Pulp Fiction-opening titles analysis (Thriller genre)

The opening sequence to the pulp fiction is a great example of a thriller opening sequence, it pushes the audience to ask questions of the characters in a way that is mirrored in how the sequence breaks stereotypes. The sequence sticks to conventions the the opening to a film but also creates an interesting atmosphere for the audience watching.  

Pulp Fiction starts seemingly mid way through a conversation. Immediately drawing the audience in as we hear the man on the left say a quite bold statement about never doing something again which is supposedly dangerous, this make the viewer wonder what it is they are talking about. until approximately 0:45 into the film it is unclear what it is that the couple are talking about and the audience starts the like them as they seem to be quite nice ordinary people, until we find that they steal from people, yet we still feel almost inclined to like them due to the fact that our initial reaction is to like them.

This opening scene does very well to make us feel as if this sort of situation is the norm an is the bases of how the film is going to play out. This is achieved by the use to ambient sound of a typical coffee shop with music playing and people talking, when accompanied by the use of long takes and slow steady camera movement it creates a very calm and (without the use of dialogue) almost mundane scene. This is done as it introduces the audience to themes of the film and what we can expect to see more of as the film pans out by creating the juxtaposition of quite shocking concept and underlying implications of the scene and the way that it is presented to the audience in a almost bland way.

Opening sequence analysis Brick (Johnson, 2005, USA)

The film Brick displays how to create a good opening sequence despite only having a low budget of the movie. the use of cinematography, editing, sound and miss en scene.

as all films do, we see the production ident (of focus features) appear before the start of the film, this is followed by a fade to black when the soundtrack starts to play and we hear the musical instrument of the xylerphone playing lots of short notes, this begins to create a quite eerie atmosphere as the first shot of the film fades in. The use of a handheld tracking shot to show a persons feet who is crouched which is then superimposed into the shot of the extreme close up of the persons face which is obscured by the character hand, a focus pull is also used to prolong that time the we are waiting to see his face. these use of shots and edits create and haze of ambiguity around the character and what they may be doing. this makes the audience mistrust the person as we cannot see much of them and we are forces to make assumptions about them.

shots/edits that create ambiguity

Master shot of the scene

Then this master shot/ long is used and gives use more information of what is happening within the scene, as we see a woman lying (presumably dead) on the floor and this boy staring intently looking at her. This shot leads the audience to ask questions like "did he kill her?" and "why does he seem so calm next to a dead body?" this pushes the audience to place the blame upon this character as he is the only person there and must have killed her or know something about how she died. This also introduces the audience to the setting at adds the their knowledge of what is happening, as the they appear to be in a sewer we are pushed to make the assumption the something dirty, bad, unclear happened here as these that the things that are connotations of this kind of setting.

The scene then flows into ordinary cuts between close ups of the dead girl and of the boy looking intently at her almost as it it is a shot reverse shot that implies that this is quite normal for him or that he has some sort of fixation with her, as the camera tracks forward in the shots of both the girl and him it adds to us believing that this is true.

with the final shot is this scene we see the girls arm with bracelets on and the edit of a graphic match to show the same girls hand sliding a note into a locker, this is accompanied by a sound bridge changing the sound of the xylophone into that of a school bell (this creates empathy for the girl as we realise that she is only young and is still in school) this uses of sound and shots almost acts as an ellipsis into the past. The title of the movie is then shown ending the opening of the film.

Opening sequence structure, office space

Above is the slide show that I created in order to show the structure of the opening sequenced to office space.

Wallander opening sequence analysis

The opening sequence of Wallander does well to draw the audience into the story of the tv series as uses cinematography, sound, editing and mise en scene to create a opening sequence that makes the audience question the story and what they are seeing, this is added to through the breaking of stereotypes.

