Summary of genres

In general, from those opening sequence, the one most obvious common point is that they give some clue briefly and stop at the most exciting scene, which attracts the audience have desire to watch the the following story. There are some interesting points of the opening sequence of war and sci-fi can be found: They are both about war,(Dunkirk & Alita(Sub-genre)). However, Dunkirk is set on the past, and it's a real story, and Alita is set in the future. Also, there are some similar points between the mise-en-scene of these two genre : They are both in a chaos, abandoned environment.
I would say <A quite place> is the best one in these five genre. First of all, it's narrate the story briefly and also make me curious about the story. I do not like the <Dunkirk>. I could not understand what's on and sometime subtitle is not always a good idea to tell the background story.

Thriller

A Quiet Place(2018)

Few information has been shown from the film, to survive, you must not make any sound. And a lot of people been killed by the alien look stuff. A group of people survive, and they are heading to a safe place. The target audiences areabout 13~50 year group, because this might not appropriate for children and elder people to watch violent and thriller film. I think it's a thriller because the background sound help to build tension, the music is low volume at the beginning, and then increase as the danger comes. The film uses single tone to create the silent and nervous atmoshphere. Also, slow and low music contribute to tension too.

Eye-line math is a good way to lead vision, the women look at the man take out the battery from the plane model. Also, it's the connotation of the plane model, because of the battery and the plane model, the boy is going to killed by the alien.

There are five characters introduced in the film. They only man in the film, stereotypically, is the leader of the group. He walks at the front, and he runs to help the little boy, he dealt with the main thing because he is the most powerful person in this small group.

In my opinion, this is a successful opening scene, because it narrated the "game rule"of the story, and also the relationship between characters. Furturemore, there is  the scene at the end (that the little boy been killed) Ignited my curiosity, and I would like to find out what's going on.

War Opening Sequence

Dunkirk (2017)

At the opening sequence, we can see that the characters are all wearing military uniform, and usually audiences can recognise that uniform is in WWI, which narrated the time and story background, also there are subtitles to illustrate the story. To show the difficult situation in the war, there is action match editing of the soldier drinks water from the tube. Props like guns and other weapons also show that the setting of the story.

Also, hand held camera is applied to built tension and to show the nervous situation when people are shooting at them. Also, the digestic sound of the shot is exaggerated, which throw into sharp relief the atmosphere as well.

We can see that the only man who survived from the shot is the lead character, because the lead character is always the luckiest. Also, he has the most footage and many shot composition are the evidence that he is the main character. For instance:

In general, this is a relatively successful opening sequence of a war film. It's narrated the story background and established the relationship between the event and the character briefly. The technique is novelty. I quite like the scene that paper falling from the sky that help to narrate the event. 

Action Opening sequence

Wonder Women(2017)

At the beginning of the scene. Groundwork of the story is laid to narrate the story before and future, voice-over is heard to narrate while we see the earth in which a character is not seen to be speaking.

To show the power of the wonder women and how organised the organisation is, there are cross-cutting editing shots show the delivery of the important letter in the suitcase, while the main character walking to the office. Also, extreme long shots of the location（The Louvre）established the setting and give information that she works in the Louvre and a fabulous office. This is not usual, which means she is not usual. In addition, the actress that the film chose is representative of the action film.

Furthermore, The old photo of five people is shown to be the connotation of the story, eye-line match  editing shot is applied. The genre of the film can be shown by  the props(weapons, battle suit at the background of the office).

I like the zoom shot(the earth---> the Louvre), it's represents the aim of the storyline (save the planet). Beside, Graphic match is applied as the transition of the Adult Wonder women and the young Diana who loves fighting and born to be a warrior. Also, the colour of the scene when she was little was colourful and bright. This make contrast when she is in the Louvre, which is blue and dark.

Generally, this is a relatively successful opening sequence, however, the transition between the two different era is not so perfect, because the change is too obvious.

Sci-fi Opening Sequence

Alita-Battle Angel(2019)

From the opening title, the subtitles present the time background of the story(2563) and the setting. The first scene establishes the genre and setting as the establishing shot represents the city in the sky, dystopian, high-tech structure buildings and therefore established a futuristic setting which is a connotation of sci-fi. Which are not usually exist in the modern world or the past. Generally speaking, teenagers and young adult(~under 40) are more likely to be interested in this genre of films. Also, there are shots, angles and cameras to illustrate that the broken tube used to connect to the lower city, and this is one of the main clues in the storyline. For example, the point of view angle works as a transition role that guides the audience from the upper class to the lower. Which is the connotation of the story of the lead character Alita. Compare to the advanced city in the sky, the shots in the 'garbage' of the lower city is completely different. In this scene, the man was collecting eyes through continuity editing, this is a welcoming way to show where the character is, what he is doing and his charateristic (could be job etc). Besides, he uses a special device to scan their bodies, which is a connotation of the film. Then the man looks at the girl and said “You’re alive?”  and then he picks up her body carefully establishes their relationship.

The genre setting is base on the filter of the film, the general colour of the scene is yellow and the light is dim and the environment is in darkness.  Twilight shows a new beginning and saturated yellow is tend to be warm.

Background sound act as an important role in the opening sequence. The use of Bass instrument created a heavy atmosphere. The digestive sound(metals falling and crush together, the sound of the special scanner) emphasis the messy environment and high-tech devices to represent the genre of the film.

Generally, this is a successful opening. I quite like the scene that the man holds Alita's head in the twilight, it's effective to draw out the story.

Horror Opening sequence

IT(2017)

To create veridmilitude, continuity editing is applied at the beginning of the opening scene. The rainy weather built up the dark and horror atmosphere. In addition, the yellow boat is one of the important connotation in the film, so there is action match to show that the boy puts the boat on the water, and there are chasing shoots to show the movement of the boat. The genre set up  as horror film, because the terrible weather at the beginning, more than that is the horror character exist(clown) that his make up and face expression also the way he speaks, laugh is terrifying and creepy. The two background music on the beginning and when the boy meet the clown separated into two  different genre, the similarity of those two are they are 'children's music'(bright, fast rhyme). When he meets the clown, the music become creepy and only single tone.

Overall, the opening sequence is absolutely scary that make me feel interested curious.

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