opening sequences of films

Opening sequences of films

The opening two minutes of Lord Of The Rings show the history of the rings and middle earth. There are uses of CGI in the opening as mount doom is shown as well as Sauron. There is a big battle scene in the opening sequence, which shows Sauron’s downfall. The music in the extract starts off slow and quiet as it shows the elves, dwarves and humans receiving their rings but as soon as mount doom and Sauron are shown the music gets dramatic and louder. The music in the battle scene also is dramatic and loud but stops when Sauron enters the battlefield.

The opening scene of quantum of solace starts with an establishing shot of a road next to a lake/sea. It then has a car chase through the road with the bad guys shooting at Bond’s car.  The police notice this and it has the first piece of dialogue in the extract. They then follow Bond and the bad guys to a quarry. Throughout the chase there are multiple crashes such as a car hitting a truck or the police car crashing into a building then falling down the quarry. The music in the extract is quite fast paced to fit in with the video. In a certain part of the car chase (when Bond does a 360 degree turn) the music is quieter and the diegetic sound is faded so it seems like its in slow motion. Before the car chase begins the music is quite soft but it does seem to build up tension by getting louder slowly.

The opening sequence of Star Trek has a low-key introduction as a small orchestra plays the main theme over the production companies logos. The music then stops after a sudden note. The USS Kelvin is shown in space with a transmission being spoken between the ship and command. There are multiple transmissions being spoken at this point and it only stops when it cuts to inside of the ship with a tracking shot of the captain, who eventually sits down in his chair. The camera than pans to the window of the ship. The music rises up here and is loud and dramatic as another ship comes through the wormhole in space. During the dialogue (transmissions, spoken lines) there is no music playing.

The opening sequence of Johnny English shows him breaking into a large house. He is then stopped by two dogs but instead of pulling out a gun he pulls out two dog toys. He then enters the house and takes out two guards by using the butt of their guns against them. He then goes into a room and takes a document but a women stops him as he is about to kiss the woman it cuts to him in an office daydreaming of the previous events. The music during this part is quite fast paced to fit in with the spy situation. In the part where he takes out the guards the music is in time with when he punches the guards. The music is a lot slower and softer when he is with the woman. When his associate ‘wakes’ him up the music ends abruptly after the music slowly gets louder.

The opening scene of Iron Man starts with an establishing shot of the desert in Afghanistan where a convoy of military vehicles are crossing it. It then cuts to a shot of the front of the convoy. The music starts playing at this point (Ac/Dc). It then has a tracking shot on one of the vehicles. The next shot is in the vehicle where the radio is playing the same song (it becomes diegetic). It then cuts to the soldiers and stark looking round the vehicle. Stark speaks the first line of dialogue and a conversation follows. The music in the scene is only the music played on the radio and nothing else.

The opening of Paul starts with the date of the event as on screen text, it also has a calendar in the shot, which shows some historical context. It then cuts to a radio and a light shining outside. A dog then enters the shot and it runs to the door and scratches on the door. A little girl then opens the door for it and it runs outside into the darkness. It then has a shot of a light flashing and a windmill turning the other way and rotating still with the light flashing. It then cuts to the dog sitting down with a light shining on him. The girl then walks outside and calls his name, on the third time she calls him she has a shocked expression and it then cuts to a spaceship crashing down on to the camera, which would be the dogs perspective. The music in the piece is slow and electronic which gives a supernatural space feeling to it. This is played throughout the two minutes and is joined by diegetic sounds made by the lights later in the extract.