Analysis of opening sequence

In order to understand the conventions of opening film we studied the opening sequences of films in a similar genre to the one we tried to create.


I’ve looked at the first 2 minutes of Panic room. The first thing you see is the indent of Colombia distribution. It then fades into an establishing shot of the new your sky line, there is non-diagetic slow tempo classic music playing the music helps create an atmosphere of fear and anticipation. The audience can also hear the sounds of New York, car horns and the general sounds of a city can be heard. There are credits on screen that introduce key actors and companies that are in the film. The credits have been edited in and don't add any to the feel of the film. During the opening sequence it cuts to about 10 different shots of the city, all the shots are long shots. Some of the shots are high angle and ariel shots these confirm to the audience that they are in New York the shots, joined with the music create a very eerie presence. The opening sequence tells the audience that the film is going to be action packed.

The music is slow tempo, low-pitched classic music. It has what sounds like deep string instruments, which give the sequence a real feel. Between each shot there is a quick cut but because it is shot in slow motion the cuts seem quite naturally and you don't notice them the music also contributes to this. As I have said it is shot in New York, the location for the film is inner city New York leading the audience to believe that the film may have a darker side acting to the audiences stereotypical view that films shot in inner cities will be darker and have a crime element to them, which the film has.

After the 10 shots of the city it cuts to 3 characters walking down a street, the area looks like the upper class area this scene is totally different from the initial shots. There is one obvious dominant character as she is doing all the talking and the audience is lead to believe she is that main character but in fact she isn’t, this is not typical of most films as the key characters are shown or have a big part at the start off the film.

All of these features help to convince the audience that some thing bad is going to happen, the music is the main contributor to this as the music rises in volume and pitch to create suspense.