Film Opening Sequence

LITTLE MAN (OPENING SEQUENCE)

Little Man is a 2006 American comedy film, directed by Keenen  Ivory Wayans. It stars Marlon Wayans, Shawn  Wayans, Kerry Washington, and Tracy Morgan. The movie opens with a Non-diagetic sound (Lloyd Banks: my house) playing at the background which accompanies the title of the film as it is appears to us on the screen. 


The film leads on to an establishing/wide shot of the prison which is the setting of the first scene, which appears to us to be a dangerous place and a big prison for grownups, as we can see electric fences all over the tall walls and police men at the top of the building with guns in their hands. 

As the movie continues the non- diagetic music cuts and a diagetic sound is introduced, we hear a man’s voice counting as the camera still shows us the wide view of the prison, the camera then cuts to a close up of the first character (Marlon Wayans) who appears to be the main character Little man, showing his facial expressions, the sweat dripping down his face as he struggles to exercise/count. The director now decided to free our minds from the suspense and let us in into the comedy world, as we can see a cross cutting between little man and his jail mate, where by little man ask his jail mate to help him count, this scene shows us that little man is in control and has power over his jail mate who appears to be a weak and frightened by little man as we can see him shuddering whiles the main character shouts at him to count lauder.

As the two characters indulge themselves into a counting exchange, mid shot of a police man behind little man bars intervene their counting exchange, and gives little man the good news that his going home, without hesitating little stops his exercising and a low angle shot of the two police men opening the bars to let him out. The camera pans behind the shoulders of the two police men following their movement as they walk through a low key lighting long corridor, the dim lighting  in the corridor and the non-diagetic sound of a programmed acoustic beat  creates a sinister mood, as we can see other characters behind bars, screwing the police men.

Whiles the programmed acoustic beat is still playing at the background, a police man shouts to his partner to open the gate, birds –eye-view shot which is also known as high angle shot of the gate appears, as the gate opens we can see two police men standing opposite each other and another police man at the top of the building pointing his gun downwards little man as he makes his way to the gate, this links to the fact that little man is a dangerous person who needs  eyes to be kept on him. The director tries to catch the audience attention by adding effects, which is little mans shadow making him look like a tall and big man, again the director tries to deceive our minds into thinking that little man is actually a tall person by adding the extra effect of little mans shadow as he walks towards the gate. As the camera pans downwards we can see little mans shadow which makes us think that he is a tall person, but once the long shot of little mans image appears on the screen, we understand the reason why the director decided to title this movie LITTLE MAN.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJpDm9RvJQA
Little Man opening sequence : 

KEITH : OPENING SEQUENCE

Keith is an independent drama film directed by Todd Kessler, with stars actor/actress and pop star Jesse Mc Cartney, Elisabeth Harnois, and Margo Harshman.

The storyline is based around a popular 17-year-old high school senior, Natalie, who thinks she has got life sorted out, until she meets Keith Zetterstrom, portrayed by Jesse McCartney. Natalie is at first irritated by her new chemistry class lab partner, but she finally falls for him and discovers that Keith is hiding a secret with tragic results.

The movie opens with a crane shot, as the frame moves upwards to a close up shot showing us the front and sides of a truck and the tires moving in a slow motion effect, as the title of the film is introduced. As the truck is moving, a close up shot of a girl lying down at the back of the truck with her hair widely spreaded out , her eyes open, showing her unhappy and depressed facial expression, leading on into a high angle shot of the girl lying down without moving, a second person  may think that the girl is dead looking at her laying downs stable without glinting her eyes or moving any part of her body, this keeps the audience in anxiety wondering what a girl would be doing at the back of the truck at that time of the night.

 The director creates a dread atmosphere in this scene by adding the slow motion effect as the car moves, the opening song (Tree Adams – Open road), which is a mixed violin, piano, and guitar slow song which helped to set the mood. Although the scene was shot at night time, the director added a low key lighting, creating a sinister mood and making it a little difficult to identify the colour of the truck and the setting of the scene.

The film cuts into a black screen, and then it re-opens with a close up shot of a beeping alarm waking up the first character in the scene with an extreme close up shot of her eyes. As she gets ready for school a Non-disagetic sound of a base guitar is being played throughout the scene, we can hear it playing as Elizabeth indulges herself in a tennis past time, as a close up shot of her crossing out something from her book, walking through the school corridor in a mid shot, and an extreme close up shot as she takes her test in the class.

Elizabeth appears to be solitary person who doesn’t interact with people, as we see her walking down the corridor by herself,  without interacting with anyone walking pass her, this can link to first scene whereby Elizabeth lies down at the back of a truck as its moving to a deep cliff, also her facial expression at the back of the truck and her facial expression as she walks alone in the corridor doesn’t change much, one may think that Elizabeth was trying to murder her self, due to the fact that she is isolated, depressed and pressured.

As the film continues a full shot of Elizabeth isolated from everyone else watching the boys play football, we see a sly show of emotions in her face as she watches one of the boys, this can mean that there is something going on between her and the boy or she has a sly crush on the boy without the boy being aware. Finally the Non-diagetic sound cuts and new characters are introduced in the scene. 

LIFE AS WE KNOW IT (OPENINING SEQUENCE)

Life as We Know It is a 2010 romantic comedy-drama film directed by Greg Berlanti, starring Katherine Hail and Josh Duhamel.

 The movie opens with several consecutive Fast cuts of a brief duration in this short opening sequence showing us the different camera shots of a woman as we see her jumping from one action to the other.

 Starting with a Non-Diagetic music (Amy Winehouse –Uno I’m not good) playing throughout the opening sequence which accompanies the movie as a over the shoulder shot of a woman who appears to be one of the main characters (Katherine Hail) standing in front of a wardrobe going through her clothes, and a fast cut of her picking a black dress, to a close up shot of her zipping up the chosen dress.

 A medium shot of Katherine Hail sitting down in her glamorous dress whiles scrawling throughout a magazine, as the camera pans from her feet to her legs linking to a cross cutting showing a close up shot of her inserting her feet in her glamorous red high heels then back to the scene where she is sitting down again but this time scrolling down the magazine whiles batting her fingers against the magazine, this could mean that Katherine is awaiting for her date/business partner or who so ever.. And the person is delaying.  

This scene keeps the audience in anticipation wondering who she might be waiting for or the reason why she is getting ready? linking to the fact that the film cuts to her standing in front of a mirror as the camera pans from her neck to a extreme close up shot of her lips as she puts on a hot red lip pencil,  then the camera cuts back showing us her red shoe hanging in the air leading to a long /establishing shot  of Katherine sitting down in a sofa in her living room, also showing us the mise en scene of Katherine’s living room which appears to be very neat as we the objects( the little table, the sofa, etc..) all placed in the right places.

Low Key Lighting is used throughout the opening sequence which sets the mood of a romantic night, as we see the main light is turned off, and the only lights that appear in the scene are the 4 lights in her living room, one may end up concluding that Katherine is awaiting for her date to arrive looking at her dress code and the dim light in her living room. As the movie continues we find out that Katherine was waiting for her date, but unfortunately he arrives one hour late