Opening sequence notes

Opening sequence elements:

• Characters
• Location
• Nrrative & plot
• Genre
• Themes

Typically an opening sequence will contain:

1. Details of the cast & crew
2. The film title
3. An intro to character or characer type
4. Indication of place
5. Indication of historical period
6. Information regarding mood & tone
7. Introduction to signature theme tune (e.g relaxed)
8. Information about genre
9. Questions that the viewer finds intruiging
10. Patterns and types of editing that will be echoed in the remainder of the film
11. Mise en scene

House of the devil:

1. We are introduced to the girl bying a house and a landlord.
2. 'House of the devil' in yellow bold writting
3. Girl is naive- perfect victim, polite girl next door. The landlord is too nice, she just wants her to buy the house which is suspicious. There is a contrast between the two characters the landlord is a famous actor and we recognise her whereas the girl is not famous and we dont know her.
4. The house might be posessed (Town)
6. The mood and tone is mysterious, we guess by the title that the film genre is going to be some sort of thriller but the mood is quite up beat and typical.
7. Theme tune is not scary, quite 60's and detective style music.
9. Who is this lady? ... why is the music perky whe its a scary film?

                                                

Student opening sequences:

Afliction:
-Volume is up and down
-close ups, mid shots, long shots
-Horror/thriller
-Torture
-Music = gloomy/scary
-Hear man tied up breathing heavily
-Treading on the glass is too loud, good effect to make it more of an uncomfortable atmosphere but the crunch is too loud.
-The putting out the cigarette created a scary atmosphere of someone being held captive.

Overall I was really impressed with the opening scene. It was scary and uncomfortable and that was the aim. Some of the editing was off and didnt fit in but most was really well thought out.

Deadly shadow:
- The makeup of the characters and the shooting of one of the characters was really well planned out. also the slow motion shot of the girl walking away after she had shot the man was impressive.
- The chapter from the bible at the beginning of the sequence (enigma) didnt really fit in with the rest of the film.
To improve they could have used a more convincing actor, the music didnt go with the mood so that could change and the lighting was too bright in some cases, it would have been better if it was dark as it would be more scary.