of five: father and mother, that is pregnant, a teenage girl, who is deaf and then two younger boys. The family is shown in an empty/deserted supermarket. They are getting supplies which look like they are meant to be for quite a long period of time. The characters are wearing backpacks, which they fill up with essential supplies and food. They are moving very slowly, so they don’t make any noise. We can see that it’s very important, that they stay completely silent even while they are inside the supermarket. It’s obvious they are really scared and also very careful. They are very conscious of where they are and aware of the space and the things around them. For example the youngest son finds a toy plane, that makes noise when it has batteries inside, the rest of the family members freeze and the father takes the plane from the boy and takes out the batteries. We can see the scared faces of the family members, as if they were waiting for the plane to start making noise and something terrible would happen then. The family doesn’t speak, just uses sign language between one another. When they are coming out of the supermarket the girl gives the plane back to her brother and he then takes the batteries from the table. It’s very obvious that they are the only people there and that the town they are in is literally like a ghost town. They walk bare foot on the sand that is sprinkled on the floor, forming a path. This might mean that maybe the parents put the sand there, which would make this a regular thing that they go to that supermarket, or that someone else might have done it, which means that they wouldn’t be the only ones there. The family walks without a word on the sand path through the forest and as they get to a metal railway bridge the little boys stays behind. The family doesn’t notice until they hear the sound of the toy plane. The mother and daughter cover their mouths so they don’t make any noise, because they knew that what was going to happen next would be terrible. The father runs towards the little boy to save him. We can tell that he is trying to outrun something. The howl family knew what was going to happen. And as the father was getting closer to save his son a creature that was a bit similar to a spider even though it was a few meters tall appeared and killed the little boy. Here the opening sequence ends
We can tell that the rest of the film will be without much monologues/duologues. It will contain sign language. It’s very obvious that this film is perpetrating some kind of apocalypse/ human distinguish meant. And that this family is possibly the last remaining of the human race and they are trying to survive.I would say it’s pretty obvious that this movie wouldn’t be really suitable for audiences under the age of 15. The main thing why, would have to possibly be the violence, which is a big part of this movie. Then the fact that this is quite a complex and hard film to follow and the younger audiences would have problems following it, especially because there is rarely and words used and its quiet. The howl film is focusing more on the visual aspects, which makes the film more dramatic and intense. I think that this film is aimed probably around the ages of 15 to 30. It’s quite a futuristic style of film, so not everyone in the older generations would probably appreciate the film or understand it.
The genre of this film is mostly horror and it contains mainly horror elements. But also the idea of the creatures in the movie and that this film might be based in the future indicates slight elements of Sci-fi.
So some of the key horror elements we can see in the opening sequence is that the family is silent, they don’t speak. So this shows that they are scared of something or that something bad would happen if the spoke or made some kind of noise. The second one is that we can tell on their faces that they are exhausted from their living situation and that they want it to be over. Another key element are the creatures, this is possibly even the main element of horror in the movie. The creatures are fictional, they are dangerous and they attack when they hear noises, that indicates that they are blind and can’t see their pray. The amount of silence also adds to the intensity in the film. Also that the creature kills a little boy is quite a big factor that this film is meant for more mature viewers.
So we are introduced to a family of four straight from the first shot. A married couple who are expecting a baby and then have three other children. A teenage girl who could be maybe 13 or even 15 years old. A younger boy around the age of 10 and then there is a little boy who looks like he would be 3 or 4 years old. The family seems to know sign language very well, like they have been using it for a long time. That can be because of the young girl, who we found out is death in the opening sequence, when the audience can hear what she apparently hears due to her hearing disability. Overall it is quite hard to indicate the personalities of the members of the family, but the father seems like the protector of the family: very careful, patient, protecting everyone, leads them and want to keep everyone in his family safe. The mother seems quite strong and is trying to make it easier for her husband and seems very loving and gentle. The teenage girl is old enough to fully understand the situation they are in and listens to her parents, she feels bad for her youngest brother not being able to have a normal childhood and play like she did when she was little. The middle boy doesn’t really do anything in this sequence, but because his father is carrying him when they come out of the supermarket, shows that he is probably not able to walk, or that he is very tired and that would meant that the family has been traveling for quite a long time or that he may have a disability. The youngest boy is very young to really understand what is really going on, he is used to it because it’s probably been like this since he was born, so it feels normal to him, but he is still very small and wants to play and that practically gets him killed.
The camera work helps to tell the story and focus on what is going on very well I think. It isn’t boring at all. We can see different kinds of angles and ways of camera work even in just this first opening sequence. For instance the establishing shot is a medium close up that is focusing on the youngest boy from the back, the camera follows him when he walks, the isn’t still it even moves a little bit from side to side, to create an illusion of the little boys way of walking. Then there is a medium close up on the mother, the camera is focusing on her but we can still see the father bending over to the boy at the bottom of the shot. The camera isn’t focusing on him and he is blurred out which makes him not the main subject in the shot. There is an eye line transition from this shot into the next one. The womans eye line connects her husbands hands, as he is taking the toy plane from his son and then it goes into a close up of his hands holding the toy plane. In this shot the camera follows his hand to the table where he puts down the plane and the batteries. Then there are a few over the shoulder shots of the father and his youngest son. The camera follows the man as he stands up straight and the camera switches focus on his wife in a mid-wide shot, we can see from her eye line that she is smiling at her son who is standing bellow her even though we can’t really see him. The little boy look up at her and they eye line joins even though we don’t ever see both of them in the shot. As the mother leaves the camera focuses on her daughters face from a lower angle. We can see a few wide shots zooming out as the family leaves the shop. The daughter and youngest boy stay behind and as the girl takes the toy plane and gives it to her brother the camera follows her entire movement. Then there are a couple mid-wide angle shots that change between the two characters and their eye line connects during these shots. As the family is walking together the camera is capturing them from a wide shot from the back. Then we see a first shot indicating proof of life other that the family. It’s a wide shot facing upwards and it’s focusing on what looks what animals in the sky. This shot is followed up by a shot focusing downwards on the family overlooking a bridge in the way, it is a wide-angle shot. Next shots are of their feet walking on the sand path it is a close up straight just a their dirty feet and the sand. This shows that they have been walking for some time. We then see full body shots of the family walking the camera is slightly moving in the same direction they are. When the family gets to a bridge the camera is focusing on them from the back in a mid-angle shot. The next couple of shots are focused from the side on the family members faces (profile facing or straight forward) focusing on their facial expressions. As the father turns around to face what is happening behind me the camera shifts around in a half circle motion in the opposite way he is moving. The we see an eye level shot focusing on the girl in a mid-close up angle and in the background we can see the little boy lifting up his toy plane. Then the camera focuses in the same exact angle on the woman as she is covering her mouth with her hands and we can see the man running past her out the camera shot. For a second there is a mid- close up angle on the mother and daughter and then it switches into a mid-close up angle focusing on the little boy from the back as he is holding his toy in the air. Then we see a close up at the fathers face as he is running. Then its switches into a shot of a creature running in the forest. And then it switches back to the father. We can tell that the creature is on the right side of the father because of his eye line.
The camera then zooms in fast at the little boy from the front. And then the shot turns into a side shot with a wide-angle at the boy and the creature sweeps him of the path and kills him.
The sound in this sequence is very minimal, we can hear just essential sounds which a mostly diegetic to the characters. There is rarely any nondiegetic sound in this sequence. The silence in this movie is essential and important for the theme of the movie. The sound/silence in the sequence makes the scenes more intense, creepy and scary.
Continuity editing and cutting is the main styles of editing in this sequence. The editing also contains subtitles, to help the audience understand what is going on while the characters are communicating through sign language between one another.
I think that this is a very good opening scene. It intrigued me a lot. I was pretty invested in it and the storyline. It is a very unique type of film and style all together.
Unbroken
‘Unbroken’ is a war film that was released in the year 2014. It was produced by 3 Arts Entertainment, Jolie Pas and Legendary Entertainment. The film is directed by Angelina Jolie.
