Different film openings (relating to my own film)

In order to decide whether to use certain effects and how to portray them in my own film I analysed to movies which used these effects. The movies which I chose to analyse were 'The Amityville Horror' this is because the chase seen used in the woods, with the music created the same affect which I wanted to create for the viewers of my film. Although my own film did not include a chase scene the setting for the opening of the movie was in the woods. By looking at this example of a horror genre film I was able to identify how to create the suspense without making it predictable.
This severely helped me when I was looking to see what sound affects, what lighting and what type of mise en scene aspects are needed to successfully create the feeling of unease in a scene. For my own film the main feeling that needed to be created was the building of tension and fear, gripping the viewer to make them want to watch the rest of the film. The AmityVille Horror was a perfect example of this because the night lighting and flashes of lighting used made the viewer unsure of what exactly was going on and this contributed to the feeling of unease.
Another movie which I looked at was Hide and Seek, this was because this film again included a scene in the woods, but also it had the same type of music as ours. The music in the latter part of the opening starts with a high pitched, wind-up toy sound. This sort of sound was used in Hide and Seek. While analysing this type of music I noticed that in order to create ultimate suspense, the gripping suspense that keeps viewers eyes on the screen, this type of music creates that. The idea of a slow build of before a big beat drops, gives the impression to the viewer that something is going to happen.
While analysing both films, it was evident what conventions we used such as the music and the slow build up before leading onto a bigger action scene. Finally, our film portrays the relationships of adolescents, their way of life and the values. In order to successfully put this across to the viewer it was important to see how other productions had portrayed adolescents in the same way. Our example of this was the first episode of Skins. This was a helpful example because the show is purely based on teenagers and therefore it was easy for us to pick out which traits teenagers have that we will need to use in order correcly portray them in our own film. The adolescent youth was presented in various ways throughout the first episode.
The difference between boys and girls was evident and this was key factor we decided to use for our own film. The dominant male compared to the weaker new love interest, this was not taken from Skins exactly but as an adaptation of 'Tony' being the main character and the dominant friend in the group. Adolescents were also portrayed as sexually deviant, and most being in relationships, the idea of relationshi building amongst teens was another factor which we wanted to put across in our film. The obsession with one another, the lust and consuming feelings that each other feels is the most important theme in our film because teens and adolescents are our target audience.

GoodFella's opening sequence

As the film opens out with the first shot it is of a black screen with the first set of titles in white, the titles then move quickly across the screen right to left and they are centred. The sound of speeding cars are in the background. The tempo in which the titles move across the screen were sued to symbolize the speeding cars. This then cuts onto tracking shot of the camera following a large car while it is driving on a dark, small unlit road. This film was distributed by Warner Bros. and directed by Martin Scorcese which shows that this movie was a big budget film. The tracking shot of the car causes the audience to to wonder why they are following the car.
This shot may also suggest the car is being followed. The camera tracks up along side the car and then cuts to the inside of the car where the audience can view the characters for the first time. This is a medium shot and is where the action and dialogue starts. The camera then cuts from inside the car to the the car pulling up in a deserted, dimly lit, wonodland space. This is a medium shot and gives and gives an eery, sinister atmosphere. The dark unlit road in which the car was driving on could signal the dark side of crime. The dim lights within the car and the darkness outside of the car would suggest that the characters ay be criminal deviants.
The camera shows the characters then cuts to the boot, then back to the characters with the clanking noise in the background. The camera shows the driver approaching nervously cuts to his hands unlocking the boot and opening and revealing a body wrapped up in cloth. The camera cuts tot the three characters standing alongside one another in an american shot, only showing them from knee level upwards. The second set of titles then begins with crooning music (love songs made in the 40's and 50's) this sets the era for the 'flashback' to when the character was a child. The crooning music chnages the era from the 70's back to the 50's. This also sets the scene for how he first got into crime.
The title of the movie being shown in red signalling the 'gangster' movie idea. The red font colour could also refer to violence, blood and anger. This film opening sequence has influence the way I have been thinking of choosing to build suspense in my own opening sequence. The violence in the first few minutes of the opening gripped the viewer and therefore persuaded me to use this sort of scene in my opening scene. The violence sets the genre clearly to the viewer and also makes them want to watch the rest of film. The red lighting which was used in this opening also effectively created the feeling of suspense and the foreshadowing of violence. However when I tried changing the lighting of my own film it did not have the same affect as the red was more of a gangster movie colour rather then a horror.Looking at this opening sequence allowed me to see how other movies effectively use violence in the opening in order to engage the viewer and to keep the viewer wanting to watch more.