Dead Again Opening Credits:

Dead Again Opening Sequence:

Dead Again:
Released: 1991,
Directed by: Kenneth Branagh,
Actors/Actresses: Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompason & Andy Garcia.

The opening sequence of 'Dead Again' has a very scary and mysterious theme to it. The music used throughout the opening is very jumpy and scary and the credits are placed throughout the sequence on a plain black screen.

The opening builds up the narrative of the film by showing the audience newspaper articles on the murder of a person the film is obviously based around. The whole opening sequence has very dark and gloomy lighting to reflect the darkness of the murderer. Also, the colour of the characters clothes is very simple colours such as black and white. Questions are definately asked by the audience to create enigma, as the audience is curious about the murder that has taken place. 

Then eventually at the end of the opening sequence the audience see that the whole story was a dream and we see Emma Thompson wake up and the film is in actual fact in colour. 

Legally Blonde Opening Credits:

Legally Blonde Opening:

Legally Blonde:
Released: 2001,
Directed by: Robert Luketic,
Actors/Actresses: Reese Witherspoon, Selma Blair, Luke Wilson.

The opening sequence of 'Legally Blonde' has a really girly theme to match the film itself. The sequence includes lots of bright colours including pink and the credits, which run throughout the opening sequence, are also pink. Within the opening sequence the audience are introduced to Reese Witherspoon, the main character, and all of her friends. The music featured in the opening sequence matches the girly theme of the film with a happy and energetic song.
The narrative of the film is built in the opening sequence and the audience know that the characters are students at university and that Reese Witherspoon is going on a date with her ideal man. The camera, throughout the sequence follows Reese Witherspoon's friends around the university, until eventually we meet Reese Witherspoon's character, Elle. Enigma is created within the sequence and the audience ask questions such as: What are all Elle's friends creating for her? Why is Elle the most popular student? Who is Elle going on a date with?

Children of Men Essay:

How effectively does the opening sequence from ‘Children of men’ use the forms and conventions of film openings? What is your personal response to the opening?

‘Children of men’ was released the UK in 2006, it was directed by Alfonso Cuaron and stars Clive Owen, Julianne Moore and Chiwetel Ejofor.

In class we studied the opening sequence of the film and analysed the conventions included within the first scene of the film. We looked at the important functions which should be included within the opening of films in comparison with the ‘Children of men’ opening.

Firstly, we looked at how the narrative of a film is constructed within the opening scene of a film. Within ‘Children of men’, Alfonso Cuaron cleverly identifies to the audience what the film is about without giving away too much information to make the film boring or too basic for the audience.

The audience are told that the film is set in London in the year 2027 by informative writing on the screen. The audience are also told by a news broadcast that the youngest person in the world, Diego Ricardo, has died, however he is 18 years of age.

As well as this by watching how the characters are acting and looking at the setting, the audience can see how London within 2027 is a rather dangerous and un-safe place. For example, when watching the opening sequence the audience can see police helicopters circling London and a banner in the distance reading ‘please report any suspicious behaviour’. All these symbols signify London as being a dangerous place.

Within the opening sequence of ‘Children of men’, the audience is also introduced to the main character, Clive Owen. Clive Owen first appears walking into the coffee shop alone, the audience realise that he, unlike all the other characters, is not interested in or upset by the news broadcast on Diego Ricardo’s death- this is seen as odd and unusual by the audience.

As an audience we again see London as a depressing and dangerous place when Clive Owen puts alcohol into his coffee, this has been done purposely by the director to show how Clive Owen is possibly depressed or stressed within the story line of the film.

The costumes worn by the characters within the opening sequence of ‘Children of men’ also convey the idea of London being dangerous and rather depressing. All character including Clive Owen are wearing rather dull and basic clothing. The character’s clothing matches the gloomy and seriously polluted setting of London in 2027.

It is very obvious to the audience that London is set in the future due to many significant factors. One of these factors is the improvement in technology; buses feature moving television adverts and there are motorised rickshaws. As well as this the pollution in the city has got significantly worse, so London now looks gloomy and dirty.

Within ‘Children of men’ the director Alfonso Cuaron uses numerous technical codes to improve the opening sequence of the film. One of these technical codes is how the first thing in which the audience sees when watching the beginning of the film is a blank screen with a voice over of a news broadcast being heard. This is a very clever technique as, due to the fact that the audience cannot see anything on-screen they pay attention to what is being said on the news broadcast- which was the directors aim.

Another technical code used is a sound bridge, the audience can hear the news broadcast at the beginning when there is nothing on screen and then the sound continues until we eventually see the news broadcast on the television in the coffee shop.

Other sounds used within the opening sequence include the noise of the transport on the London streets such as buses and cars- this is diagetic sound and is heard both inside and outside if the coffee shop.

‘Children of men’ the opening sequence also causes enigma for the audience, this is when the audience automatically question what is occurring within the film.  The director purposely makes the opening of the film confusing to both cause enigma and also to make the “curious” audience want to watch the rest of the film.  Questions that the audience typically ask when watching this opening are:  why are there no children?

Why is there an explosion in the coffee shop?  Why is Clive Owen not interested in Diego Ricardo’s death?  Obviously, all questions are answered throughout the whole film. 

The genre of the film is quite hard to identify when simply watching the opening sequence.  Throughout the opening scene there is iconography of horror, an example of this is when the explosion occurs and a female character walks out holding her own arm and is covered in blood.  There are also features, such as the explosion that make the audience think it is an action movie. 

The camera movement is also extremely important throughout the opening sequence of “Children of Men”.  The audience feel involved in the story when the camera follows Clive Owen in and out of the coffee shop.  It is important for the audience to be involved in the story so they know exactly what is going on.  Also, within the opening sequence the camera focuses on important small details to signify to the audience that these are worth remembering.  An example of this, is when the camera focuses upon Clive Owen pouring alcohol into his coffee cup. 

So, to conclude, the opening sequence of ‘Children of Men’ does use the typical forms and conventions of film openings; including technical codes and introducing the audience to the narrative of the film.  Personally, I thought the opening scene was extremely interesting and definitely made me intrigued to watch the rest of the film.