This post will involve me analysing the beginning 2 minutes of 3 different films which are ("The Dark Knight", "Inception" and "The Da Vinci Code". I will look at how the films use there openings to set the tone of the film and let the viewer know what they film will be about and what kind of techniques the openings use to make the viewer instantly interested.
Inception
Inception is a film, which is in the genre we are currently studying for a final 2-minute film opening. After I watched the first 2 minutes of Inception I immediately saw different ways in which they made the film more interesting to the audience by grabbing their attention using different techniques.
The opening scene is on a beach with medium and close up shots of the waves htting the coastal rocks, this doesn’t show much in terms of location but shows that the location may be somewhere tropical.
The next shot is of what the audience would associate as the “main character” laying face down in the water, which suggests he washed up on the shore and is enhanced by the diegetic sound of the waves. This possibly shows us the opening sequence of the film is either a back story or a insight into the future of the film, there are quite a few examples of this and in most cases it proves effective. It does this by making us try and guess what happened to him or what is going to happen to him, which keeps us interested. The beginning 2 minutes of this film suggests a lot to me about how a film in this particular genre is introduced to an audience. Later on in this project I will do a more in-depth textual analysis of the beginning of this film as I feel it is a good example to go by.
The Dark Knight
The Dark Knight
The first 2 minutes of this film is very interesting as the film is an action film and starts off in a very cliché way. The beginning of the film involves a bank robbery and is introduced with a long establishing shot of the area which is zooming in towards a building while non -diegetic music is playing in the background, the diegetic sound of the window breaking springs the non-diegetic music up in temp and volume and starts to build suspense these happens throughout the first 2 mintues. The whole way through the non-diegetic music is playing which adds thrill and excitement to the action, this is helping build suspense as the film progresses. The robbery makes you ask questions such as "Who are the robbers", "Why are they wearing masks" and "Why are they killing each other". These questions ensure the viewer will stay interested and will keep them on the edge of their seat.
On a whole the beginning invloves everything you expect in an action film such as weapons, protagonists, antagonists, grenades and very fast paced action accompanied by up tempo non-diegetic music. This film was very successful at the box office and me and my group may wish to consider how this used the first 2 minutes to entice the audience through the use of sound and camera shots, and also shows that the beginning of a film must have the audience hooked straight away.
The Da Vinci Code
The opening 2 minutes of this film is mainly titles with a bit of slow tempo non-diegtic sounds. The film starts off with a man running through a museum there are many techniques the director used here to make this scene much more interesting to the audience. As he is running you can here him panter alongside the diegetic footstep sounds which add drama to the scene. As he is running the non-diegetic music slowly increases with volume as the man is being chased by an unknown figure first seen as a shadow on a wall. The mise-en scene in this opening is very realistic as it has been shot in the "Louvre" in Paris with the added darkness the scene is very dark and gloomy. All of these things combined help to create and atmosphere which will help the audience be more engaged with what is going on in the scene.
Towards the end of the beginning 2 minutes the man stops running to take a painting off the wall, he does this alert the police because a small light underneath the painting flashes read, this may indicate the man is safe as the room is sealed off with bars as well. When we finally see the person who was chasing what seems like the curator of the museum he is dressed in robes which connotes the idea he may be a priest or worshiper of some sort. He then pulls out a gun, this is ould be seen as countertypical of a priest as they are not ones to carry guns. Throughout this time the music had been slowly building up in tempo and volume to this last moment where the man is forced to tell the priest something which we can not hear as the shot moves outside where the loud rain covers the speech. This idicates what he is saying is very important and suggests we will find out later on in the film. This film is a great example to go by as the beginning is used very well to make the audience engaged in the film from the start, the dark gloomy atmosphere added mystery to the scene alongside the non-diegetic music which was playing throughout. As a group we will reference back to these film openings to see how we should entice the audience through the use of sound and mise-en scene.
The Da Vinci Code
The opening 2 minutes of this film is mainly titles with a bit of slow tempo non-diegtic sounds. The film starts off with a man running through a museum there are many techniques the director used here to make this scene much more interesting to the audience. As he is running you can here him panter alongside the diegetic footstep sounds which add drama to the scene. As he is running the non-diegetic music slowly increases with volume as the man is being chased by an unknown figure first seen as a shadow on a wall. The mise-en scene in this opening is very realistic as it has been shot in the "Louvre" in Paris with the added darkness the scene is very dark and gloomy. All of these things combined help to create and atmosphere which will help the audience be more engaged with what is going on in the scene.
Towards the end of the beginning 2 minutes the man stops running to take a painting off the wall, he does this alert the police because a small light underneath the painting flashes read, this may indicate the man is safe as the room is sealed off with bars as well. When we finally see the person who was chasing what seems like the curator of the museum he is dressed in robes which connotes the idea he may be a priest or worshiper of some sort. He then pulls out a gun, this is ould be seen as countertypical of a priest as they are not ones to carry guns. Throughout this time the music had been slowly building up in tempo and volume to this last moment where the man is forced to tell the priest something which we can not hear as the shot moves outside where the loud rain covers the speech. This idicates what he is saying is very important and suggests we will find out later on in the film. This film is a great example to go by as the beginning is used very well to make the audience engaged in the film from the start, the dark gloomy atmosphere added mystery to the scene alongside the non-diegetic music which was playing throughout. As a group we will reference back to these film openings to see how we should entice the audience through the use of sound and mise-en scene.
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