Research and Planning: Opening Sequences Now You See Me

Opening Sequences

Now You See Me:

At the beginning of this film the 4 main characters are introduced. They are all given different personalities and traits that make the audience recognise they are different people but they all have one thing in common so that the audience can tell that they are linked in some way. We have a group of burglars in our film but because our opening sequence is going to be around two minutes, we won't have time to give them different personalities. However, showing the burglars and the police in different places could make it clear that they are working against each other and that they are two different forces which would help to develop the story with a short amount of time.

The movement for this film seemed quite fast paced because the introduction to the characters doesn't take too long which is good because there isn't much time in our opening sequence. It was easy to learn about them through their different scenes because of the way they acted and their dialogue. Using a lot of dialogue in our sequence could be risky since the dialogue will emphasise any bad acting that we have. Relying more on editing would be safer.


The first character stares straight into the camera. This 'fourth wall' rule of film is broken because it looks like he's looking at the audience. The illusion of watching another story is gone and this fits well with the theme of the movie which is the reality (or non-existence) of magic. This also sets the film apart from others because it breaks the conventions of films in the first few seconds of it. The audience is invited to take part in the magic trick which draws them into the film even more because it feels almost interactive.

The second character is introduced in the same way as the first, staring into the camera except that a few seconds later, the audience finds out they are staring at a poster. The piercing blue eyes make them think that they are being pulled into the scene again, making them pay attention, but when they see that its a poster they are thrown back into their position as an audience again. This plays mind games with them and further reinforces the theme of reality and fantasy.

Research and Planning: Opening Sequences Se7en

Opening Sequences

Se7en:

The opening scene for 'Se7en' starts with a bang (almost like a gunshot) and a black screen. This seems significant because it shows right from the start that the movie will include something dangerous and it foreshadows murder. 

There is an even louder bang when the first shot appears of someone opening a book. This is an indicator that the person (whose face is never shown) is to blame for all of the chaos that will happen during the film. The sound effect probably won't be used in ours because of its dark and chilling effect, and ours is more action than horror.

The shots used are a disorganised compilation of things that the character is doing. The audience can't tell any information from this except that the character might be crazed because of the disturbing images shown in whatever scrapbook he is making. 

There are certain close ups (of hands with a razor, a lot of writing) that make it hard to see what all of it means, which could be representative of the crime genre and that detectives have to piece together whatever evidence they have to solve the crime. This could be useful for our film because of our genre but instead of unrelated and random shots we could put together shots that flow together to tell the story e.g. Burglars planning an escape route.

The music is made up of lots of distorted single sound effects with the steady drum beat and sizzling sound accompanying it. The sounds make the atmosphere quite intense and creepy because it's all unorganised. This keeps the audience tense and anticipating something popping out because things are usually calm before a jump scare in thrillers and horrors.

Research and Planning: Opening Sequences Fast and Furious 6

Opening Sequences

Fast and Furious 6:

The first line of this movie is "Let's go for a little ride". This is obviously an iconic line from the first Fast and Furious movie. A huge amount of the audience for this film would be people who are fans of the franchise. This was movie has been hugely anticipated since the last sequel and the makers of the film knew this so they compiled a selection of clips from the previous movies and pieced together an opening. This would call the audience's attention because they are encouraged to look back at all of the characters' ventures and mishaps over the years.

Within this opening montage, the audience gets to relive the characters' journeys from past to present, including how we met them and how they formed their friendships with the group. Someone who has watched all of the films would be able to make sense of the way that the characters are introduced but those who haven't would still be entertained because there is still a sufficient amount of action, car chases and guns (always expected as codes and conventions of the crime-action genre).

The titles for the opening appear in a metallic font and zoom across the screen, slowing only enough to be read for about 3 seconds maximum  before it zooms off screen again. This could be representing the ever-present customised cars in the film and their speedy car chases and races, but the font style could also be linked to a gun or a bullet whizzing across the screen because of the crime in the film.

All of the clips used have been given a colour filter effect, a blurred edges effect or been blurred. This communicates to the audience that the action isn't happening now and makes it look almost dream-like so that it looks like the past. The blurred edges effect could suggest that we are looking through a hole to these memories, maybe even the memory of one of the characters.

The song that accompanies the sequence (We Own It by 2Chainz & Wiz Khalifa) is a hip hop song and as well as connoting anger and trouble which are tones set in the film, it was also recorded by two famous rap artists and so some of the audience would recognise this and pay attention to the screen or possibly sing with it.