This blog post features a list of different film openings that I have watched and what I have learned from them, and what I like about them. This research and blog post was independently conducted and written by me (Maxi).
The Shining (1980): Warner Bros. Pictures
The Shining is a 1980 psychological horror film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick and co-written with novelist Diane Johnson. The film is based on Stephen King's 1977 novel of the same name and stars Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Scatman Crothers, and Danny Lloyd. It was distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The films opening credits' intentions are to set the ambience of the film.
Media Language
The Shining is generally regarded as one of the best horror movies ever made and the opening sequence does a fantastic job in introducing to the audience the overall tone of the movie itself. The opening credits features a sole car driving down desolate mountain and hillside roads, as a score of eerie music is played as non-diegetic sound in the background. Not a single word of dialogue is said, and not a single face is shown. All that we see for the 3 minute duration of the opening sequence is a single car. This builds tension and uses hermeneutic code (Barthes 5 Codes) to lure in audiences and cause them to wonder where the car is going, who is driving, what do they want to do when they arrive at their destination, etc. The spooky music that plays, combined with the solitude of the scene causes the audience to decode the meaning of the opening in only one possible way; fear. According to Stuart Hall's reception theory, this interpretation of the opening would be considered the audiences preferred reading.
Audience
The shining's target audience most likely incorporates more adult audiences from the age of 21-50, due to the use of gory imagery and mature content. However even based on the opening alone, the shining would most likely not be considered as a movie for younger audiences. The underlying tones of the opening suggest that the film will contain psychological elements that may be far too scary for younger audiences. It would also take a higher level of cognitive thinking to understand and appreciate most of the underlying tones suggested in the film, and would thus be hard for younger audiences to understand.
Representation
The opening sequence of The Shining cannot be said to represent any specific ethnic or people group, due to the scene not showing the faces of anyone, in any shape or form, instead featuring only a car driving throughout the entire duration of the opening credits. However, the driving itself may be representative of audience members that enjoy driving as a hobby. Furthermore, driving is often seen as therapeutic by many people, especially in solitary/desolate areas. Thus, the opening sequence may represent the psychographic of audience members that enjoy to drive.
Industry
The Shining's opening is created using overhead camera shots from up in the sky, most likely using helicopter's or a large plane to record these shots, as they couldn't use modern drones due to drone technology not being readily available during the time the film was being produced. The film follows genre conventions by including eerie and suspenseful music while also keeping the audience in suspense by not revealing the identity of the driver, which are common tropes of psychological thrillers/horror movies.
In conclusion
In my opinion, I believe The Shining's opening sequence does a phenomenal job at building the atmosphere and tone for the movie overall, and should be used as a foundation/blueprint of what any opening sequence for a movie should be.
The Emoji Movie (2017): Sony Pictures Releasing
The Emoji Movie is a 2017 American computer-animated science fiction comedy film produced by Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. It stars the voices of T.J. Miller, James Corden, Anna Faris, Maya Rudolph, Steven Wright, and many more notable figures of the acting world.
The Emoji movie is quite frankly one of the worst rated and most hated comedy films of all time with absolutely horrendous reviews and ratings from both critics and audiences. The Movie achieved a mind blowing 6% on rotten tomatoes, and a score of 3.3 on IMDB, which makes it one of the worst rated films of all time on both platforms. However, even undeniably bad movies have aspects which can be learnt from. In this case, the emoji movies opening sequence is a prime example of what not to do.
Media Language
The opening sequence of the movie features of a voiceover/narration of the world of the "Emojis". The audience is addressed directly by the narrator and told about the Emojis, their lives, what they do, and their purpose are all told to us by this narrator. Instead of using compelling cinematic and storytelling devices to create a captivating opening, the producers decided to lay back and rely on indisputably lazy storytelling to introduce the audience to the movie, its plot, and it's storyline. Throughout the entire opening, the audience isn't left to ask any questions, and generally just isn't hooked in. The lack of complexity in the opening may make sense since it's made for young kids, but all in all its absence of any mindful usage of media language leaves the audience bored and uninterested after not even 5 minutes of the movie.
Audience
The Emoji Movies target audience would be kids from the ages of 6-13 from both genders, any may also include families too. This is because of the movies heavy usage of childish jokes, bright characters, and over-exaggerated speech. From purely the opening, it can be seen that voice actors talk in a bright and cheery voice, which appeals to kids. Furthermore, with the whole movie being animated, the appeal towards kid audiences increases even further. According to Katz and Bulmer's uses and gratification theory, this primarily young audience would most likely consume the film for the purposes of diversion, as kids generally consume films like this for the purpose of pleasure and fun above all other reasons.
Representation
With the entire opening sequence consisting of purely animated emoji's, and not a single human character, it can be hard to interpret the representations of people groups featured in the film, as emojis don't generally correlate to any ethnic or social groups. However, from the voice's of the actors, it can be assumed that they are played by predominantly white talent. Thus, it could be representative of Caucasian people. This lack of representation of different groups of people, according to Stuart Hall's representation theory may be due to a lack of diversity in the production of the movie, specifically the writing department, which in this case would be dominated by hegemonic groups.
Industry
The Emoji Movie is fully animated throughout its entirety using heavy CGI and computer graphics with top of the line machinery, that most likely required a team of over 50 people to create. This type of heavy duty animation most likely requires a hefty budget as well. When it comes to industry norms however, the Emoji Movie follows genre conventions accurately as for a kids movie, it contains immature humor, bright characters, and a cheerful setting that would attract the eye of any kid.
In conclusion
This type of opening is quite frankly incredibly dull, as it doesn't build any sense of tension and suspense in the audience, and lacks any meaningful use of storytelling techniques to advance the plot and engage the audience. Thus, this leads me to believe that a film opening in which a voiceover is used to build the world and set the scene for a movie should not be used in our project.
The Dark Knight (2008): Warner Bros. Pictures
The Dark Knight is the second installment of the Batman Trilogy and was directed by Christopher Nolan. It is based on the DC Comic's superhero "Batman", and was produced and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. The plot follows the vigilante Batman, police lieutenant James Gordon, and district attorney Harvey Dent, who form an alliance to dismantle organized crime in Gotham City. Their efforts are derailed by the Joker, an anarchistic mastermind who seeks to test how far Batman will go to save the city from chaos.
The Dark Knight was a revolutionary film in the world of superhero movies and is widely considered one of the best superhero blockbusters of all time, due mainly to Nolan's incredible screenplay and use of cinematography, alongside the masterful performances of movie star's Heath Ledger and Christian Bale, who play the Joker and Batman respectively. Additionally, it has an astonishing score of 9 on the critical movie review site IMDB and a score of 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Media Language
The opening sequence of the Dark Knight serves as one of the most noteworthy opening credits in all of filmmaking history. The sequence features a bank heist that is not only thoroughly entertaining but also does an outstanding job at establishing the most vital element of the film; the main villain, the Joker, and who he is. The Joker is initially hidden to the audience (An example of Hermenutic code, from Barthes 5 Codes) as we are not shown his face, and anticipation is built but through a magnificent use of camerawork and dialogue as the cast of robbers are heard talking about the Joker's motives, and how he aims to split the money after the heist. This implies to the audience that he may be the leader of this whole operation. A member of the robbery is then shown to eliminate the last remaining member of his crew as well as the bank manager, by putting a grenade in his mouth. This man then reveals himself to be, once he takes off his mask, the most wanted criminal in all of Gotham City, the Joker. This scene not only makes sure the audience is paying full attention to the film but also sets the underlying tone of what's to come later on in the movie perfectly. Nolan's masterful use of proairetic and hermeneutic code , in which he creates a sense of mystery and guise around who the joker is and what he plans on doing, grips the audience by the throat and introduces the stories villain in a truly breathtaking display of storytelling and filmmaking.
