Film Opening Analysis

For this task we had to study three film openings and apply the 'DISTINCT' acronym to them.

Ghost Ship Opening Scene

This film's opening scene takes place on a luxury looking cruise. The opening shot shows the camera flying over/past the boat to instantly give us an idea of the setting. The style of the film looks as if it is to be set in the 60s due to it's nostalgic feel. As well as this the music also fits this kind of time period and starts the film off with a cheery start. The film opening takes a quick turn for the worst when a mysterious hand pulls a lever, causing a contraption to start working, the music begins to fade in the background and begins to become muffled as an eerie tune is played over the top of the music. The song comes to an end and the contraption is set off, lights explode around the dancers and razor wire is seen to pulled tight by the contraption, the camera follows the razor wire as it cuts through the crowd, the characters all make a "oof" sound as the razor wire hits them. The wire, now covered in blood, springs in front of the camera, the eerie sound continues to play on top of the screeches of metal and the spring of the wire, occasional coughs and moans can be heard from the crowd, but the scene ultimately has this strange silence to it, as the audience anticipates what is to happen next. The camera pans through the crowd of people, focusing on their shocked faces. The next shot shows a mans glass (sliced in half) fall to the ground, the smashing of the glass almost indicates to us that the reaction is about to take place and acts as a cue for the aftermath. The camera then shows the bodies begin to fall to the floor, chopped in half, the whole scene looks bloody and gory as guts and limbs scatter the floor, the camera pans across the victims, showing some who are trying to move then shows a close up of the girl, indicating that she is likely to be one of the main characters in the film. The girl looks up at the captain, the camera looks at the camera from the girls point of view, who's face is sliced in half and slides off towards the camera, followed by his body which falls to the floor. The girl then begins to breath heavily and screams, the camera then changes to a view of the ship from the ocean and dives underwater, the girl still screaming, the screen then turns black. From this opening we can assume that the film has a scary horror aspect to it, as well as mystery element to the film, the only characters we currently know of are the girl and the mysterious man who pulled the lever.





Harry Brown Opening Scene

This film opening is quite eerie and begins with multiple muffled voices being played in the background with some white text on the black screen. The screen fades to reveal multiple characters in a subway persuading someone to take drugs and "become a man". The whole film opening is filmed in the first person with a hand held camera. The camera is very shakey and gives the impression that the audience is a part of the film and feel more immersed in the scene, with the voices becoming louder and clearer. The voices begin to muffle and eventually fade away as the screen also turns black and there is nothing but silence and some text on the screen, a good way of narrating what is happening as well as listing the cast/producers etc of the film. The white text fades out and the next scene starts loudly, the camera once again being recorded by one of the characters, the scene shows a motorbike with two individuals on it (one holding the camera).



Guardians of the Galaxy Opening Scene

This film opening has a very positive vibe to it, it begins with a happy, upbeat 80s track playing and the title of the film appears in time with the first beat of the music. The film opening also shows one of the characters (Chris Pratt as Starlord) dancing to the music playing on his cassette player (Come and get your love). The opening scene is set in quite a dark and eerie place, but due to the positive opening and style of the movie we can assume that this film has a comedic element to it. The camera pans around the character as he dances to the music, there is also an aerial shot showing Starlord spinning around. As well as this we can see the use of special effects when he kicks Dinosaur-looking creatures as well as when he uses his jetpack-boots to fly over a small crevice in the ground. The film opening stops with the music coming to a swift end, with an echo as the camera pans onto a mysterious looking orb of some form.