The music starts with a black screen being shown, the sound played is almost the sound of something vibrating and this starts to build tension as we only have the sense of sound to try and realise what it happening. The camera tilts up from a black sea and zooms at a steady pace towards a isolated countryside, as we see this the sound effect of wind rushing past is used an this creates the idea that something is approaching (this echoes the idea of a storm and the thought of not being safe) as we draw closer to the countryside we see a parked car and two people walking from which forces the audience to as the question "why is there a car parked in the middle of nowhere?" as we ask this question we hear a high pitched screech or a whistle  followed by a sound effect that almost suggests that it is sucking all the sound from your ears. At this point there is a sudden cut to behind the two girls walking and we are forced to associate what we have been hearing with the two girls  and this pushes us to mistrust them. all these emotions are created within one cut and has the audience guessing and fully enveloped within the story, this is something that I would like to emulate within my own opening sequence to a film.
This is the sound effect referenced in the paragraph above.

the use of low key lighting throughout the opening creates the idea that something ominous is about to happen and this excites/scares the audience as they know that they may be about to see something that could be deemed as evil. This is supported by the soundtrack that has a predominantly deep undertone that has some quite subtle high pitched sound effect throughout he entirety of the opening shot. After this we just hear the sound of the wind, a radio and the noise of the girls walking this creates quiet an eerie atmosphere and the audience is lead to mistrust the two girls. we are then show some quite gruesome extreme close up of what we assume the two girls have done.

extreme close ups within the Wallander opening

Not only do these shots make the audience dislike the girls but they also give us lots of information about the make that they have attacked and how they did it. for example they show that the man was a taxi driver and that he was a family man (and therefore is probably the victim and that this was not an act of self defence from the girls) but they also show to us that the man is still alive as his eye and finger moves. this makes the audience feel empathy for the man as we know that he is probably in a lot of pain.

The Bourne Supremacy opening titles analysis

The Bourne Supremacy follows conventions of a films opening sequence such as the us of the production ident of universal. It also does well in presenting the audience to its main character and to the setting of the film and this deliberately done so with the text in the bottom left of the screen that quickly informs the audience of the country that they are in so that they can start to make assumptions about the characters and what they may be doing there.

however the Bourne Supremacy does also break convention in some ways such as the way that there is a lack of cast and crew titles, this is possibly because the film targets predominantly a quite young audience and therefore pushes to get straight into the action and hold its audiences attention. also at the very beginning the audience is bombarded with a barrage of short takes, throwing lots of information at the reader and quickly giving the audience a sense of what was in the previous films in the franchise.

In addition to this lots of effects are used and this creates disorientation in the audience and tried to make us feel empathy for the main character and we can start to under stand what he is going through, this is also fairly unique to this film's opening sequence as most films try to ease their audience into the film with long takes and little effects so that the audience can begin to learn and ask questions of the story.

This shot here is taken from 0:51 and it highlights the sort of shots that I was talking about above as it shows a lot of lights that are blurred and make an attempt at making the audience feel empathy for the character and create the feeling of being lost.




Personally I find this opening to be nether boring nor particularly exciting, the use of fast paced editing at the beginning of the film helps to draw the audience and get them to be interested in the story but then almost lets the audience down to drop the tension and see the main character merely waking up, this I found to be almost disappointing.

Sweeney Todd opening title analysis

Above is the opening titles to the film Sweeney Todd create a dark and sinster mood to start the film this is done through a mix of camerawork, mise en scene, soundtrack and  editing. However the titles also have a very subtle comedic impact on its audience with the uses of adding obscurity to the titles.

the titles in many ways stick to the conventional opening titles of a film, as there is extensive use of the titles themselves which are seen almost three minutes into the start of the film, and we also see the production ident of DreamWorks and Warner Bros.

Production idents

however Sweeney Todd slips from the norm with the lack of information that is given to use as the the audience and be are not given any idea of setting or of the main characters, but instead we are show foreshadowing of the story as we see the barbers chair and the pies with blood dripping through them.  

Shots that foreshadow the story

The opening uses sound to help create this dark and creepy atmosphere. this is done through the use of the musical instrument the organ which echos an idea of danger or evil but not in a serious way. As the titles start the instrument changes to a strings and woodwind assortment, this is also accompanied by the sound of cogs and  blood running and squashing, these combine to make the audience feel on edge and uncomfortable hinting to the genre of the film that they are about to watch.

this is mirrored in the cinematography as the overall camera movement is slow and fluid with equally slow zooming in and out pulling the viewer attention towards and away from certain aspects of the titles. I feel that this was done in order to reflect the slow and flowing movement of the blood which is almost constantly seen throughout the entirety of the sequence.