This is the main cast list for ‘Unbroken’ I found on the Wikipedia website:
Jack O'Connell as Capt. Louis "Louie" Zamperini
C.J. Valleroy as young Louis Zamperini
Domhnall Gleeson as Lt. Russell "Phil" Phillips
Garrett Hedlund as Lt. Cmdr. John Fitzgerald
Miyavi as Sgt. Mutsuhiro "The Bird" Watanabe
Finn Wittrock as T-3 S/Sgt. Francis "Mac"
Jai Courtney as Lt. Charlton Hugh "Cup" Cupernell
Luke Treadaway as Miller
Spencer Lofranco as Harry Brooks
Travis Jeffery as Jimmy
Jordan Patrick Smith as Cliff
John Magaro as Frank A. Tinker
Alex Russell as Pete Zamperini, Louie's brother
John D'Leo as Young Pete
Vincenzo Amato as Anthony Zamperini
Louis McIntosh as William Federick Harris
Ross Anderson as Blackie
Maddalena Ischiale as Louise Zamperini, Louie's mother
Savannah Lamble as Sylvia Zamperini, Louie's younger sister
Sophie Dalah as Virginia Zamperini, Louie's second younger sister
screenshots from the opening sequence:
The opening sequence of the film ‘Unbroken’ sets the time line during the second world war, we can tell thanks to seeing war aircrafts in the air, the uniforms the soldiers are wearing. The soldiers are in groups of six and are flying in separate planes. At least a dozen planes in their “flock” and they are all flying towards an island, that is visible to them in the distance. As they are getting ready to attack the land. Someone starts firing at them first. The shots hit some of the air crafts and start to damage them. While they are still in the air. The soldiers start to get worried that they won’t be able to fulfil their mission to attack, but also that their lives are in danger. They start to lose control, but at the end they manage to release the bombs on the target they were aiming for. The target, which is some kind of compound explodes, while the soldiers are trying to escape the shots that are being fired at them. They seem to be pleased with themselves that they completed the mission, but start to have problems with the plane straight after. The “bomb” door on the bottom of the aircraft gets stuck and they can’t close it. One of the soldiers notices another aircraft that is not from their “flock” travelling with maximum speed and is heading straight at them. They try to shoot it down, but miss. Aircrafts of the opposite side start to fly around them with high speed. Then they try to shut the “bomb” door again. One of the soldiers, who is actually the main character goes down to the open door, he stand on a ladder/ rim in open air as he tries to shut the door with a handle in the ladder. During this he gets shot at multiple times, but the opponent misses every time. All the aircrafts are in an ongoing air craft war in the sky at this point. The main character tries to help his fellow soldiers as much as he can and is attending to the ones that are injured in the meanwhile the rest of the soldiers are shooting down other aircrafts, which they are successful at. The sequence ends with the soldiers trying to figure out a way how to get out of the life threatening situation they are in.
I can tell that there is going to be quite a lot of violence in the rest of this film and the audience can already be sure who the main character is and that this film is going to be out his journey/story. And also this seems like a very emotional film.
This film is definitely not suitable for young viewers up to the age of 13 or 15 even. It is quite graphic, violent and unsettling. So it might be upsetting for some viewers. I think that this film is aimed mostly at the ages of late twenties up to seniors. I think that this film could most likely be meaningful for war veteran or soldiers or people in the service/army.
The genera of this film is war. We can tell because of the setting in the scenes, the costumes, props, the aircrafts that are used in the sequence. The shooting and graphic violence plays a big part in this genera as well. Also the graphic injuries caused by the valance in the scenes.
We see a couple of soldiers in this opening sequence. (about 5 or 6) We don’t find out any names from the sequence, but we can tell a little bit about their personalities from their behaviour. They all seem to be proud and invested in to protecting their country. Some are quite scared though in some violent scenes, but for example the main character stays very calm and helps the soldiers that are in need and is very efficient. Other soldiers are just really committed to beating their enemy and shoot at them without a lot of control. We can tell that there are two soldiers in control that are superior to the others and have control over the mission.
The establishing shot of this opening sequence is a wide angle shot that is moving from left to right and then at one point we get aircrafts flying in the scene toward the camera. The aircrafts fly straight past the camera. One of the aircrafts covers the entire shot for a second as it’s passing the camera. The following scene is of one of the aircrafts it is a mid-wide angle and we can see the heads of two pilots in the aircraft front window. The camera then focuses on the aircraft controls and steering in a close up, but then move to one of the pilots in a head shot, but from the back. The camera then goes around the aircraft showing it from the inside and showing us the characters. We then see in a wide shot that on the outside there is an entire flock of aircrafts flying close to ache other. This sequence mainly contains head shots of the soldiers, to show their facial expressions and their reactions to certain situations that they end up in. Or on the other hand it has a lot of wide shots so the outside of the aircraft. We get birds eyed angles focusing on the aircrafts from the top, this way we can see how severe the shooting attack actually is. `the camera often moves along with the aircraft and the way it’s been hit, that creates the effect of feeling what it must have been for the soldiers being shouted at while being in the air. The camera is rarely in a still position. The camera moves very quickly in most of the scenes.
Throughout this sequence the sound is diegetic at all times. The sound effects of shots being fired are loud and we can hear them almost through the howl sequence. It is a very loud sequence in general. We hear a lot of sounds over ache other. The only slighter quieter scene is the establishing shot.
I feel like this sequence uses quite a bit of L cut editing/ Cutaway/ Continuity editing/ Cut editing. It just all has a dramatic and unorganised effect on the sequence.
I think that this opening sequence is very good start for this type of film in this genre. I myself go invested in the story and the situation and felt sorry for the soldiers and didn’t want anything bad to happen to them.
Spectre
‘Spectre’ is an action film that was released in the year 2015. It was produced by B24, Columbia Pictures. The film is directed by Sam Mendes
This is the main cast list for ‘Spectre’ I found on the wikipedia website:
Daniel Craig as James Bond
Christoph Waltz as Ernst Stavro Blofeld
Léa Seydoux as Dr. Madeleine Swann
Ben Whishaw as Q
Naomie Harris as Eve MoneypennyDave Bautista as Mr. Hinx
Andrew Scott as C (Max Denbigh)
Rory Kinnear as Bill Tanner
Jesper Christensen as Mr. White
Monica Bellucci as Lucia Sciarra
Stephanie Sigman as Estrella
Alessandro Cremona as Marco Sciarra
Judi Dench as Mallory's predecessor M
screenshots from the opening sequence:
From the opening sequence the audience knows, that this is a story about a spy/secret agent James Bond. (If the audience watched the previous films, it would be very easy for them to follow the storyline from the very beginning). The secret agent is in Mexico and we first see him being involved in a local mask festival. It looks like a festival of death and life. In the festival full of people we see a man that is standing out the crowed. He is dressed in all white, with a skull mask and a hat. He is walking in the opposite direction then everyone else in the parade, then he walks straight past James Bond who is in the crowed, without recognizing him because James is also wearing a skeleton mask, so no one can recognize him, also he is in the company of a stunning woman with dark hair, who is also wearing a mask. James and the woman wait for the man to walk past them and then they start walking in a different direction then the man in white is. James and the woman go to a hotel, which is full of people wearing costumes, they get into an elevator which is taking them to the womans room. It seems like James is just using her to gain access to that specific room, because when they go inside the woman is expecting that something sexual is about to happen, also because they kiss. But then we see James in a suit going toward the open hotel room window, while the woman is getting on top of the bed. The woman looks very disappointed and a little bit humiliated too. James climbs out of the window. He is carrying a gun and he is applying a hidden microphone/listening device into his ear. So he can communicate with his team. We can see that he is on some kind of a mission to kill someone, because of the gun and the fact that he is moving on the rooftops of the buildings. When a big building appears very visually in front of him he hides behind a wall on the roof and focuses on one of the windows in the building. We can see that two men are inside that room that he is aiming his gun at. That means that these men are very possibly his targets. Here the sequence ends.
This opening sequence predicts, that there is going to be a lot of violence involved and that this howl film is about the secret agents James Bonds story and that the shooting, he is about to make is very essential for the film storyline.
I would have to say that the targeted age for this movie is from 15 to 50 in my opinion. I think that for both genders in this case, for different reasons. Men are going to like the action and violence in this film. The women will appeal more to the appearances to some of the actors, especially the main character and they get invested into the romantic story line in this film.
