Study of other opening sequences

Study of other opening sequences

The first opening sequence that I have used to gather inspiration is “Se7en”. I practically enjoyed this opening sequence as is very subtly sets the scene that a mental illness is present, with out the use of obvious statements. A shot where I feel this is done extremely well is a scene where main character is holding a pen and writing. The shoot has been edited so that there is a slightly out of time second hand also writing. This gives the effect of disjoined thoughts, linking to mental illness. I would like to try to recreate a similar effect in my opening sequence.

  

Se7en also managed to makes everyday tasks, such as writing a letter or cutting a photography to size seem dramatic and tense. I thin that this is created through the sound effects and the mise-en-scene. The way that scenes are framed in this opening sequence is also interesting. There are many close up shoots of objects or writing where a large section of the shoot has been hide from the viewer. This causes the audience to have to imagine what should fill this spaces. This is an interesting and effective device for creating suspense and is used in scenes such as the one below:

Another effect which I like is featured in “In Diesem Moment”. This effect is use of close up shoots of the main characters facial features in the opening sequence, such as there eye or mouth. This can tell the audience how the character is feeling, and gives them little enigmas of who the character is.

In Diesem moment, also include over the shoulder-style shoots. These feature parts of the characters body in the corner of the shoot and the rest is setting the scene and location. I feel that these are essential to an opening sequence as the audience needs an idea of where the films is going to take place. Therefore, the mise-en-scene in the shoot is important to setting the scene in the opening sequence.  

In the opening for “A Clockwork Orange”, an interesting effect is if used to set the scene. Setting the scene for a movie is commonly done through the use of long panoramic shoots. But in “A Clockwork Orange” to camera starts with a close up shot of a character, and then zooms out throughout the sequence. As the characters do not move, but the audiences very point does, it gives the characters a sense of power over the audience. A zoom technically isn’t movement of the camera, it is change in the local length. As the camera very slow zooms out of the shoot, it reveals more and more detail about the location and mise-en-scene to the viewers.

This opening sequence can be viewed here: