The purpose of an opening sequence in a movie is to capture the viewers attention and keep them interested. As well as that the opening sequence is also supposed to set the tone of the entire movie. The audience should already be trying to piece what is going to happen in the movie and the opening sequence should give them hints what they will be piecing together. The title sequence on the other hand, has a different purpose to the opening sequence. The title sequence as well as displaying some credits like the main characters, should be giving the viewer actual hints and ideas on what the movie is going to be about. The opening sequence sets the over all mood and tone of the movie, however the title sequence will start to give subtle hints on what it actually will be.
Many different techniques can be used to help film an opening sequence. They also all add their own affects and give different reactions to the viewer that is watching. For instance there is 2D styled graphics in a 3D environment which was used by Daniel Klienman. This gave the intriguing effect to the viewer and is used to capture the audiences attention as it was very different to his other movies that he filmed and directed. Another example that is now quite often used is the technique of freeze-framing. The most well-known of this would most likely be Sherlock Holmes. This is a very smart way of telling the viewer a whole lot of information in a very capturing way in which the viewer is intrigued by what is happening on the screen because it is much different to what is happening in the rest of the movie. One more very interesting technique that can be used is the movie poster-inspired typography which has very fast editing. This example is quite different to the others as it is not really something you are meant to watch and listen intently to. It is rather something that the viewer is meant to experience which can surprise the viewer and also keep them interested as it is not what they expected at all to see. The fast paced editing in this technique makes it very pleasing to the eye and easy to watch through the whole thing.
James Bond
This thriller of James Bond is a really good example of a well thought out opening sequence. Straight away you are able to see the tone of the movie and guess what it is going to be like. It is very dramatic and big when it comes to what is on the screen which is very good as it captures the audiences attention. Another reason this opening sequence is very good is also because of the information it gives the viewer in a unique way. For instance it gives a lot of hints and clues to what the movie is going to be by what is found underneath the water. e.g like guns, blood and even someone drowning. All that gives the audience information about the movie but also by keeping them hooked and wanting to know more of what could happen. The music that is played in the background of the movie is also very dramatic for what is happening. It tells the viewers that this is a very serious or maybe even depressing moment. Showing that it is not meant to be very humorous at all, rather very depressing and dramatic and very much related to death which is shown through the themes of guns and blood as well in the opening scene.
A Quiet Place
The opening sequence to the quiet place is also very well thought about from the directors point of view. However it is very different to the James Bond opening sequence. No information about the movie is given at all in the opening. The only clue which the audience is given is the non-diegetic sound that is being played over the very bold words coming on the screen. Straight away the audience is able to see that this movie is very different to most other films because of the way the opening sequence is put. The music is also a big clue that this movie is also not very humorous like the James Bond film stated above. It is very interesting on how the director has used sound in this opening sequence because in the rest of the movie the music is used to ease the tension. Music is used to release the high suspense and intensity that is being held by a certain scene. But in the opening sequence they director plays on that and uses the music to make a very dramatic start to the movie which is quite high intensity. The very simplistic approach of this opening scene however, will work to capture peoples attentions though, because the audience will want to know what the movie is going to be about because next to no information was given in the opening sequence.
The Birds
In this thriller directed by Alfred Hitchcock the opening sequence like the other two stated above works very well to capture the audiences attention. Alfred uses birds in the opening sequence which is a very big hint as to what the movie is going to be about. Him doing this will capture the viewers attention straight away as they will be wondering what birds will have to do with this movie. The scene of where all the birds are flying around really fast also match with the busyness of the words that are getting portrayed in bright blue on the screen. Showing a very smart way of going through all the opening titles and showing who did what in this movie. It also creates suspense as the viewer will be able to see that this is a fast paced movie and like the other two films was not made to be very funny but rather intense and maybe even a little bit scary.
Lighting - Here is a close up of the 3 point lighting system which as you can see clearly shows the characters face in the proper way. This is the best choice of lighting if you are wanting the audience to see the whole of the characters face and expressions. This photo is also just another example of the 3 point lighting but from a mid shot point of view. This is our main example of using the 3 point lighting system. You can see that as their is a fill light back light and key light. This type of lighting is what shows the character in the best possible way. Here is where I am learning how to properly use the lighting equipment and learning to play with the lighting and bouncing it off of walls. This was our first practice shot of doing shadows which will be used in our thriller film we are creating. However this did not turn out so great. After a while we got used to the idea of using shadows and we were able to figure out how to get a shadow shot without showing th...
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