Film Openings: Genre Specific Analysis

We will analyse two films closely related to the crime genre, these films interest us and have useful elements in that we could use in ours. They are both produced by Guy Ritchie.

Snatch

Snatch has a very strong opening, the style of editing coupled with the non diegetic music makes it quite appealing to the viewer, it comes across as light hearted even thought we know that they are about to commit a crime, however the charecters in the movie do not know this, they seem like four normal Jewish men, this creates a feeling of omniscience for the viewer.

This enigma is sustained until they enter the room with the diamonds in, the movie cuts to some close up of the diamonds they plan to steal. (establishing their motive) Once the movie cuts back to the four 'Jewish' men, loud, non diegetic music begins to play whilst the men are arming them selves, this creates drama in the scene, which is then reinforced when the camera zooms in to one of the workers face, which has a look of shock all over it. We see some initial credits as the scene freeze frames on one of the robber's guns. The opening in enticing  as it has a strong enigma to it, the viewer wants to keep watching it to find out how the heist goes. The excitement of the opening is also reinforced by the fast pace of the editing, its harder to look away, or to stop watching it.

Once the men have obtained the diamond, they proceed to flea the scene in a van, which once inside, they begin to remove their disguised, this possibly instills a feeling of satisfaction in the viewer, who is now encouraged to continue watching the film. One of the men then begins to examine the diamond, at this point, the movie zooms in to the diamond and the background rotates, perhaps to portray the importance of said diamond to the movie.

Another character is then scene with the Diamond, and he is introduced in a very stylish way, where the scene freeze frames, an effect is overlayed, and his name is shown on screen. This is also quite an unusual editing style, again making the movie opening a lot more interesting to the viewer.

The film then has very intricate transitions introducing all the characters in the same fashion.

This happens for all the main characters. In this sense the opening is now introducing the characters to the viewer, summing up their basic persona by the transition, this helps the viewer decide if he or she wants to continue watching the movie. 

Revolver

Revolver's opening sequence is quite different from Snatch's instead of going for the action packed, fast paced opening style, is used clever mis-en-scene paired with quiet but tension building non diegetic music to intruige the viewer and make them want to continue watching.

The movie starts with an elipsis of two years on, this suggest prior events will be revealed later on, this in turn creates an enigma to to the movie, the viewer wants to know what happened. Alot of phone calls begin to take place inside the casino, possible in preparation for a big event that is about to happen. A phone call is quiet a clever way to draw in the viewer, as people are naturally nosey and want to know who was on the phone.

The two thugs that surround this powerful figure connote his status and allows everyone to know that he is not to be messed with, this type of charecter is very common on many crime films. Showing these stereotypes in the opening sequence may instil a subconsciously feeling of familiarity in the viewer, they may assume that because of these stereotypes,  the film will be good.

The man at the game table... (another stereotype)

Is later shown escorting several men through the casino, this is perhaps to establish his power and position within the casino.

The main narrative technique used in Revolver is Barthes enigma theory, alot of questions are set up right from the start, the film relies on this to keep the viewer entertained and hooked.

Both of the films have serious crime undertones, and while nothing directly happens in revolver you definitely get the feeling the men in the opening are organised criminals.

Moodboard

Here is a moodboard depicting the general feel of our opening.

First Ideas

The genre of our film would be a action, crime thriller. Our target audience would be mainly males from the age of 16-40, the reason we say males is because they seem watch more of these types of movies than women do. The main narrative technique would be Barthes enigma theory, where the movie opens with a bunch of gangsters/crooks huddled around a table/crate in a dark room/warehouse who are planning a robbery/heist. The viewer immediatley wonders what is going on, what the plan is and how it will go, thus drawing them in. The general mood of the movie will be a dark and suspicous one, similar to alot of crime related movies, especially those from the 40's (although we have not yet decided on a specific theme such as italian mobsters). In our group there is Phill Scargill and George Devereaux.

From script to screen: How does the credit sequence from Dexter work?

The ideas for Dexter was originally sparked when Eric Anderson noticed that the title 'DEXTER' could be flipped upside down, yet almost all the letters looked the same, Anderson personified this idea to Dexter, that he had a flip side, which was slightly different and unusual, but hardly noticeable. 

The basis of Dexter was that on the outside he seemed like a normal, middle class man, who worked as a forensics investigator who specialised in blood. However what only the viewer knows is, he has an 'evil' yet somehow loveable side to him, in which he is a serial killer, but a very proficient one, who is good at what he does. Dexter almost manages to make killing non sinister. Anderson's key point was that


"Everything, no matter how mundane or beautiful, has an undercurrent of violence to it. It is just a matter of how closely you look. We are conditioned to see a blossoming flower as beautiful. But if you look closely, if you look differently you will see it more like an explosion. Here we see a mundane morning routine illustrated in extreme close-ups showing the underlying tension found in everyday situations making violence a part of everything."


This seems to be what Dexter is able to do very well, the opening straight away initialises him as this suspicious, odd man who CAN infact make anything he does seem violent. I think also his look as a person helped to add to this feeling, with his small, stocky build and shady eyes, he does not seem like the kind of person you can trust. 

