THE DARK KNIGHT- ACTION

 

The Dark Knights’, directed by the prolific Christopher Nolan and written by Jonathan and Christopher Nolan, opening sequence skillfully depicts the genres action and invites the suggestion of the rest of the films violent and extreme nature, all of which is obtained through this beginning scene.  

Starting with a long shot centering the back of a character standing waiting along the side of a busy road, holding what appears to be a Halloween mask and a duffel bag, instantly inflicts stereotypical robbery props on the audience. This instant shot at the start invokes the theme of danger and crime for the audience which is then established through the quick and eerie tempo of the non-diegetic soundtrack, and as the scene progresses this tempo is increased along with sporadic drumming to invoke the intensity of the scene.  

We are quickly introduced to the characters new location in a shot transition as we follow this character, and this time all of the characters are masked hiding their identities which establishes the robbery event about to take place from their costumes, as they are dressed in all black and the diegetic dialogue of their conversation about ‘splitting’ the cash establishes the monetary ambitions of the robbery. The immediate and growing tone is anticipating and preparing for the event which is expressed using the fast tempo of shot duration and the shot reverse shot between the characters, following their conversation which is focused on the event. Another example of this building intensity comes from the dangerous element of the event through the establishing, low shot on the height at which the characters are scaling to get from one building to another which I can infer reaches the target audience from the action-based impact from this shot in relation to the previous shots so far.  

Another key entailment from this sequence in relation to the predictions for the rest of the plot comes from the diegetic dialogue at which the characters converse about ‘the joker’ which is linked through a cross-cut from one location to another between two separate groups of robbers as they ‘prepare’ for the event; this is evident as it suggests to the audience of the strong significance that this unknown character brings to the plot and specifically his relation in ultimately controlling this robbery.  

The use of guns also establishes the dangerous element of each of these characters along with the final location of a bank which further demonstrates the intention of the scene, finalizing the anticipating tone of previous shots. We know from this scene that the target audience is influenced from the action and dangerous element which is also established through the use of pleonastic sound effects of shooting and screams which depict the high intensity element of this event and the fear at which these characters are causing. The audiences focused is threading in and out of differing locations of the characters as they ‘complete’ their robbery, suspending the audience's engagement through the variety and also confirms the well planned out nature of the robbery.  

A twist is added as the robbers deceit each other and gradually shoot one another, confirming through dialogue to the audience that it was the ‘bosses’ orders, and when we finally get to our focus on the last living robber, we soon find out it is the mentioned ‘Joker’ remaining; this establishes the notion of his significance as the main ‘villain’ of the plot which skillfully invokes his importance which aids audiences predictions of the films narrative. 

This opening sequence successfully incorporates the notion of danger and engages its target audience in reaching high intensity action moments throughout the first 5 minutes of the scene, developing the plot with the establishment of the main villain and also imposing this character's characteristics and traits of slyness, violence and his calculating agenda.  

MIDSOMMER - HORROR

 

An A24 pictures, ‘Midsommar’, written and directed by Ari Aster who is well renowned for the award winning ‘Hereditary’ opens this narrative with an extremely unsettling suicide causing unbearable devastation, reflecting on a dark and eerie tone in this opening titles sequence.

Firstly, my own first expectation from the very beginning is that of death; from the very start, the audience is met with very symbolic characters and colors that represent something awful has taken place through the use of the firemen and the very ominous colors of blue and red that instantly are associated with tragedy and even death. The beginning shows a slow motion of two firemen each seemingly turning off the engine of two separate cars, instantly revealing the idea that there has been an accident with a gas leak perhaps from the association from their uniforms in relation to their actions, which I further exemplified through the eerie non-diegetic soundtrack playing simultaneously to the action that is taking place. All of this combined just within the first few seconds instantly introduces an extremely dark and sinister tone that is further extended through the elongated duration of the continuously moving camera shot which later reveals the first two distinguishable characters positioned ‘asleep’ in bed, yet the presence of the two firemen approaching the sleeping couple met the audiences expectations of their tragic death which is further established through the next clip of their grotesque bodies being zipped up in a body bag which again settles the nerving and ominous mood of this clip.

This journey we as an audience are being taken on through the experience of the firemen is further explored as they venture through the house as the mid shot begins our focus of the body bags being carried out, to the third distinguishable character being introduced. Positioned central to the long shot and placed on the floor leaning against a desk containing an open laptop on, it soon becomes clear that It is this character's actions that primarily lead up to the event at which we are following although we are unsure over the circumstances and context, making it slightly difficult to captivate our engagement due to our momentary confusion of the situation. However, as the slow, eerie track zooming into an extreme close up of this character, we soon realize the intentional decision of these deaths which hugely amplifies audiences' empathy for the situation and its dark nature. The dim and cold colors of this scene further mirror the sinister nature of this event, which again connotes the prediction we as an audience have for the expansion of this event to gain more understanding and knowledge of the context leading up to the numerous deaths already which also poses to question of this opening scene as being either a flash back or flash forward. 

