Note's on openings to films

Book of Eli (2009) -

The opening scene is a desolate/barren landscape, which hints at the isolation that the main character will have in this film, isolation is also shown through the use of digetic sound, such as the whistling of wind. Death is also portrayed in the landscape, this is done by showing the little growth that there is on all of the trees. Another way that death and violence has been shown in this opening sequence is by the audience viewing a corpse on the ground with a gun lying nearby.

Non-digetic sound is used in the opening sequence to create suspense, an example of this is the slow and continuous use of a very deep sounding music. A shot that is used to portray 'watching' that is often used in thriller film's is a POV shot.


Brick (2006) -

Sound is widely used in this opening sequence to show many conventions of a typicla thriller opening. One of these ways is the dialogue of the characters, this is because the voices in this sequence become more and more desperate as time elapses. Sound also creates the feeling of the main character being watched, this is shown in a phone call with no one in sight of the main character, "nice to see you".

Running water is used in one of the opening shots to show the life draining away of one of the characters. Isolation is also commonly used, this is shown by the main character not coming into physical contact with anybody during the opening sequence. A very interesting moment that occurs towards the end of the opening is when a cigarette is droped, and a close up shot of the cigarette is shown, this could possibly represent danger in the film, as cigarettes are ofetn shown as rebellious.


Gothika (2003) -

POV shots are widely used in this sequence, this is done to show the emotion on the faces of the two characters, it also creates suspense as the audience feels directly involved. Many shots also viewed the characters from behind barred walls, which indicates the violence of one of the charcters, and the film in general. The criminal is portrayed as psychotic through the use of dialogue that they use, "cut his Adams apple in half like a piece of fruit". Mystery is also shown in the film, this is done by the criminal believeing that what they are saying is true, whilst the interviewer appears to dismiss the criminals claims as if they were lies, this creates mystery and suspense.