G321 - Film Opening Analysis - Science Fiction/ Thriller: Children of Men

Children of Men (2006)

The opening sequence of this film begins with the revealing of the "Universal" institution logo. This would have been a deliberate choice made by the production company so as to present the audience with an idea of the standard of the film due to Universal's popularity and success within the film industry. However, unusually, the Universal theme sound is not used during the reveal of the logo. This complements the genre of the film and causes the audience to be unsuspecting of what is to follow. The second institution revealed is "Strike", a smaller, independent company that use Universal to distribute their films. The animation of the red, spiky shapes converging to reveal the title hints towards the thriller aspect of the film, therefore foreshadowing the narrative of the film.

From the opening of the film it first seems as though the genre of the film is to be science fiction/ action. This is due to the cold told created by the blue colour palette. The bold, block titles also mirror this genre, appearing to be strong and connoting power. However, the explosion followed by the woman walking out of the coffee shop holding her own arm which has been blown off causes the viewer to see the film as a thriller rather than an action film. However, the futuristic appearance of the city still rectifies that the film will be science fiction.



The advertising poster for the film reiterates
the target audience as being young men.

The targeted audience of the film appears to be men between the ages of 17 and 35 due to the use of explosions within the first few minutes of the film as this connotes that the film will contain lots of action and would therefore appeal more to young men. It also comes across that the film would be targeted at the middle class as it appears to be a film which would be better suited to showing in cinemas than at home and therefore the watchers would need to be in a financial situation which allowed them the opportunity to visit cinemas and pay out for tickets. However, the inclusion of violence so early on in the film makes it apparent that it would not be directed at the upper class.

The film opens on a disruption, the death of the youngest child in the world, and reveals that the narrative of the film is to be based around this matter. Aside from this, the narrative remains quite ambiguous as there is not much information given away about why this has happened and why this causes an issue in the story-world. This causes the audience to start asking questions and foreshadows the narrative including an explanation of this and that this will play a major role in the films narrative.

The opening of this film appears to be giving the audience a message to care for people's well being and focus not only on their physical state but also their mental state. The news story in the film tells the audience that the boy committed suicide as he could not cope with his fame which places importance upon the way in which we place too much pressure on celebrities and cause them to take drastic measures. It allows the audience to see that we are the cause of some people's downfalls, even when we believe we are doing the moral and correct thing.

The opening of the film reveals that the majority of characters in the film will be average and seemingly normal people. This is important as it will the audience to connect with the characters and therefore feel more engaged in the narrative. The only character the audience are given the opportunity to truly examine is a middle aged man who buys a coffee before adding in whiskey. This leads the audience to view him as the protagonist. He appears to be damaged due to his rough appearance, dark clothing and reliance upon alcohol connoting his potential failure within the film. This prevents the audience from being emotionally engaged with the protagonist and could imply that within the film the protagonist will prove his worth to the audience in the same way as he will to the remainder of the characters within the film.

The atmosphere within the opening sequence initially appears to be one of loss, sadness and confusion surrounding the death of the aforementioned child. This is shown by the blank looks on the character's faces in the coffee shop and their attention being focused on the television screen during the report. The blue colour palette helps add to the sad atmosphere and so was probably chosen to make it more obvious to the audience that these people are sad and their blank faces are due to disbelief as oppose to not caring. However, the atmosphere dramatically shifts to one of terror and fear when the coffee shop unexpectedly explodes. This drastic shift foreshadows a narrative filled with unexpected changes and reflects the thriller aspect of the genre.

The themes made evident from the opening of the film include that of death, loss, violence, fear and terrorisation. The unexpected explosion in conjunction with the news story about the boy's suicide work together to produce the evidence for a theme of death and loss whilst the explosion alone creates hints towards themes of terrorisation, fear and violence.


The setting of the film is established as being in London due to the red double-decker buses which are usually associated with the British capital. The setting of London has probably been chosen as it has connotations of both crime and success. This combination foreshadows the narrative of the film, including both destruction and success, potentially linked to the protagonist's success levels within the film. The use of this location makes it evident that the film is of a high budget as the location would have had to have been secured or edited in using green screens, both of which would cost a lot of money.

