What Directors Try To Get Across In Film Openings

In the opening of any movie, regardless of genre, it has to be capturing and interesting. It has to catch the eye of the audience and leaving them with a few unanswered questions that will be revealed throughout the remainder if the film. After an opening, producers should aim to make the viewers want to find out more about the characters they see, what may happen next etc. This can be achieved in in a variety of different ways. It is fair to say that the opening of a thrillers takes a different approach to a romantic comedy for example. As audiences, we would expect to see completely different things. Thrillers are highly known and understood to have exciting and slowly revealed plots and quite complex story lines. Due to this, the opening for any movie in this genre is vital to keep the viewers interested, wanting to watch more, so they can see the plots unravel as the movie progresses. If there isn't a hook in the opening, viewers are likely to not want to watch the rest of the film, thinking it's boring.  Though on the other hand, if there is too much happening in an opening, it could also lead the viewers into dislike as they will feel confused. Revealing too much may also make the audience feel it is pointless watching the rest of the opening, as it may come across too predictable because it's likely that that will be able to guess what happens next. It is difficult to find the correct amount of information to give on an opening because adding too much or too little could have detrimental affects on the rest of the movie.

Below there is a diagram of a colour coded line graph of how different thriller openings establish different aspects in the opening. Things recorded are: establish the character, the themes, the location, the mood, the plot and the genre. Using any if the things listed above sets the theme for the rest of the movie without revealing too much. I chose to analyse films from a variety of genres, however mainly thrillers, this it to see the difference in openings depending on the genre (if there is one) and to give myself an idea of what is necessary for my thriller opening. After watching the opening of any film, the genre should be made clear. I chose to analyse a thriller (Se7en), a psychological thriller (The Butterfly Effect), an animation/childrens/family film (Finding Nemo), a drama (Scarface), a horror (Drag Me To Hell), a rom-com (Hitch) and an action film (Gone in 60 seconds). Here are the results;

Above is a key explaining what colour represents what file, e.g. the orange line represents my opinion of the opening to Se7en. The graph shows thatout of all of the films I analysed, the film that estsblished the least is Scarface with an overall score of 4. On the other hand, the film that established the most is Hitch with an overall score of 53. The opening of Scarface is pretty much the opposite to Hitch. Hitch makes it very obvious who the main character is, the genre of the film, the mood and the plot well my Will Smith doing a voice over explaining them. The location was obvious through the types of shots used but is made less obvious than the others. Unlike Scarface which shows a variety of characters, making it unclear who the main character/characters are. Nothing else is made clear in this opening as it doesnt portray much. Judging by the opening only, I wouldn't believe this is a horror. Se7en has the most scattered response, with high levels of establishing the genre, theme and mood but quite low levels of establishing the character, location and the plot. In Se7en, it is clear it is a thriller as the suspicion of not revealing the character is established, which is common in thrillers, enhancing the audiences enigma.

 

 

Movie Example 1This is a thriller example, with the sub genre of psychological, is 'The Cube'. This film is not a very recent film as made in 1997. Although, it holds a most intriguing opening. Below is a rough synopsis of what movie is about from IMDb;

Six different people, each from a very different walk of life, awaken to find themselves inside a giant cube with thousands of possible rooms. Each has a skill that becomes clear when they must band together to get out: a cop, a math whiz, a building designer, a doctor, an escape master, and a disabled man. Each plays a part in their thrilling quest to find answers as to why they've been imprisoned.

Above is the opening 4 minutes of the film, where we are then taken to the title. The first thing we see is an extreme close up of someone's the eye. The extreme close up shows the rather important action of someone waking up and seeming very disorientated. This instantly makes the audience feel as if the person they see is in an unfamiliar setting in which they are not used to. This helps setting a location and identifying the character. We see him laying down, very confused and all over the place, in unnatural surroundings even for the viewers, dressed all in a dull, plain grey. This gives a sense that he could possibly be a convict of some sort? Or could even insinuate that he's been drugged and left in this place. As the story progresses my initial view that he's a convict of victim of some form changes.

 

The brightness of the location and the surrealism that shines through is one to make us think. It doesn't offer much for the sub genre neither does it tell us much about the theme or plot. However as the character starts to walk around and look into these squared hatches that seem to be doors, we are led into identical rooms that's only difference is the colour. This is giving us a sense that it's some sort of maze where he's trying to find his way out. In the last room, we are welcomed to his untimely, unexpected death which happens in quite a gruesome way. This helps us to establish the plot and adds deeper meaning to the title (as everything is a square/cube). All these things intrigue the audience into uncovering what it is all about, insinuating that in order to survive the characters must find out which rooms are safe and which may not be, meaning many are likely to get killed in the process.

 

The initial shot of the eye opened is something I would like to incorporate into my opening. For my thriller, I would have the murderer waking up with a shock, opening his eyes wide or the victim waking up after falling unconscious after a fall.

 

 

Movie Example 2

 

The film example I will be looking at is Se7en. David Fincher was the director of this film and is very specific, playing close attention in introducing the characters & identifying what  their role in the movie is. In the graph above, Se7en is represented with an orange line.

 

          

 

To begin with, the first few minutes of the film we are introduced to the main character, Detective Summerset (played by Morgan Freeman). We are introduced to a lonely character, who seems to be living in a simple apartment, alone. Everything about the way this character is presented is very precise, controlled, ordered and specific. This is possible because the location and mise-en scene in which the audience are shown as everything in his house seems to be perfectly in place, with no apparent mess. Stereotypically, this is how any investigators house would be expected to look. However we are given the sense it's some that little bit more extreme for this detective. In contrast to the fairly old, stereotypical quite dated character, towards the end of the opening the audience are introduced to quite a new, more modern character. Dressed in quite a casual suit and with youth on his side, we are shown the up to date version of what investigators look and act like (not shown in the example above, couldn't find clip long enough). The way the more modern man interacts with Detective Sommerset , the audience can assume that he will also play a big part in the movie. Just like 'The Cube' we are introduced to the first character straight away, although this one lasts a lot longer.
 

The tone/mood of the opening is obvious that there is a very dull, serious feel to the movie. The opening is mainly shot in low key lighting, giving the film a dark, gloomy mood. These assumptions can be made simply by the tone in the characters voices, how they act and speak around each other and the situations they are faced with. Right from the beginning the audience can feel the seriousness of the murder case as there is a dead body with blood all over laying on the floor. This was quite s sharp, brutal tone is being set for the rest of the movie. The shots of the body are quite long & lingering, giving the audience some time to really take in what is happening in the scene. 

In a scene where Detective Sommerset is sitting on his bed in the dark, he sets off a ticking counter to fall asleep to. We are then welcomed to a slow zoom, slowly focusing onto his face to end with a close up. This is portraying the mood as very miserable, lonely and making us feel very empathetic about his life.

Throughout the opening, we are also introduced to what may be the murderer. All we see from this character are his hands. This is an idea that I would like to use in my opening, keeping the murderer very subtle and unknown, showing only his hands and body. This will keep up suspense, tension & enigma as the characters will be questioning themselves, wondering who he is.
Another aspect I plan to do in my film is the feature of heavy low key lighting. This will help in allowing me to keep the main characters unknown for a long time. This should also help my opening to have a dull, not happy feel.
As well as this, I really like the idea and view of the disjointed text.