Opening Sequences Analysis and Evaluation

i) What forms can opening sequences take? Can you list the conventional features of opening sequences?
Opening sequences are unique to each individual film as different directors and different narratives result in lots of variety of the openings. However, there are several conventions which all opening sequences of different films of different genres share. Certain elements such as shot types, music, lighting and pace and overall the mise-en-scene help to represent the genre in which the film as a whole is classed in. And inspecting in deeper depth they can also betray certain parts of the plot which will only later become apparent in the film. For instance, in Legally Blonde, the upbeat music, fast pace and bright lighting show the audience that the film will be a light hearted one. The overall colour scheme of pink implies that the film will be targeted towards girls and women and be about a girly-girl. And finally, the shot of the protagonist and her partner show that the film will be about the protagonist's relationship with her boyfriend, and possibly another man as the audience cannot expect the relationship to be perfect through to the rest of the film.
Characters, the plot and the setting are always established in the openings of films. However (taking Todorov's classic narrative pattern into account) these three elements will suffer some amount of disruption, throwing the initial equilibrium out of balance. This is sometimes revealed at the end of the opening sequence.

The opening of a film is an essential tool in setting up the tone for the rest of the film and also starts to formulate ideas about the rest of the film in the audience's mind. The setting up of a seemingly normal scene will have the audience guessing what will happen to throw the current situation out of balance, whilst already showing a disruption in the equilibrium will have the audience guessing how order will be restored.

ii) What narrative functions of opening sequences can you identify?
- The complete narrative of a film is never fully revealed to the audience, leaving them guessing throughout the rest of the film but certain elements (props/ dress/ mise-en-scene) can hint to what is to eventually come.
- Some background information is revealed though enough to keep the audience on tenterhooks.
- Music, lighting and shot types used can set up a tone for the rest of the narrative for the audience.
- The order of shot types also sets the tone for the rest of the narrative, for example, jumping from an MS to an ECU can throw the audience out of balance to create mystery/ discomfort/ tension.
- Important information about the characters can be revealed, but sometimes this can be misleading to surprise and shock the audience later in the film.

iii) What do audiences gain from watching the opening sequence?
The narrative sequence can help set up mystery and an enigma for the rest of the narrative to keep the audience guessing. Also from this, excitement and tension are built up as the audience will be keen to know what happens in the rest of the play. Knowledge of the characters is usually provided and the tone is set for the rest of the film, so the audience will know what to expect. The opening sequence can also act as a first impression for the film, and from this the audience will decide whether they will like or dislike the rest of the film.

iv) What do film-makers gain from including an opening sequence?
An opening sequence acts as a stepping stone for film-makers and allows them progress steadily to the themes they want to introduce for the rest of the play. A good opening sequence can hook the audience in and make it easier for them to understand the themes which will become apparent in the rest of the film. This is not only crucial to the audience, but also to critics as a bad opening sequence may affect their judgement for the rest of the film. This not only reflects badly on the film-makers, but also on the actors who have put their reputation on the line when participating in the film. By filming and editing an opening sequence well, it shows the audience and critics that the film makers are capable of reworking a formula that has been overdone.

Applying Roland Barthes' theory to the opening of Don't Look Now (1973)

(up to 7.20)

Roland Barthes, a structualist thinker has written an essay on a French novel called S/Z. In this he identified several codes, or a set of rules, which he believed linked together in the production of all kinds of stories. He proposed that all stories use the same five codes and all all genre signifiers can be grouped under these five points to create a narrative. The five codes which he proposed are:

1) The Action Code: depicts the events which take place in the narrative ie who/where/when. Action codes are placed in chronological order.
2) The Semantic Code: refers to character or characterisation. The actions in the narrative are made clear by the character's take on the events.
3) The Enigma Code: involves the setting up of a mystery, its development and its resolution.
4) The Referential Code: explains or informs e.g. mise-en-scene is a referential code.
5) The Symbolic Code: the reading of the implied meanings of signs, which transform them into symbolic representations e.g. a character can symbolise weakness.

Applying the five codes to the opening of Don't Look Now

The Action Code
- It is not made clear to the audience what relevance the first image of the opening scene (the wooden window shutters) has to the rest of the film as after this shot, we see a young girl in a red raincoat playing in a garden/ field. By showing the shot of the window shutter the audience will know that it is of great importance in the narrative and that it will appear later in the film.
- The first character we see is the young girl in the red raincoat. This shows the audience that she plays a pivotal role in the film.
- Next we are introduced to a young boy and what seems to be a couple. We as the audience assume that they are linked to the young girl in some way and will also play major roles in the rest of the film.
- The fact that we are shown in extreme detail the shots of the churches on the slides, which the man is viewing, suggests to us that they are key elements to the narrative of the film.
- As we do not see the woman's face straight away leads us to believe that she is a rather mysterious and private person.
- The shot under the magnifying glass where the camera zooms in on a red cloaked figure hints to us that they could end up playing a part of great significance in the play. This, coupled with the fact that there is tense music tells us that this character in red is possibly a bad one.
- The young girl drowning tells the audience that the equilibrium of this family's ordinary everyday life has been disrupted. They will be left wondering what happens in the rest of the film now that this tragedy has befallen them.