Audience
The target audience, based on the opening alone, would mainly consist of teens to adults from the ages of 16-50, primarily men. Traditionally, Batman as a comic has existed for over 70 years, and has generally been for all ages. However, according to Steve Neale's Genre Theory, Batman must evolve and be unique enough such that it separates itself from other Batman films, that it remains new to audiences so that they don't get bored watching the same type of movie over and over again. Christopher Nolan separates this Batman from previous installments in the Franchise by showing a darker and more mature side of the Batman and focusses more on the mystery and drama of the superhero. The action and superhero genre caters towards the interest of mainly men, especially young men. However, the underlying dark tones implied throughout the movie would suggest that the film targets a more mature and older adult audience. According to Stuart Hall's reception theory, the preferred reading of the audience would be to interpret this scene as a precursor to how powerful and "messed up" the Joker truly is, as he eliminates his whole crew without showing the slightest glimpse of remorse. This leads the audience to denote him as powerful, while also being a monster. Additionally, according to Katz and Bulmer's usage and gratification theory, audiences would most likely consume this media text for the purpose of Diversion, as the mystery and action featured throughout the film would most likely serve as an escape from the stresses of everyday life for most audience members.
Representation
The Dark Knight's opening uses the stereotypes commonly attributed to bank robbers like masks that cover their face, heavy assault rifles, and talking in commanding and unempathetic voices. Furthermore the scene takes place in a metropolitan area, which represents audiences living in cities. It is hard to say if the films producers used ethnic/racial/social stereotypes to build the characters of the robbers as they all wore clown masks, which makes it hard to interpret their identity. This may have been to avoid controversy as they may have not wanted to offend audiences.
Industry
The Distribution and production company Warner Brother's include their logo at the very beginning of the opening credits, which builds audience expectation and leads them to expect a high quality film due to the reputation of the Warner Brother name. Christopher Nolan is a director that's Infamously known for not using special effects or CGI throughout any of his movies. In a shot where a bus crashes through the bank, Nolan revealed that he used a real bus and actually crashed it through the set. However, obviously special effects were applied when shooting with guns, as guns were not actually shot at people, and had those effect created using editing. The film follows the conventions of the genre by including scenes filled with heavy action and destruction, common attributes of any superhero blockbuster.
In conclusion
Thus, I believe that the film opening in The Dark Knight is a beautiful sequence and should be seen as the pinnacle of what an opening sequence should set out to be.
The Da Vinci Code (2006): Sony Pictures Releasing
The Da Vinci Code is a 2006 American mystery thriller film directed by Ron Howard, written by Akiva Goldsman, and based on Dan Brown's 2003 novel of the same name. It stars actors like Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, and was produced by Colombia Pictures and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing.
The film follows a wild goose chase triggered by the murder of Louvre Curator Jacques Saunière, in which Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks), an American professor of religious symbology, is joined by French cryptographer and detective Sophie Neveu (Audrey Taotau), on a quest to find the Holy Grail. However problems arise as the French police and the religious organization Opus Dei attempt to stop them from revealing the true secrets behind this "ancient treasure".
The films opening features an old man (The Louvre Curator) being chased in the Louvre museum in the dead of night, by a cloaked vigilante, while suspenseful music plays in the background to build tension. Ambient lighting is also used to keep the identity of the vigilante hidden, and to show the expressions of the old man and illustrate the fear in his face. The secrecy behind the identity of the vigilante is a prime example of one of Barthes 5 Narrative Codes, in this case hermenuetic code, which is used to hook in audiences and keep them engaged and watching by making them wonder "who is this person? what are his goals?" and makes sure the audiences pays attention as to what's going on throughout the film. The vigilante then takes off his cloak and reveals himself to be an albino male, who asks the old man about possessing what is "not rightfully his", and elaborates no further. This opening sets the scene for the rest of the movie as the audience may denote that the message left behind by the old man may end up being valuable information that will reveal itself later on in the film. For a movie with the genre of mystery, I believe the Da Vinci Code does an amazing job at building audience expectations, and creating a suspenseful environment that keep audiences hooked.
Fight Club (1999): 20th Century Fox
Fight Club is a 1999 American film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. It is based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk. It was both produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox.
Fight club follows the story of an unnamed narrator (Edward Norton), who is discontented with his white-collar job. He forms a "fight club" with soap salesman Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt), and becomes embroiled in a relationship with a mysterious woman, Marla Singer (Helena Bonham Carter). It is generally regarded as one of the best movies of all time, by both critics and audience members, due to its magnificent and mind churning plot and story, and thus I'd like to take a closer look at the opening and see what there is to learn.