The sound remains quiet until the explosion in the coffee shop. This allows the viewer to focus on what is being said in the news report and helps to create an atmosphere of calm and sets up the equilibrium. However, the sudden loud explosion offsets the balance and connotes that the tone of the film is set to change.

Editing within the opening is continuous and slow paced causing the audience to expect this from the rest of the film. This signifies that the films narrative will be continuous and will follow a single protagonist throughout as it has in the opening of the clip, making the protagonist appear more important and setting him to be the "hero".

The lighting in the opening sequence is very naturalistic which allows the audience to connect to the characters and the narrative more as it feels more real and presents a façade of verisimilitude. It's a façade because the genre of the film is Science Fiction and therefore we know that the film itself is not going to be realistic at all, rather that it will appear as if it could happen in a very distant future as oppose to the present time.

The variety of different shots used within the opening takes away from the realistic feel of the film due to the many different angles used. However, the tracking shot of the protagonist allows the audience to feel involved with the society and the surroundings and therefore this adds to the verisimilitude of the film. It causes the audience to connect with the narrative more effectively and pulls their attention into the film.

The opening represents a futuristic London, year 2027, in a very negative way. The news report tells of how there are no more children being born as well as how the deportation of immigrants has become a social norm. This causes the audience to believe that our society is collapsing back into prehistoric ways of thinking and shows that our species is slowly dying out. The women in the clip are represented as being emotional and easily affected by the news story. This could reflect upon the narrative of the film and foreshadow future events. it could also hint towards why there are no more children and how this is affecting them.

The titles within the opening stand out from the black background and are not integrated into the clip making them appear to be unrelated and therefore not as important to the narrative. This allows the audience to infer that the narrative will require attention and therefore the titles are placed before hand so as not to detract the viewers attention.

From the evidence provided I have come to the conclusion that this opening contains both some aspects to strive towards and some aspects to avoid. I intend to also create a sense of reality and verisimilitude within my film opening so as to allow the audience to connect to the narrative however I would like to avoid the style of titles used within this piece as I feel it does not provide the audience with enough information about the film and rather distances the characters from the actors and does not provide the crew with any credit prior to the main title sequence at the end of the film. 

G321 - Analysing Film Openings

Before proceeding with our projects, we were informed of how to best go about analysing film openings so that we were able to understand what aspects constitute towards a successful film opening and which aspects to avoid so as to not cause our film openings to look like trailers or to be unsuccessful in their purpose. We were made aware of the eight key aspects of film openings (Genre, Narrative, Characters, Atmosphere, Themes, Setting, Sound and Titles) before briefly analysing two very different opening sequences; "Catch Me If You Can" and "My Best Friend's Wedding".

Catch Me If You Can (2002)

 

Genre:
Catch Me If You Can appears to be an action-crime film due to the use of police cars in the clip, the mysterious non-diegetic music and the clear depiction of one character chasing another through many different locations.

Narrative:
The opening of the film provides an inclination towards the narrative of the film being that of somebody being chased down. This character, believably the protagonist, continues to change their identity throughout the sequence therefore indicating that this will be replicated throughout the duration of the main film.

Character:
From the opening of the film it is possible to determine that throughout the film will be spies, police and a protagonist played by Leonardo DiCaprio who will change his identity multiple times becoming a pilot, a doctor and a business man to name just a few. The antagonist who will be chasing down DiCaprio's character is played by Tom Hanks. These two characters are identifiable due to the integrated titles. It can further be inferred that the woman in the opening sequence will provide a love interest for either DiCaprio or Hanks.

Atmosphere:
The atmosphere created by the opening is one of light-hearted intrigue leading to me to believe that the film will contain comedic elements. However, the non-diegetic music and the narrative suggest suspense and mystery therefore leading the audience to become intrigued about the characters and said narrative.

Themes:
The themes of Catch Me If You Can are evidently chase and identity. This is shown through the changing identity of the main protagonist and the continuous chase throughout the narrative of the title sequence.

Setting:
The iconography of the yellow taxi cab allows the audience to make the inference that the main location of the film will be New York City however the sub-location appears to change throughout and this is emphasised through the changing of the background colour, such as the blue airport and the yellow swimming pool area. Some of the locations shown are airports, the motorway, an office, a hospital, a swimming pool and a dinner party.