In this first opening sequence we don’t really see the main key elements of action that we would normally see during the howl film. We do how ever notice the gun, that James is carrying and that means that there is going to be violence further in the scene. The intense mood and setting in the film is quite intense and has a dangerous feel to it at times. We also get the hero/good guy effect from James and then a villain effect from the guy who is dressed in all white. So we can tell that there are two sides: good/bad. Also when James is walking on the edge of the buildings we get a sense of danger and adrenalin. I can see the shooting that is about to happen is going to resolve into a lot of unnecessary violence.
We get introduced to the main character, who is James Bond (MI6 agent), then to a villain character, that is the man in the white suit and then there is the female character who is with James. We can tell that James’s target is the man in white because he follows him and then uses the woman to gain access to the rooftop, from where he aims his gun at the man in white. The woman is important just for the purposes of gaining access to her hotel room window. James uses his attractiveness and sexuality to get what he want from her, and then just abandons her without any doubt or regret. She is very disposable to him after he uses her. The woman is very disappointed when she doesn’t get what she expected and feels hurt (even angry) that she was used. The man in white seems a bit superior almost powerful, from the way he carries himself, which makes him seem important, but dangerous.
The camera work is often done in a smooth circular motion from front to back around the subject that it’s focusing on. The entire sequence is captured with one single camera shot. The camera follows the subject around and change angles during the sequence. We see all kinds of different angles: wide angles when the camera is focusing on the festival then a mid-wide angle shot when we see the man in white and the camera zooms in, as the camera moves over to capture James and the woman it goes into a close up and then moves to face them from the back. When James is not the Rooftop the camera goes into a birds eye view and then goes back into a close up shot from the back.
From the beginning of the sequence we can hear the sound fading in and going from quite to loud. It’s the noise that the people at the festival are making and the music playing, we can hear instruments like horns and drums, music and people shouting in the shot, where we see the festival going on. When James and the woman get to the hotel, we stop hearing the music, but because there are a lot of people everywhere around them we hear them speaking amongst ache other. Then when they get in the elevator we hear music that is played in the hotel. When they get to their floor, we hear the elevator beep. Up to here it is all diegetic sound. But once they enter the room we start to hear non-diegetic sound, which is music added by the director in post-production and it’s just for the audience to set the mood of the scene, not the characters. We hear the woman and James speak for the first time when they are in the hotel room. That is the only time we hear people speaking in this sequence. Once James get out of the window the sound changes to diegetic sound of the festival going on in the streets bellow him. That then smoothly changes into the typical James Bond movie soundtrack. And the soundtrack is non-diegetic.
At the beginning of the scene we see a black screen with text (subtitles). Then the entire sequence is shot in the style of a sequence shot.
This opening sequence seems like a very good one, but it is missing a lot of key elements of the genre it’s in. There should be a little bit more action/violence going on. It is not very adrenaline and it is missing the excitement.
A Simple Favour
‘A Simple Favour’ is an thriller film that was released in the year 2018. It was produced by 20th Century Fox. The film is directed by Paul Feig. This is the main cast list for ‘A Simple Favour’, that I found on the Wikipedia website:
Anna Kendrick as Stephanie Smothers
Blake Lively as Emily Nelson
Nicole Peters & Lauren Peters as Hope McLanden and Faith McLanden (16 years old)
Henry Golding as Sean Townsend
Andrew Rannells as Darren
Linda Cardellini as Diana Hyland
Jean Smart as Margaret McLanden
Rupert Friend as Dennis Nylon
Eric Johnson as Davis
Dustin Milligan as Chris
Bashir Salahuddin as Detective Summerville
Joshua Satine as Miles Smothers
Ian Ho as Nicky Nelson
Kelly McCormack as Stacy
Sarah Baker as Maryanne Chelkowsky
Melissa O'Neil as Beth T.A.
screenshots from the opening sequence:
There are two women, who are picking up their children from school at the end of a school day. One of the woman looks like a stereotypical single mom: still looks pretty, but doesn’t put her looks first and focuses on the wellbeing of her child, then the other woman seems ambitious, established, cares about her appearance and seems very rich. We can tell that their sons are friends and they ask for a playdate. The woman that came in an expensive car first says no, but for a second she thinks about it, if the other lady would have an alcoholic drink with her. She says she doesn’t really drink so the rich woman still sticks to her decision, of not having a playdate. Both of the children keep pushing and begging for it that the rich lady just gives in, but says that the other woman has to have a drink with her.
