I have been enjoying the new BBC2 spy thriller London Spy and we can use it in addition to the case of the death of MI6 agent Gareth Williams (an article about the case can be found here) as inspiration for our film opening, in which a girl stumbles across a suspicious suitcase in a wood. London Spy further shows that the thriller is a popular genre as it pulled in 2.5 million viewers on its first episode.
We may be able to use some of the shots of the main character, Danny, discovering a suspicious chest in the attic as inspiration for shots in our film opening.
A slightly high angle, almost POV, shot of the chest
A mid shot of Danny's reaction
Close up of Danny reaching to open the chest
Most of the shots in this part of London Spy have a long duration, which really effectively builds suspense and tension, so this is something else we would want to make sure we included in our film opening.
Saul Bass was a designer who pioneered the opening title sequence. He is a good source of inspiration for opening titles but tended to create stand alone title sequences, rather than title sequences within the action, which is what we are looking to create with our film opening. An example of his work is below.
Yesterday we went to the British Film Institute to an AS Media study day during which we were able to analyse the content of film openings such as 'Casino Royale', 'Napoleon Dynamite' and 'Donnie Brasco'. We also took part in a Q&A with the director of horror film 'The Hallow', Corin Hardy. The whole day was very useful in highlighting what we needed to focus on from now on in terms of our film openings. All of the content from the day can be found on this website.
1. Name?
2. Age range?
3. Favourite film?
4. Favourite film genre?
5. Least favourite film genre?
6. Favourite film opening?
7. Thoughts on age certificates?
8. What 3 things do you look for in a film?
9. What do you like to experience when watching a film?
I used both video interviews, as shown above, and contacting them through Twitter to complete my research.
All those asked on Twitter were within the 18-25 age range and those asked in the video interviews were a wide range of ages.
In terms of genre for a film, majority of the market seems to like thriller or horror films (8 out of 14 asked) which fits well with the genre we originally pitched. In addition, those who didn't mention thriller films liked to experience tension and edge-of-your-seat moments when watching a film, which is something that we hoped to include in our film opening.
Protagonists were seen as important to those asked, including protagonists who were complex and not perfect people. We were thinking that our protagonist would play an important part in the opening, rather than many establishing shots of scenery so this helps to back up our idea.
10 out of the 14 asked said that they are hooked by an opening that did not reveal much of the plot, so that they were left wanting more, also, half of the people asked said that they liked an opening with nice cinematography otherwise they may find the opening boring and therefore not continue to watch the film.
One of the ideas we had in our 25 word pitch was that we would open with a long tracking shot of a character getting ready to and then leaving the house. Below are some examples I found of tracking shots.
The first is from a short film by Bertie Gilbert, 'Rocks That Bleed'. However, this tracking shot doesn't show the face of the character, which isn't what we would want to do in our film opening.
The next example is the film Birdman, which is filmed almost entirely through tracking shots.
The film Atonement also uses a very long tracking shot, following one character, which is exactly what we were thinking of doing for our opening.
This is the opening scene of The Usual Suspects, a 1995 film directed by Bryan Singer.
This was my first time watching this opening scene, as I haven't seen The Usual Suspects yet. My initial reaction was confusion because the film appears to begin with the ending.
Usually, I would think that this would not be a good way to open a film because of the inevitable spoilers, but I think that this film handles that well in that the beginning will only make sense at the end of the film, so the audience will have to watch the whole film to understand it.
However, I don't find myself caring for either of the characters, so I'm not invested in where their story is going, which I think is what you need in a film and in characters.
So, overall, I think it is an effective opening to a film, as it hooks the audience in because they want to be able to make sense of the opening. I think that must be why it is held in such high regard by the film industry as a whole.
My favourite film openings (in no particular order) are:
1. Pride (2014, Matthew Warchus)
Pride opens with archive footage from the miner's strikes of the 1980's and the song 'Solidarity Forever' playing behind it, this helps to set the scene of the film. In addition, within the opening 2 minutes, the main character, Mark Ashton, is introduced as a fun character, which gets the audience on his side from the start. The opening also sets the tone of the film well, as the solemnity of the miner's situation is countered by the optimism of Mark.
2. Shaun of the Dead (2004, Edgar Wright)
My next favourite film opening is Shaun of the Dead because it is an entertaining and humorous beginning to the film. The shots mirror those of other popular zombie films, such as Dawn of the Dead, however the people are not yet actually zombies, they're just living boring and repetitive lives.
3. Birdman (2014, Alejandro G. Iñárritu)
I really like the opening to Birdman because the first shot, after the opening credits is a wide shot of Riggan Thomson (Michael Keaton) and it seems to be on a tripod but then the camera starts to move to follow the action and follows the action seemingly without cuts for the entire film. This is really effective as it sets up the kind of cinematography that will be used for the rest of the film. The opening is also very still and calm and then the drums kick in and begin to build the tension that will only increase over the rest of the film. It is the calm before the storm.
4. The Social Network (2011, David Fincher)
The opening scene of The Social Network is a conversation between the main character and his girlfriend and is very fast-paced. I really like this opening scene because the dialogue flows so well and it is refreshing to have a film open with dialogue rather than big cinematic scenes. The effect of the opening is that the audience is plunged right into the fast pace that the film has, and it feels like you are being swept along by the very intelligent and quick thinking mind of Mark Zuckerburg.
5. Whiplash (2014, Damien Chazelle)
My final favourite opening scene to a film is the first scene of Whiplash. This is because
the first shot is a long wide shot, moving towards Miles Teller playing the drums. This long shot, with the fast drums in the background, builds the tension very nicely, and this tension is maintained throughout the entire film. In addition, J.K Simmons' character is introduced to the audience stepping out from the shadows, which already implies to the audience that he is an intimidating and threatening character.
