“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

Best. Quote. Ever. Just saying.

Anywayssss, I’m back with more insight to dramatic films.

After seeing different videos about film openings, with one of them being the Dark Knight, I started to come up with ideas for our own film opening. None of these will probably be finalized since my group hasn’t met up yet to discuss the sub genre we want to do. Tomorrow, during class, we will discuss that further.

I’ve been getting inspiration from various dramatic films. Some of the openings that stood out to me the most were La La Land’s opening, for its originality, Social Network’s, for its editing and shot compositions, and The King’s Speech because I love that movie and it’s amazing in every way possible, including the actors, the music, etc.

Starting with La La Land, the first time I watched it, I was really confused yet drawn into the scene mainly because of the music. All the different colors and dance moves fit the beat and theme of the film perfectly. The quick cuts make the scene much more exciting and upbeat. The cinematography as a whole is beautiful. All the openings I chose above had similar elements of editing that drew the audience in. While watching this opening, I tried to keep in mind that even though we can’t produce something this big and wild because of our budget, we can still use editing and camera shots to our advantage to make the opening more entertaining.

The Social Network’s opening is really complicated, and I’m not just talking about Jesse Eisenberg’s complicated dialogue. Even though the scene is only between two people, there is so much going on in this opening scene. The different shots: over the shoulder, pan, two shot, etc., all come into play in producing this scene. Also, to get Mark Zuckerberg’s personality exactly, they probably had to retake the shot over and over again. The dialogue and fast pacing of this scene is what makes it so remarkable. Unlike La La Land, there isn't much going on, but it’s still an award winning movie.

Lastly, The King’s Speech. This opening starts off with white letters on a black screen describing the year and the situation of the following opening scene. This is a great way to introduce the setting and the main conflict. By the end of the opening scene, the audience realizes that the Duke has a stutter problem, and by the looks of his “subjects,” this problem has been going on for a while and the movie will probably be about him and his speech impediment. This opening also uses great mise-en-scene to hint that this was during the 1920s because of the technology, devices, and wardrobe used.

All three different types of opening scenes showed me how important it is to set up the time frame and conflict, using mise-en-scene, editing, and camera shots in order to keep our audience intrigued and wanting more. I have no doubt that our low budget costs will be a problem, but I think we can overcome that easily. Hopefully. Stay tuned.

Until then, keep watching!

References:

Top 10 Opening Scenes in Movies [Video file]. (2014, May 22). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74BE-_jsEmc

Chazelle, D. (Director). (2017, February 22). La La Land [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teLFKKa7aqU

Fincher, D. (Director). (2013, November 6). The Social Network [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlXwTxpC6u0

Hooper, T. (Director). (2013, December 30). The King's Speech [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrdJqrKBwZ4