This task was to analyse the movie openings and how they link with their genre.
In this movie opening is from the horror film 'Ghost Ship'. In the opening a woman is seen singing in Italian; there are people dancing to the music. There is a young girl sitting at the side looking bored and playing with a toy. A man wearing a uniform comes over and begins to dance with the girl and she starts to look happy. Someone pulls a lever which causes a wire to cut through the middle of everyone on the deck other than the girl (who was too short to be affected).
The setting is a boat deck in about the 1960s. I can see that it is the 1960s because of the people's choice of clothing and hairstyle. The time appears to be late evening because it is relatively dark but with still a little bit of light. The setting of a boat is effective because it means the characters are helpless as they cannot call emergency services for help and so are trapped and unable to get help or escape. This links with the horror genre because many people have a fear of being helpless and all of the characters in the opening are in a helpless situation.
There is a theme of violence in the opening as many people are brutally murdered within the first fie minutes if the film. It can be assumed that this is setting the tone for more violence to follow later on in the movie. There is also a slight theme of irony as the young girl emphasises that she is bored on the toy she is playing with and through her body language. However, within one minute of this, the narrative becomes much less 'boring' as many people are killed and this provides lots of drama and is not boring at all.
The narrative of this film opening is very intriguing and you are left with lots of unanswered questions about who else is alive and who was the person to cause the deaths to begin with. The narrative also begins as being normal an dull. There is not really anything interesting happening and everything is to be expected on a cruise ship - the adults are enjoying the music and dancing and the child is bored. This progresses to become a horrifying scene of mass murder and it is unclear what is going to happen next.
It seems like two of the main characters will be the young girl and the singer. The audience can assume this because, currently, the young girl is the only known survivor and the camera kept returning to the singer, emphasising her importance. The singer appears to be upper-class because she is wearing very expensive looking clothing and jewellery. She appears to be in her thirties and is white - possibly Italian because the she was singing a song in fluent Italian which suggests it is her first language however, she could just know it really well. Her body language suggests that she is confident and also a little bit flirtatious because of the way she is dancing as she sings.
It is not clear what class the young girl is from because she does not seem to be wearing particularly nice clothing, however the adults there seem to know her well and a man in a uniform dances with her. Her age seems to be somewhere between ten and thirteen and she is white. Her body language is the first thing that leads the audience to believe that she is bored because she is leaning back in her seat and scrunching up her mouth. However, her demeanour changes when she begins to dance and she appears to be much happier and seems to be having fun.
Camera angles are used instantly to suggest that the people on the ship are in danger as the camera is at a high view angle, looking down at the ship deck. This makes the people appear smaller and suggests that they are vulnerable. Throughout the scene the camera is at eye level and is following people's movements slowly. The camera also follows the movement of the wire as it quickly passes everyone. During this, nobody's faces are in focus and their identities are unknown - at this point who is dying is not important to the wire or the audience.
The whole opening has a very slow place and makes the audience feel bored, just like the young girl. This is until someone pulls the lever and the pace begins to pick up. It then returns back to being slow again after everyone is murdered, however it is not boring now as the audience is left in shock after what happened. Straight cutting transitions are used to piece the scenes together.
The costume used is very formal and the women are wearing expensive dresses and the men are wearing suits or navy uniform.
There seems to be very little natural light in the opening as it is set in the late evening and so it is artificially lit but not very brightly.
There is no dialogue that can be understood by the audience in the opening - only background talking. The music is diegetic and is provided by the band and the singer. The music is very calming and peaceful and fits in with the pace at the start and is in contrast with the later events that occur at the end of the scene. The sound of the squeaking wire is exaggerated after the murder and the volume is increased to add tension. The scream of the young girl echoes at the end of the scene which emphasises the fact that the people are far away from anybody that can help them as there is no response.
This film opening is from 'Harry Brown' - a film that belongs to the thriller genre. In the opening the audience can see a gang of teenage boys taking drugs. Some of these teenagers then get on a motor bike and begin to drive through he neighbourhood. A woman is seen pushing her baby in a pushchair and then we see one of the characters holding a gun, which is the main icon in this opening . He then begins to fire the gun in the woman's direction and after three shots, shoots her. They then hurry out of area and onto the main road where they get hit by an oncoming lorry.
The setting at the start of the opening seems to be either under a bridge, in an ally-way or in an underground. There is lots of graffiti on the wall and it is a stereotypical place for a gang of teenagers to 'hang-out'. In the next cut they are outside and the audience can see may terraced houses and parks. It is day-time and the weather is cloudy and probably cold as the people in the scene are wearing coats.
The main themes in this opening are peer pressure from the gang members to the person who is seen being almost forced to take the drugs by the others and violence - which can be seen when the gang member shoots the woman.
There are no clear characters in the opening, however the gang members appear to be approximately seventeen years of age. They are all male and their body language is intimidating and aggressive, with each other and the woman with the baby.
The camera is hand held which makes the scenes seem very realistic. The hand-held technique makes the audience feel like they are there with the characters because they can see what is happening from their perspective.
The pace of the scene is relatively slow at first but speeds up dramatically when the teenagers get onto the motorbike. The pace then comes to a halt when the gang members are thrown from the motor bike. The straight cutting technique has been used to edit the scenes together with credits in-between some.
The teenagers' costumes are very stereotypical for gangs. They are wearing dark coloured jackets with hoods or hats. The woman in the park is wearing casual clothes that are lightly coloured and white. This could have been done to show her innocence.
The lighting is dark at the start of the opening and it is difficult to see exactly who is who. However, once they are on the bike, it is very bright daylight. This makes the actions of the gang members even more shocking because the daylight in an open park seems safe and so the gun shots are even more unexpected.
There is lots of dialogue in the opening, though it cannot be easily understood. When the gun is fired there is silence - as if you are actually there and your hearing has been affected by the loudness of the gunshot.
This is the opening of Clueless, a teen romance movie. In the opening, snippets of a teenage girl's life is shown. You can then see the girl's morning (narrated) as she gets ready for school. She picks her outfit and then goes downstairs to have a conversation with her father before driving to her friend's house and going to school.
There are many different settings shown in the short clips at the start of the opening but once the film really starts the setting is the interior of a house, more specifically, a teenage girl's bedroom. This room is stereotypically correct with pink walls, 'pretty' furniture and lots of clothes and shoes in a spacious wardrobe. As the father of the girl steps downstairs the foyer is shown with a large crystal chandelier and many paintings. It is clear from the size of the house and décor that the family living there are wealthy. In the kitchen there are many appliances, several ovens and bouquets of flowers. When outside the setting is a suburban street and the sun is shining. It is set in modern day.
The main character, Cher Horowitz, is a middle-upper class American teenager. She is a white female and her body language shows that she is very confident and possible one of the 'popular' girls in her high school. Her body language is also very feminine as she has good posture and skips around her room.
There are various camera angle used in the opening - medium shots, over-the-shoulder shots, high-angles and close-ups. The main focus of the camera is the people and not so much their setting.
The opening is medium paced. There is not much action but there is enough going on to keep the audience's attention. Montage editing is used at the start of the opening when pieces of the girls life are being shown. Then, straight cutting is used between shots and scenes.
Cher's costume is formal and possible too mature for a girl of her age. It is bright yellow, which is a bold colour choice and shows the character's confidence. The colour yellow is also a 'happy colour'. Her father, however, is wearing a brownish-grey suit jacket with a beige shirt. This shows that her is a businessman and the colours are very boring which could be suggesting that his character can be too.
The pop song 'Kids in America' can be heard in the background at the start of the opening. There is also lots of casual dialogue between characters and a non-diegetic voiceover.
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