The Semantic Code
- The first character we see is a young girl wearing a red raincoat. The fact that she is the first one introduced to the audience suggests that she plays a pivotal role in the rest of the film. This is confirmed when the audience sees her drowning and dying, as they are then left wondering what will happen to the rest of the characters in the aftermath of the young girl's death.
- The second character we see is the young boy riding on a bicycle. The fact that they make no verbal exchange suggests that they are not very close, but by putting them both in the same surroundings implies that the boy and the girl are linked in some way.
- Both the young boy and girl are seen playing as one would normally expect to see young children do. There is nothing strange or mysterious about them that could possibly hint at anything to come later in the film.
- We are finally introduced to a man and a woman (most possibly a couple) sitting in a living room. The fact that we do not immediately see the woman's face suggests to the audience that she is mysterious, private and possibly has something to hide. We do however, see the man's face. He seems to come across as a very ordinary man in an ordinary surroundings. The man, looking through a slide show looks extremly confused as his brow is furrowed. This suggests to the audience that there is something which is not right in the scene.
- Once we see the woman's face, she too seems like a very ordinary person. There is nothing in either of their characters which could betray any element in the plot which is to come.
- The couple are affectionate and civil to each other, connoting that they are in a happy relationship which nothing going wrong in their lives.
- The man's agony and the woman's reaction to the girl's death implies that the rest of the film will be about their dealing of the aftermath of her death.

The Enigma Code
- The colour red seems to run through all of the opening sequence. The young girl (who eventually dies) wears a red raincoat. The boy, riding his (red) bicycle, cycles over some glass, breaking it as the water in the river is disrupted by the girl's ball. The ink on the slide which the man is observing under the microscope runs from the red cloaked figure in the shot. This underlying theme of red in unusual circumstances (girl in the red cloak drowning/ boy on red bicycle breaking glass/ red ink running on slide) suggests to the audience that this theme will be recurring through the rest of the play. Also, the red colour is similar to blood, connoting murder and death.
- The young girl playing precariously by the river shows the audience that something bad will happen to her.
- The man tipping over his glass shows that the ordinary situation he is in is not so ordinary after all.
- The camera zooming in on the red cloaked figure in the slide suggests this mysterious person will appear later in the film, possibly bringing danger with them too.

The Referential Code
- The scene we are observing is of a young girl and boy playing in a garden/ field during the day in an ordinary fashion whilst the shots of the couple inside the house also show a normal day for them with the usual clutter of a house and a comfortable, lived in look. There is little in the mise-en-scene which could inform us of the mystery behind the plot.
- However, the young girl disturbing the water with her ball, the boy breaking the glass and the man tipping his glass over shows disturbances in what seems to be an ordinary day. This suggests that something will happen that will disrupt this equilibrium and throw the rest of the film out of balance.
- When the young girl is pulled out of the water, the man and the girl being covered in mud show the ordinary life becoming disrupted, this in turn sets up the tone for the rest of the film.

The Symbolic Code
- The young girl in red and the red cloaked figure in the slide are symbolic of danger and death. This is because the young girl dressed in red drowns at the end of this opening scene and ink of the red cloaked figure in the slide running looks alarmingly like blood.
- The boy breaking the glass at the same time the girl disturbs the water with her ball are sumbolic of the calm of everyday life have been broken (the equilibrium being disrupted).

Applying Levi-Strauss to the opening of "Pale Rider" and "Die Hard I"

Claude Levi-Strauss was a French anthropologist who believed storytelling is used as a means of coping with the basic challenges and irresolvable problems. Levi-Strauss said that the elements of a story (or a narrative) has two main characteristics: that it is made up of units that are put together according to certain rules and that these form a relationship with each other, based on binary pairs which provide the foundation of the structure.
Levi-Strauss' theory of binary opposites can be applied to many aspects of a film narrative for example the hero and the villain, fear and happiness, the rich and the poor etc. Below I have applied the theory of binary opposites to the openings of Pale Rider (Eastwood 1985) and Die Hard I (McTierman 1988).

Pale Rider (Eastwood 1985)
- forest/ desert/ mountains
- silence/ noise
- nature/ civilisation
- domesticated animals/ wild nature
- peaceful village/ warlike horses and riders
- civilised/ uncivilised
- frantic riders/ slow moving villagers
- music/ no music
- moving shots/ still shots
- shadow/ light
- dangerous horses and riders/ safe environment of village
- rivers/ plains
- victims/ attackers living/ dead destruction/ organisation
- nature/ guns
- helpless villagers/ riders with power
- fire/ water, plains, rivers
- disturbed/ undisturbed surroundings
- nature (paganism)/ christianity
- thunder, rain/ good weather
- country folk/ town folk
- being accepted/ being victimised

Die Hard I (McTierman 1988)
- nature/ machinery
- ground level/ in air, in flight
- suspenseful music/ normal, everyday situation
- caucasian people/ asian, Japanese people
- woman walking forwards/ man walking backwards
- office party/ home life
- absent father/ present mother
- single man/ married man
- wife with husband's surname/ wife with maiden name
- HA/ LA
- empty elevator/ crowded party
- rap music/ classical music
- Holly's husband/ Holly's suitor
- confrontation with husband/ speech to troops
- party/ motorways, vans, cars. Heavy industrial work
- tense music/ man humming
- enclosed space/ wide open space
- man/ machine
- American/ German
- photos/ real people