Target audience that this film is aimed at are is possibly people in their late teens or twenties/ early thirties. Because to understand the concept of this film you have to understand some maigre issues in todays’ society. And the difference between rich/poor and ambitions/family life.
The main key elements of this genre is mostly shown through the non-diegetic sound while the rich woman gets out of her car and walks over to the school, the choice of music indicates that she is a mysterious character and very interesting. Also her entrance shows that she is the main character and that everything that is going to be happening in the film is going to evolve around her. Also the way she invites the other lady to her house for their sons to have a play date shows that she is not atypical mom, so we don’t really know what to expect from her as an audience.
It is clear from this sequence that there are two main characters. Two women that are in two very different living situations. One is very rich and we can see that thanks to the car she drives, her clothes look very expensive and stylish (elegant) also the way that she carries herself when she walks indicates that she is maybe a bit stuck up and that she is upper class. The way she speaks throughs the audience a bit of the stereotypical rich mom and it makes her seem very mysterious and unusual. On the other hand the other woman is in plain clothes, looks impressed by the rich woman and wishes she was like her. Her entrance makes her feel bad about herself and her appearance, but wants to be friends with her and get closer to her, because she is interested by her lifestyle and approach to life. It’s something very different to her. We are also introduced to their two children, both are boys and they seem like close friend, so they ask their parents if they can spend some time together after school. Both children seem very happy, well cared of. Like there isn’t any real struggles in their living situations.
There are a lot of camera shots focusing on the rich womans car/ fashion appearance from the start and then it slowly zooms up and shows the umbrella she’s holding. We camera isn’t focused on her face yet properly but as she is getting closer to the camera her face gets in focus. The camera is shooting in a close up and then mid-wide shot. Then when it’s focusing on the other woman it is in medium close up almost every time apart from when it’s an over the shoulder shot and we can see a bit of the other woman in the shot from the back. We have a lot of eye line match shots in this sequence. Even when its focusing on two little boys. Then the rest of the shots are eye match shots, over the shoulder shots and shot reverse shots. Then and then as we see the women leaving the camera focuses on them in a wide shot.
At the beginning the rich womans entrance is over exaggerated by non-diegetic sound that was added in post-production. We hear classical, soft, elegant music playing as she gets out of the car with her umbrella and walks over to the school. The non-diegetic music stops when we can see the woman closing her umbrella which is accompanied by an over exaggerated parallel sound of the umbrella closing. As the two woman are speaking we can hear parallel diegetic sound of the rain in the background. As they are leaving together we can hear non-diegetic music fading in.
In this sequence we have a long slow motion shot which is moving from a low angle upwards into an eye line angle, when the woman is walking from her car. This is also a tracking shot which is moving backwards. Jump cut is one of the main styles of editing in this sequence. And then Cross Cutting / Parallel Editing.
It is a successful opening scene because it sets the mystery from the beginning. The audience sees this rich woman behaving in a unusual, unexpected way and that makes them question who she really is. This scene shows what the main focus of the movie is, and its easy to follow for the audience
Avatar
‘Avatar’ is an Sci-Fi film that was released in the year 2009. It was produced by James Cameron and also directed by James Cameron + 20th Century Fox. This is the main cast list for ‘Avatar’, that I found on the Wikipedia website:
Sam Worthington as Jake Sully
Stephen Lang as Colonel Miles Quaritch
Sigourney Weaver as Dr. Grace Augustine
Michelle Rodriguez as Trudy Chacón
Giovanni Ribisi as Parker Selfridge
Joel David Moore as Dr. Norm Spellman
Dileep Rao as Dr. Max Patel
Zoe Saldana as Neytiri
CCH Pounder as Mo'at
Wes Studi as Eytukan
Laz Alonso as Tsu'tey
screenshots from the opening sequence:
This opening sequence seems to be shot in a fantasized future, we can tell because of how the city looks: very modern, technical, bright colours, it almost seems like its set somewhere in Asia. This film seems to be about a man, who can’t walk so he has to use a wheel chair. He gets kicked out of a bar out on the streets for his behaviour. Because he can’t walk he is lying in the puddles of water in the rain in the streets. Two men suddenly appear, they are wearing big coated and suit. Their fashion sense makes them look like they are business men or that their work position is quite high/very formal. (+ well paid) The men stand over the main character as he is lying on the floor. The identify him and then tell him they have to talk to him about his brother. They take him to a futuristic morgue. They show him his twins body and tell him that he was killed in a mugging with a knife. Then they tell him he was involved in a secret/special project and that they hope he will take his place, that it could mean a fresh start from him. At the end of the sequence the audience can tell that he decided to take his brothers place. Audience can see that it’s now a different time line by his hair cut. And that he is in some kind of confined space and has woken up from being asleep.