Sound:
The non-diegetic music builds tension through the use of trumpets and the change in the music suggests a change in the narrative and foreshadows the changing locations and identities of the characters.
 
Titles:
The titles are fully integrated into the opening and are unobtrusive, connecting to straight lines within the animation such as Amy Adam's name becoming the swimming pool ladder. This prevents them from detracting from the action of the sequence so as to allow the audience to fully understand the brief overview of the narrative.

My Best Friend's Wedding (1997) 





 

Genre:

The happy, light-hearted and comical dancing throughout the opening sequence in conjunction with the references to love and weddings in both the sequence and the non-diegetic music signifies that the film is to be a romantic-comedy.

 

Narrative:

Both the opening to the film and the film's title lead the audience to believe that the film will be about weddings and marriage, namely the marriage of the protagonist's best friend. However, aside from this there is very little revealed about the narrative in the opening which would intrigue the audience and causes them to continue watching to discover more.

 

Character:

The opening reveals that there will be a group of friends involved in the plot of the narrative and that one of the key members of this group will become a bride. This means there will also be a groom however the identity of such is currently unknown.

 

Atmosphere:

The opening of the film eludes towards a happy and joyful atmosphere which could potentially become disturbed later on in the film, thus foreshadowing the narrative to include an upset of this happy equilibrium.

 

Themes:

The iconography of the bouquets, white gown and rings connotes that the main theme of the film is to be weddings, romance and marriage.

 

Setting:

The generic signifiers such as those listed above foreshadow the setting to be that of a church or wedding reception however there is no information about the whereabouts of such.

 

Sound:

The diegetic song "Wishin and Hopin" is based around how to impress and keep a man, therefore complementing the narrative of the film. It eludes towards the bride helping one of her friends to find a partner.

 

Titles:

The titles are in a font which gives them the appearance of being handwritten, as if on a wedding invitation, and therefore giving them an integrated feel despite contrasting with the background and standing out.

 

Conclusion

To conclude, I prefer the use of integrated titles and aim to use this within my own film opening. I aim to use iconography within my opening so as to help with the presentation of genre. I will attempt to use non-diegetic music to hint towards the narrative and to set the correct atmosphere for the film and wish to take the route of not revealing too much about the plot from the opening so as to create intrigue for the viewer, therefore raising the chances of them watching the "entire" film.











G321 - Film Trailer V Film Opening

To ensure that my coursework was as professional as possible, it was first important to ensure that I knew the difference between a film trailer and a film opening. Therefore, it was compulsory to research the differences between the two so as to avoid my opening from having the appearance of a trailer.

 

Film trailers give important information about the film and tend to begin with the institution that created the film and end with the film's title. Trailers use a montage of clips from the film in a fragmented narrative to show sections of the film that will grab the attention of the audience to entice them into cinemas and picture houses to watch the film. These clips are most commonly separated by fade to/through black which makes it evident that the narrative is fragmented rather than in a chronological order. Many film trailers will include a voice over towards the end of the clip with actors names and it is common for a memorable tagline to be used so as to be more easily remembered. The A Team (2010) trailer is an example of a trailer which contains all of these aspects:

 

 

This trailer shows how a memorable tagline ("There's no Plan B") can be used in conjunction with a fragmented narrative to help promote the film at the end of the trailer so as to entice audiences.

 

Film openings include the logo of the institution producing the film at the beginning as well as details of cast and crew. The film title is usually displayed within the first 40 seconds. Within the film opening there is an introduction to characters and/or character types and a signature theme tune as well as indication towards place and historical period. The audience are given information on genre which is revealed by the use of generic conventions and are provided with information about the mood and tone of the piece. The editing style used in the film opening will reflect the editing style for the remainder of the clip and the mise en scene and cinematography used will be echoed or elaborated upon during the remainder of the film. Potentially the most important aspect of the film opening is that it raises questions and intrigue within the audience. The film opening sets up the film. An example of a film opening which contains all of these aspects is the opening to James Bond: The Spy Who Loved Me (1977):

 

 

This film opening indicates towards spies, sensual women and death as well as hinting towards a story of love and loss as well as raising questions from the audience such as "Who is this woman?", "What is the relationship between the characters?" and "What happened to make "loved" past tense?".