Fight Club's opening features, first of all, an animated graphic simulation of the inside of a mans body. His brain's neurons, organs, and more are all shown. This could be denoted by the reader to mean that the movie will discuss ideas of venturing into the mind of man, and that this is a story that contains deeply psychological and dark messages. After this, we are shown the narrator with a gun in his mouth, being held hostage by a Tyler Durden, a man he apparently knows very well, who plans to commit an act of domestic terrorism as he aims to destroy and explode huge skyscrapers throughout the city. This opening uses hermeneutic code (Barthes 5 Codes) to engage and hook in the audience by making them wonder, "Who is this man? What did he do? How did he end up here?", and more. This does an extremely effective job at hooking in the audience. Furthermore, the opening also follows the conventions of the action/thriller genre, by including heart pumping, adrenaline rushing scenes that include guns, bombs, and more. Due to the openings effectiveness at hooking in audiences and creating an interesting setting and tone for the rest of the movie, I believe Fight Club is an excellent example of a great film opening.
Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986): Paramount Pictures
Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a 1986 American teen comedy film written, co-produced, and directed by John Hughes and co-produced by Tom Jacobson. The film stars Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, and Alan Ruck, and was distributed by Paramount Pictures.
Ferris Bueller's day off follows the story of Ferris Bueller, a high school student, who fakes sickness to stay at home and spends the rest of the day with his best friend and girlfriend. All the while having his dean try to spy on him in his lifelong quest of getting him expelled.
Ferris Bueller's opening starts off with the main character, Ferris, pretending to be sick to trick his parents into not allowing him to go to school. His acting performance works without a hitch and once they leave, he enthusiastically exclaims, "They bought it!". What's interesting about the opening though is that Ferris regularly breaks the "fourth wall", and starts addressing and talking to the audience directly, describing his motives and mastermind plan behind him skipping school. This surprises the audience and intrigues them. For a comedy film, Ferris Bueller does a great job at introducing us towards the themes of the film, as Ferris's comedic sequence of him starting off his day, brings a light mood to the film, and immediately brings the audience to a smile with the delivery of humorous jokes throughout the sequence.
The whole scene has upbeat music playing in the background which further pushes the scenes bright and joyful vibe. The films audience, based off the opening alone could also be recognized, as with Ferris himself being a high school student, its target audience would probably be around that age range too. However, even parents may enjoy watching the movie as they may reminisce on the times they were in high school, and the movie provides them with an excellent way to look back on their glory days. Thus, I believe the target demographic would most likely be people from the ages of 16-40, most likely males as well, due to the film being a portrayal of what its like for a male student to have a whole day free from school, and what he does with the opportunity. According to Katz and Bulmer's uses and gratification theory, audiences may consume this type of media as a form of diversion and personal identity, as a vast majority of the audience may see Ferris as a role model, and want to end up living the kind of life he does. All in all, I think Ferris Bueller's Day off has an opening credits sequence that perfectly encapsulates the gist of the movie, and what its tones are, and gives audiences clear expectations on what they're going to see later on, everything a good film opening should strive to achieve.
Whiplash (2014): Sony Pictures Classic
Whiplash is a 2014 American independent psychological drama film written and directed by Damien Chazelle, Distributed by Sony Pictures Classic and stars Miles Teller, J. K. Simmons, Paul Reiser and Melissa Benoist.
Whiplash is a story about the ambitious music student and jazz drummer Andrew Neiman (Miles Teller), who is pushed to his limit by his abusive instructor Terence Fletcher (J. K. Simmons) at the fictitious Shaffer Conservatory in New York City.
The opening scene of Whiplash starts off with a black screen with drumming in the background as non diegetic sound that begins very slowly, but slowly rises to a crescendo, where right as it reaches said crescendo, the scene cuts to a full shot from a hallway of a man at his drum kit, panting heavily. The camera then begins to slowly dolly towards the man as he plays one of his sets. It looks like he is in his element, as he doesn't realize the man that's been watching him play. He then apologizes profusely for using the mans drum kit. It can be thus assumed that this man may be an important instructor at the institution/school the drummer plays at. The instructor then asks him, "Do you know who I am?", and why the drummer stopped playing his set when he entered the room. When the drummer continues to play though, the instructor comes off as unimpressed and leaves the room, to the dismay of the drummer who hadn't even realized he had left until a few seconds after the fact.