The target audience is in a gig range. Because this film has presold elements already: a book in a childrens version. It can be aimed at children as well as young adults and adults. This film is aimed at people who are interested in supernatural/fantasy creatures/dimensions.
We can see that this is a Sci-fiction film from the opening sequence mainly only by how the city is build. The advanced technology, colours, then the unusual morgue and from what the two men are identifying him with and then what they are talking to the main character about. Then lastly from where the main character is confined in at the end.
We are introduced to the main character straight from the first scene. He seems like he has given up on a happy way of living life. He seems very depressed and unhappy, also he is disabled and can’t walk which indicates, why he might be feeling so unhappy. Then we get introduced to two other side characters: two men in black. They seem very important and essential and it looks like they have been looking for the main character specifically and that he is very important to them too and have to show something to him.
In this scene we see a tracking shot of the main character from the side. To show as he is being thrown out of the bar. There is a couple of wide shots as he is lying in the streets, so the audience can identify where he actually is. For the audience to see the main characters facial expressions and reaction of being thrown out into the streets. Then we see point of view shots. (= what the main character sees) Then we get a low angle zoom in shot as the two men approach. It is a low angle so the audience don’t immediately see their faces and so don’t know what to expect. We have a birds eye view that captures the main character in the middle and parts of the two men on the side. When the three men are at the morgue we see them moving away from the camera in a wide angle shot. As the main character is next to his brothers body, the camera is capturing this moment in a medium full shot, which puts the main focus on them, which makes them look optically bigger and closer. (even though the main character is in a wheel chair) The audience then sees a medium close up shot at the dead body from a high angle. Then it switches into a wide birds eye view shot (at the dead body). As the box with the body inside closes, the camera is positioned inside and the audience can see what it’s like from the view of being in that box. As the men are talking the camera captures them in a close up, to exaggerate the facial expressions they exchange between one another. When the box with the body goes in the volt the camera is already inside and moves towards the box as it’s moving closer. After the box is lit on fire the scene goes into an extreme shot of the mens eyes.
At the start of the scene there is a lot of diegetic, parallel sound. The audience can hear a train that is going over the main characters head, then the sound of the mens footsteps is over exaggerated to create a more intense feeling. Later in the sequence there is non-diegetic sound, which is subtle and soft. When the characters are in the morgue we can hear diegetic background of what is going on there and also non-diegetic sound which makes it more sad and ads more emotion to the scene. There are voice overs added to this sequence in post-production which is non-diegetic to the characters, but it helps the audience get some kind of a backstory to what is actually happening. As the main character is processing his brothers death, the voices of the other men are blurred out slightly.
We get an establishing shot at the beginning to give viewers an idea of where the scene is taking place. The editing style of this opening sequence is mostly dominated by Continuity editing, cutaway, eye line match and fade.
This is a successful opening sequence, it gives the audience an actual idea of what is going to be happening in the film. It make the audience connect to the main character emotionally and sympathise with him.
OVERALL
All these five sequences were very well shot opening sequences for movies. They managed to introduce what was going to happen in the film and make the audience connect with the main character emotionally.
I would say that all the opening sequences were quite different mainly because they are all in different genres.
I think that avatar is the most successful film of these five films, mainly because of its very advanced technology, special effects, unique ideas and concept of the howl film.
I think that the least successful one in my opinion would have to be the film “A secret favour”. It just wasn’t that well-advertised as the other films so not a huge amount of people even knew it was being released.
