I decided that I need to do a bit of research on Film Openings to inspire me with our project. I looked at several film openings, the first was Dinner For Schmucks:
What I love about this is how its so different. The whole idea of it is so clever because as the film begins you see the hands opening the case and all the little clothes inside when you ask the question ‘what are they for?’ ‘Where is this going?’. Also the amount of care shown that the person puts in when picking up clothes with his tweezers makes it so clear that this is a serious passion. Its almost mermerising to watch as the mice get dipped in paint and dressed up. The camera uses a fading technique making each shot fade to the next. This is very clever as it moulds the opening all together and links it. The music also emphasises happiness like the person creating all this puts all their effort into it and they clearly have a passion for making things like this.
Overall this quirky film opening is so brilliant in the way that it firstly looks like it has nothing to do with the plot of the whole film, this opening creates questioning in the audiences mind, making them want to watch it to see where this wierd and wonderful hobby is going.
The next film I decided to look at was Tropic Thunder
This has an interesting opening and begins with adverts and movie trailers with each actor/celebrity character that is going to be in Tropic Thunder. Watch this so you understand what I mean:
It then goes on from there and if you watch this film for the first time its quite confusing because you just think theyre adverts that are before the film but theyre not, they play a vital role in the film. The next scene opens with helicopters, guns and men that look to be in military uniform. Theres guns and eplosions so you automatically assume its a war scene, however this illusion is distroyed when at 5.53 one of the charcters turns his head and the camera shots the director and camera crew sitting staring at the two actors. The camera includes a slow motion part where one man is being shot and the bullets are rippeling his body so he moves side to side as he slowly falls to the floor. The whole idea of this film is that it looks at actors and directors and the relationships between them, and the hammed up filming which is put into the movies the diva, selfish directors are making.
The next film I looked at was Easy A
This film automatically sets the scene from the beginning. There are american flags, shoes hanging from a tree and you straight away notice its set in a school. There is a voice over throughout the film which is of the main character and tells you that she is the focus of the film. The camera uses zooms and dolly tracks to film the different groups of people in the school. Also the actors names are shown as 3D words sitting on the floor at different angles, perhaps emphasizing the laziness of teenagers and how their stuff is always lying around across the floor.
Jessica Morris's AS Blog 