Whiplashes opening plays the pivotal role of introducing the 2 main characters, in this case the protagonist and antagonist, while also illustrating to the audience their character by what they do and how they do it. The drummer, who's name is revealed to be Andrew, seems obedient and naïve, while on the other hand the instructor appears to be cold hearted, strict, and authoritarian. These 2 characters, according to Levi Strauss, could be interpreted to be binary opposites of each other. The opening also includes the usage of hermeneutic code, as the name of the instructor is yet to be revealed to the audience, as well as his motives for being so unempathetic to Andrew. This leaves the audience hooked for more as they wonder how the relationship of these 2 characters progress throughout the film.
All in all, I believe Whiplashes opening does a great job at creating audience expectations of the characters and what is next to come, what I like the most is how the scene builds and introduces the main character to us, which I think is an aspect that could be used in our opening sequence.
Baby Driver (2014): TriStar Pictures, Sony Pictures Releasing
Baby Driver is a 2017 action film written and directed by Edgar Wright, produced by TriStar Pictures, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. The film follows Baby (Ansel Elgort), a getaway driver seeking freedom from a life of crime with his girlfriend Debora (Lily James). Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm, Eiza González, Jamie Foxx, and Jon Bernthal appear in supporting roles.
The film opens with a jam packed action sequence of a car chase as Baby and his gang try to escape the cops after successfully pulling off a bank heist. The scene starts off with Baby's team members leaving the car while Baby enthusiastically lip syncs along to music he plays on his iPod. From this alone, it tells us a bit about Baby's personality, as we can tell that although he takes his job seriously, he's able to have fun at the same time. Throughout the chase sequence, action conventions are followed as shots switch at a fast pace between the members of the team, the cars, roads, and overhead drone shots of the chase. This all conveys a sense of thrill and adrenaline which gets the audience prepared for what comes next in the movie. The overall atmosphere in the car and emotions displayed by the members of the heist are juxtaposed by Baby's calm, cool, and collected aura, further pushed by the sunglasses he's wearing. As the people around him scream and seem worried, Baby stays cool and almost appears to be enjoying it all. The Rock n Roll diegetic sound playing from his iPod's also add to the effect the scene has on the audience, bringing even further excitement. Conventions of bank robbers are subverted though, as most people would associate bank robber with rough, rowdy, and jagged people, these robbers seem fancy, extravagant, and do not follow those conventions, due to the clothing they wear, which appears to be more formal attire. There was also a female bank robber, which is also almost never seen, as females are often not represented as criminals/robbers.
500 Days of Summer (2009): Fox Searchlight Pictures
The films opening starts off with a disclaimer that this story is "not a love story", which according to Barthes 5 Codes, could be interpreted as hermeneutic code, as audiences may wonder and want to know why a film about romance would be described as "not a love story". After the disclaimer and a humorous note left by the director, the opening starts off with a narration, which subverts the conventions of most romance films, and introduces us to our two main characters, Tom and Summer. Compared to other openings which use narration poorly and purely as an expositional info dump, 500 Days of Summer crafts a beautifully put together sequence of shots that introduce to us the two main characters. The narration exposes us to previous trauma that led the two characters to be the way they are, and it is revealed that Tom is a person who tries to find his happiness in love, while Summer is someone who simply doesn't believe in the idea of love and relationships in general. According to Levi Strauss's theory of Binary Opposites, the ideas of Romanticism vs. Realism (Tom being the romantic, while summer being the realist) are explored and used to advance the storyline of the film. According to Katz and Bulmer's Uses and gratification theory, audiences may consume this type of movie for diversion purposes, due to wanting to escape from the troubles of daily life and indulge in a 'feel good' romance-comedy, but also for personal identity, as audiences way also see themselves in the main characters, and look up to them, and thus may want to copy their behavior and personality.
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