Opening sequences

Introduction

I have analyzed audience, mine-en-scene, and technical elements within my genre, so now the best thing to do is to look at how to make an opening sequence. And the best way to that is to analyze two different opening sequences within my genre ti see what are the things they have in common and what things they did differently that contributed to their scene, also this will help my partner and I to decide what we would like to include in our opening sequence.

First Opening Sequence from the " The Blind Side"

First off, "The Blind Side" is an inspiring, true-story drama about Michael Oher, a homeless, traumatized teenager who is taken in by the wealthy, and kind Tuohy family. With the support of Leigh Anne Tuohy , Michael overcomes huge educational and social hurdles, discovering his talent for football to become an NFL star. After watching "The Blind Side" 2 min opening clip I decided to separate it into 2 different sections.

To start, the first half of the clip until 1:30 is a news tape from an old football game and it is accompanied with some asynchronous sound and synchronous sound, but most of all it includes a voice over. Now a voice over is a typical convention in sports movies and particularly this voice. over adds some depth to the clip by stating what is happening on the screen. Now also it was easy to see that this half was a tape as there were pauses where the image on the screen would stop but the voice over wouldn't, and there were also sound effects such as the part where there was a rewind in the clip and there were was a rewind sound effect which just emphasized that moment. Now the overall effect the first half gives to the audience isn't grand instead it just gives some background and also leave the audience on the fence about what will happen next. This is common for a drama movie as it creates more suspense for what may happen next.

Now the next half of the clip switches from the football game clip to a series of photos, and it continues with the voice over but now also includes a sound bridge and some sound mixing. But then, at the last 20 seconds of the clip it changes from the photos to an actual scene, and in this scene we are presented with a static shot followed with some close up shots from the front which presents a black teen boy. And at the end while he is walking, the camera cuts twice to 2 flashback moments of what seems to be that teen's childhood and how troubled it was. But yet it also only cuts for a few seconds leaving the audience unsure of his past. This creates suspense and creates an emphatic tone towards the character. And while all this is happening the audience is sill hearing the voice over and by the end of the voice over the woman says how her life has now been changed leaving the audience eager to watch and see what will happen next. 

Overall the 2 minutes opening of the movie was informational and was intriguing which left quite an impact on the audience so far. In addition, I thought that this opening was amazing and powerful. I will keep this in mind while I start thinking about what to include in our film opening.

Second Opening Sequence from "The Game Plan"

To begin, the Game plan is a movie about a football star Joe Kingman whose life is turned around when his daughter Payton, who he had never knew existed shows up at his door step. Joe must now learn to balance football and his new responsibilities of parenthood. Now the clip that I found was 4 minutes long but I will only analyzing until 2 minutes and 30 seconds to be equal with the clip from the blindside."The Game Plan" opening clip

The first half of the clip until 1:30 starts by cutting or transitioning to different locations around the city of Boston which the movie will take place in. While this is happening the only sound you can hear is a song, the song is up beat implying a fun and care-free tone to the movie and its audience. Another feature that there is are graphics, now these graphics are part of the opening credits. Now usually credits are boring but by including fast paced images and an up beat song it makes the credits from boring to a little more exiting.  

The second half is pretty much the same but instead of images/ clips of the city it is showing different clips from the same apartment and while doing that it also shows awards given to the main character Joe Kingman for football including a MVP award. This gives the audience some background information on who and what the character prizes the most. And just like the first half there is still the opening credits graphics plus the same song is still playings the audio. But however now there are sound effects such as the sounds the doors make to open of the click of a button even the foot steps the dog makes while walking. this just emphasizes the realism of these objects to the audience.

In all, the 2 minute opening of the movie was fun and entertaining, the upbeat and uplifting song kept the audiences attention. This will be something my partner and I will refer back too incase we decide to go in a different direction for the opening

Conclusion

Both The Blind Side and the Game Plan have great intros for their movie that fit their movies style. While The Game Plan is more of a fun kids sport- drama movie, the blind side is more serious sport- drama movie. Hence, this is why they were 2 good examples towards what we will want to incorporate and what we won't want to incorporate, Overall, our idea for our opening follows a more serious tone meaning we will probably be taking more inspiration from The Blind Side's film opening rather than The Game Plan's.