Film Openings

 What are film openings?

Film openings are like the first impression of the film, during that time the film will do it's best to grab your attention and make you want to watch how the story will progress. The opening will give a little context on what the film will be about or will give details on something important.

Every detail is important

Every detail of the film is important from the props, to the camera movement and angel, and to the lighting. Even the music can add to the opening, like how in La La Land you can tell that the movie is a musical by everyone dancing and singing happily. Even if you don't know the film's genre the opening can give you clues to what the film's genre is. Like how if a movie is a drama with a hint of mystery it could have dark lighting and low music.

For the portfolio I'm kind of thinking of making like a horror, comedy, or drama. For horror openings they mainly either show a flash-forward, a flash-back to the first kill or sometimes a dream that might predict the events or killings. Comedy can start with a plot catalyst with something that can introduce the story in a comedic way or maybe a silly dream sequence that could also predict something. Dramas can start with something that establishes relationships from the perspective of the characters or also a plot catalyst.

Sources: http://www.storybreakdown.com/writing-great-opening-scenes/

                 https://saffronleeas.wordpress.com/2014/09/18/main-features-of-an-opening-sequence/

Film Opening Analysis

*Since we're not supposed to do animated films for this I have to add in films that weren't on my favorite films list because almost all of my favorite films on that list were animated :')

Escape Room

Escape Room is a horror/ sci-fi film due to the elaborate puzzles they must solve to escape each room to move on to the next and the lives that were taken while trying to solve the puzzles. Just like the Saw movies I think the purpose of the puzzles and the people chosen to participate was to make them appreciate their lives more as more of the participants die after finishing each stressful puzzle or to serve as entertainment for like the game master.

(Warning it does have swear words in it)

The opening scene for this film is a flash-forward gives an example of what to expect for the puzzles through out the film. The puzzles are difficult and are life or death. I find this scene interesting due to the amazing acting and how this scene gives me anxiety no matter how many times I re-watched it. Again I also found the killing game concept in media to be an interesting idea. 

Holes

Holes is an adventure and drama film that follows the adventures of Stanley Yelnats as he goes to a camp for a crime he didn't commit. Now the film by Disney is an adaption of the book Holes, which I find to be a good read. If you ask me the book is better than the film because the film leaves out some details such as Stanley's life at school and I don't think the film goes in about the Yelnats's curse. The camp is where they make the troubled boys dig holes in a dried up lake in the middle of an desert that I think have to be exactly 5 x 5 to look for an old treasure. 

The opening scene is actually a flashback of a character who gets bitten by a rattlesnake on purpose to try to get out of digging holes. It then uses a match cut as it goes from the camp to Stanley as he narrates how he got to camp and what causes him to go there, but I feel that the book does a better job at describing it I understand that they might have had to cut some details out due to time and it might have made the film boring.

Beauty and The Beast (2017) 

I remember watching thing I think either once or twice before. Its just like the classic animated Beauty and the Beast but it does have it's changes such as being darker than the animated one and it tells about Belle's mother. I also found the detail of the beast's castle falling apart as the rose petals fall to be an incredible detail in the film. 

An obvious detail is that the beast's curse isn't told by stained glass windows like in the original and it also has a new character, the pianist. This opening is a flashback to how beast got himself and his staff cursed. The enchanted red rose of course adds on to the fact that the beast has to find true love to break the curse. 

Compare and contrast🔍

Each films are different in each way. Escape Room is a horror film that makes it's characters go through puzzles as they remember traumatic experiences from their past, like how one of the characters takes survival of the fittest seriously due to them previously surviving a plane crash in the middle of the ocean and them having to kill their friend to live. Holes and Beauty and the Beast are both drama films of the main character being in a different place where they want to leave. What Escape Room and Holes have in common is that they give some backstory to characters seen in the film. Beauty and the Beast's music gives it more of a magical vibe and matches with the year the story is meant to take place. Escape Room has little to no music unless there is an intense scene where a character's life is in danger to add suspense. Holes adds music to add to the scene like when the warden was first on screen it played like a pop song to represent how she's meant to be foxy. The editing in both Escape Room and Beauty in the Beast is amazing in my opinion like how in the opening scene in Beauty and the Beast they did a close up shot of the prince's eyes as he transforms in to the beast. Even in escape room with making it look like one of the rooms are heating up and fire blasting out of the vent the characters used to escape from that room to scorch them if they got out too late.     

 Cinematography

Mise-en-scène

Mis-en-scène

Mis-en-scène is everything inside a shot. From lighting, to costumes, to props, to even the actors. 

Mis-en-scène is meant to create mood in a shot and everything in the shot has it's purpose. Even if an item doesn't do anything in the scene it still has it's purpose, to create the mood in the scene. 

The way mis-en-scène works is by different elements working together in the scene to create the mood and to tell what's going on. It also lets the viewer experience a specific time and place. 

Mise-en-scène is extremely important to films, it adds to the plot and grabs the viewer's attention.

Movie Genre / Types of Movies

 Movie genre is how the movie can be classified based on it's contents. These classifications can be horror, drama, musical, sci-fi, comedy, or even a combination between two or more. 

🎭Drama🎭

Drama is a type of genre that contains stories with high stakes and normally has lots of conflict. Dramatic themes are meant to be similar to real life situations, so they could seem realistic. Drama is centered around the characters, relationships, atmosphere, and tension. Drama is meant to tell a meaningful story that can move the viewer, like making them shed tears has they watch a character they relate to have their happily ever after.

😱Horror😱

Horror includes stuff like violence, blood and gore, it's also meant to portray the viewer's worst nightmare. Horror movies are also meant to make the viewer uncomfortable, like adding scenes where they take close up shots of gore. Some techniques horror movies use are jumpscares, spotlights, mirror reflections (like those medicine cabinet jumpscares) underexposure, and tight framing. Some themes horror movies can have can be "be careful what you wish for" and "don't take something for granted". Horror movies can also leave the viewer cautious of their surroundings. 

💖Rom-com💖

Rom-coms or romantic comedies are love stories that are told in a comedic way. Romantic comedies are also meant to be heartfelt stories about finding the one, while also putting in silly scenes as well. You can also tell if a movie is a romantic comedy by the poster, an example of this can be a guy and a girl with their backs towards each other. 

🎵Musical🎵

Musicals are a type of genre that includes songs in the story or even tells part of a story through song and dance. Right now musicals are like 90% music and they mainly tell the story though songs. The biggest examples of musicals are High School Musical and West Side Story, which mainly started the trend of musicals.

💥Action💥

Action films include scenes that have stunts, explosions, fight scenes and car chases. In these types of films there's almost always a good guy and a bad guy that the good guy has to stop. This includes superhero movies and Rambo.