Our focus is then shifted from the unpleasant image of this character's expressionless face to a computer screen focusing in on a notification reading from ‘Dani Ardor’ which links through into the next scene of a man walking through the snow as he approaches a diegetic moaning like scream which again threads through into the next scene of this same man comforting the screams owner on a sofa. This telling of heart felt pain and emotion coming from the pleonastic moan of the final character creates the prediction of her close relation to the deaths already examined previously. This diegetic moaning intertwined with the non-diegetic eerie soundtrack works to unsettle the audience and morph my own predictions onto the focus of this character as opposed to our previous focus on the dead bodies. As the camera slowly pans towards the characters, they stay vocal in our focus positioned central to the shot with many symmetrical methods and thus making this end scene so prominent in unnerving audiences through this witness of an inconsolable breakdown.

This switch in location from the first house to outside snowing and finally to another house embodies the notion that each of these locations and their owners are connected on a personal level somehow and the major event from the first location evidently impacted the characters in the next locations, which began to develop audience members engagement through the gradual hints of connections that we are skillfully given.  

The seriously distressing nature of each of these shots into the final and most prominent shot filmed slowly zooming into an abyss of snow and darkness outside of the window, as the camera almost completely ignores the unsettling scene. We are next introduced to the opening titles of the director and the cast members:

I felt this opening title sequence was extremely successful in engaging an audience in an unconventional way; as an audience member, my engagement was clasped throughout the sequence purely through the distressing nature of each of these shots which I found quite suffocating for an ‘outsider’ witness looking into the most distressing and awful moment anyone could go through, almost an intrusion of these characters privacy due to the unconventional nature of the camera movement and angles.  

1917-WAR

The film 1917, a prolific war film produced by ‘DreamWorks Pictures’ and directed by the critically acclaimed Sam Mendes, well known for his directing of ‘Skyfall. 

 The first shot instantly draws the audience into the idyllic location with an establishing shot of a dusky field, somewhat in the early afternoon extending the calming atmosphere out as the track slowly pans back as the meadow softly blows in the wind, accompanied by soft gentle ambient soundtrack. This starting shot suppresses the expectations of a War-like atmosphere. We soon met with two soldiers, one napping and another resting by a tree again further extending the halcyon atmosphere already created by the natural setting location. As the scene progresses, we are next introduced with some dialogue amongst the soldiers, the low mood of the conversation introduces the darker tone of this film which is further established through the audiences understanding of history especially with the obvious war attire of the characters.  

 The continuous shot gradually reveals the actual setting of the characters, revealing more and more soldiers sprawled around the surrounding areas; the low levels and energy of the other characters stimulate the prediction that they are drained physically and mentally from their previous experiences or on the other hand could suggest an anticipating tone of the arrival of enemy troops. Our primary focus from the beginning of the shot has been directed purely on the two characters walking, and as the scene develops this focus remains prominent, thus suggesting their significance within the whole plot as the protagonists.  The characters surroundings are constantly meeting the audiences' expectations as they venture further into abyss of the war zone setting, and we are constantly being given more and more details that symbolize the effects of war; for example, the inhumane conditions of the washing stations and the pegged line of clothes hanging up in obviously damp conditions.   

Another key expectation is soon met as the two protagonists enter the prolific war trenches which again sets the tone of this expectation of conflict and violence through the symbolic representation of these tunnels; this also poses the idea that they are very near, if not at the centre of the foreboding conflict suggestive of the anticipating tone set from the beginning. This is soon appeased through the characters' sudden uncertainty of his surroundings, stimulated by the pleonastic sound of boots running and the diegetic dialogue of shouting, an uneasy tone is introduced for the audience and thus suggesting conflict is nearing. 

 

A casual conversational dialogue begins, with a new character being introduced, this time at a clearly higher status and bringing a new ‘idea’ to the plot of this opening sequence as the cameras point of view changes from Infront of the characters to behind them leaving only a behind perspective of one of the original character and the higher status character. This could be suggestive of the characters later significance within the plot as they are being physically taken to another location which we are told through the third characters dialogue as a meeting with the ‘generals’ which instantly confirms the protagonist's status predicted from the beginning shot of the two characters alone in the seemingly idyllic surroundings. 

My own predictions from the opening shot alone feature a journey that we as an audience will follow of the two protagonists in their individual experience of the war and perhaps the relationships formed between them through the horrors that war brings.  The simplistic yet effective shot camera angles and the consistency of the shot duration and movement brings a calming yet almost eeriness to the scene, again reacting with the dialogue and individual decisions from the characters movements create an anticipating atmosphere and sets up the almost calm before the storm type tone; I felt this opening was extremely powerful through unbroken shot navigating the beginning of an experience. In presenting the genre of ‘War’, this shot simply embedded a simple perspective to what war was like through the setting, costume and environment that was explored through the shot and even the disheartening reality at which the soldiers had to endure. I also felt this opening shot offered a single perspective to the experience of war and that of a ‘waiting game’ yet it also set up the predictions of the darker aspects of war that I feel will be presented later in this film. 

The opening of this sequence actively worked to engage the audience's attention and to begin to build a predictable narrative of the plot gradually as the shot reveals more and more of the characters, their surroundings, the foretelling tone, and finally the mystery of their purpose from the expectation of a higher status; the continuous duration of the shot achieved this gradual decline into the ‘world’ of the characters starting with the calming breeze of a hazy meadow all the way to the suffocating, cramped and muddy trenches that symbolize the apotome of war. This juxtaposition from the beginning to the end locations successfully engages the audience in its reflection of humanities decent from war which brilliantly complements the aim of this opening sequence to introduce this idea and perspective of war.