I think that the music played a key part in the opening to establish Dexter's character, the music is sinister yet playful, which I believe, is the actual tone of the whole show. It is slow and suspicious, just like Dexter himself. All the 'every day' actions that Dexter does in the opening are being related to acts of violence, this is done by the extreme close ups, which actually disguise what hes doing and removes human emotion from the scene, so the viewer can focus on how the action is disgusting, a good example of this is when he is squeezing the orange. Also, other than the music, there is a use of over emphasised diegetic sounds which make the actions seem even more malevolent, for example, when Dexter is tying his shoe lace, the noise of the lace going through the whole seems almost evil.

Research: Analysis of opening of Juno

5 Key points that are revealed by the introduction to Juno

Sound track. 
The music is quite a folk style, relaxed song, which would indicate that the film would have this tone. It is a lot different to a lot of other film beginnings, where more upbeat, action packed music may be used, exciting the viewer, whereas Juno seems to be more about relaxing the viewer. The sound track used is composed by Barry Polisar, who is a children's entertainer, this establishes a childish atmosphere to the opening.

Slow pace of the editing.

There are no action cuts, or fast paced transitions in the opening to Juno, again this is quite different to how other movies begin. It perhaps is to connote that Juno is in no kind of rush, and is quite a layed back type of girl, this builds up here character so the audience gets to know her better, thus being more interested and absorbed into the movie.

Juno's clothing.

Juno doesn't appear to be wearing the usual clothes of a 16 year old girl, her attire is that of a tomboy, perhaps an unconventional character (again, this builds her character up, and we come to understand that she in not like normal girls, this may interest the reader) Her clothes portray a sense of rebellion, perhaps this is why she is seen walking through a 'normal' town, Jason Reitman may have been using Levi Strauss' theory of binary opposition, the two contrasting figures being Juno and society.

Mis En Scene.

The general style of the opening is very different to most conventional movie openings, and this says alot about the genre of the movie, the playful music, childish rotoscoping and the movement of Juno all indicate this is going to be a fun, layed back, indie movie. Once she gets to the drug store, an enigma is established, 'Where is she going?' and the user can then begin to understand the coming of age aspect to the film, this narrative method is Barthes' Enigma Code. Another way to show that Juno is an unconventional character, different from society, would be the use of colour, whilst the background (ie, the town) is all washed out, Juno is in colour, which emphasises her individuality. Tzvetan Todorov's five stage theory is also used in the film, the Mis En Scene of the whole opening really helps to define the initial state of equilibrium.

Title credits.

Usually films opening credits are very bold and in your face, where as in Juno, they are alot more subtle, and again, childish. The way in which they are drawn onto the frame makes the movie seem playful. However, they are very clear and hard to miss, so the viewer is not likely to miss one of the cast/producers. Also, no one name seems to be favoured over another, there is a subtle feeling that everyone is equal, which is quite characteristic of an indie film. 

Key Conventions

After watching a few different film openings, I have identified some key conventions, such as:

• The production companies title or logo.
• Non diegetic backing music, which can carry on throughout the opening, perhaps switching in and out of diegetic and non diegetic (on the radio for example), it usually peaks at the end of the intro for effect.
• An establishing shot to set the location.
• The first voice usually is the protagonist.
• The film could start with an ellipsis, in other words, the film starts ahead of the story, so events have taken place that the viewer is not yet aware of.
• Credits are also usually on the screen, showing the most important people such as the lead actors, producers and directors.
• The main characters are usually introduced at the start, it builds their characters with voice overs and footage of them. Another technique in films such as Train spotting is where the scene is frozen and a text overlay of the characters name is put on screen to give viewers a quick snapshot of what they are like.
• Often the girl who the protagonist is trying to win over is also introduced early on.
• Enigma is established early on, making the movie more mysterious, hooking the viewer. This is usually done with an ellipsis with a character in a confusing scenario.

The point of an opening sequence essentially is to hook the viewer into the film and make them want to continue watching it. Directors can use different theories and techniques such as Strauss' theory of Binary Opposition, Tzvetan Todorov's 5 stage theory or Barthes' Enigma Code. In binary opposition, there are two opposites defined, such as good and evil, establishing this at the start of the movie makes it alot more interesting for the viewer. Todorov's 5 stage theory states that in the 1st stage (ie. the opening sequence) A state of equilibrium is defined, which can be done through a variety of methods such as Establishing shots or character building, this makes viewers want to continue to watch ready to see the second stage, were the equilibrium is disturbed. Barthes' Enigma theory suggests a text should start with mystery, producing lots of questions which the viewer wants answered. The main use of opening sequences are to: establish characters, location and time, initialize plots and display certain credits.

Main Task

For our main task we have to make the opening of a new fiction film, to last as maximum of two minutes. I have a number of deadlines to work to, which are


Research Deadline: 30/11/10

Photo-storyboard Deadline: 3/12/10

Filming Deadline: 07/01/11

Production Deadline: 28/01/11

Evaluation Deadline: 11/02/11