Film Openings

American Beauty: I really like the introduction to this film (not very first bit, but when the narrative of Lester Burnham takes over). The information given to the audience about himself, which is written after the scene that is shown with the narrative tells us what is going to happen vaguely, but keeps our interest in him, because we want to find out why.

Amelie: The introduction to this film is seemingly unrelated or random in context to the film, which captures our attention. It is simple but effective, with the fast voice telling us of unrelated incidents throughout France, such as stories of a few people/ things. The old-style camerawork and simple music work really well, giving it a different style, which is good when capturing an audience. The second part of the opening sequence shows Amelie just being young, without any props of much detail, which is amusing and captivating. The muted colours and occasional effect such as a flare and purposely shaken camera are effective too. There is no speech when focussed on Amelie.

Pan's Labyrinth: The start of this has no visuals, only breath and a hummed lullaby, which is very effective as it makes us concentrate on what's going on. The first voice we hear tells us a story, but we don't see the voice, only a girl and the pictures attached to the story, which again is different, and so interesting and effective.

Billy Elliot: The opening is very simple and effective; it sets the scene of the film, and who it is based around, but doesn't really give us any information about the plot or characters. This works because it lets us focus on the boy jumping, and we don't get given too much information at once which could potentially mean the audience lose interest.

Matilda: The start of Matilda also starts very simply, with an image of a baby and narrative over the top. The audience then are introduced to the baby's parents, who are very unlikeable characters; by giving the audience characters to dislike, the audience are interested, because by forming an opinon they are getting involved. There is also an element of feel-good when Matilda is making pancakes, and I think this sort of scene would work as an opening. The narrative continues some way into the film, giving the audience an idea of the background of the film.

In light of these introductions, I have decided to keep my introduction very simple, without much information or too much visual impact (such as fight or action scenes), because none of the above introductions give away much of the plot, which I believe makes them good introductions, as they only open the film, and don't dictate what is going to happen in the rest of the film in too much detail. I would like to use narrative in my opening, as it's a technique that I have seen works, and I'd also like to keep the visuals minimal, perhaps only having one or two shots alongside the narrative. On the other hand, I really like the beginning to Amelie, and Billy Elliot, where we see a character having fun effectively, with only music in the background and no speech. Either way, I plan for the opening to be fairly simple, which will also ensure that it does not become a film trailer as some openings do.