Previous Students' Opening Sequences

Innocence


One thing that I found particularly interesting with this sequence was the choice of non-diegetic sound/music. The song that was chosen probably normally isn't so creepy, but for some reason in this groups opening, it works really well. Maybe its the version of the song they chose, or maybe its the whole scenario that goes with the song that makes it so creepy... either way, I think it worked quite well.
The style of titles that they used was very effective as well, I thought, since they went for a look that was very similar to those typical anonymous notes (made from individual letters cut out from newspapers/magazines) that characters receive in thriller films. I thought that the title screens/credits were also really good at setting up what was to come in the rest of the film, since those sorts of anonymous notes are often sent in kidnap films, so it seemed likely that they would feature prominently in the rest of the film.
Enigma was used in the first minute(ish) of the sequence, there were lots of shots of hands or feet or character's backs. So for quite a while you can't really tell who the characters are. You can see that one of them is a little girl, mainly because of her height and teddy bear. But apart from that, we don't really find out much about any of the characters until a bit later on.
The very first shot (close up/big close up of a white teddy bear) was very good at representing some of the themes that seem like they will feature prominently in the film. Teddy bears connote innocence (which, is also the film's title) and are also associated with children. The teddy bear was white and white is a signifier of purity. All of these themes (purity, innocence, children) seem like they will appear a lot during the course of the film.
The use of a 'missing' poster was also effective in foreshadowing events that will take place later in the film. At first, the poster seems slightly irrelevant, but then as the opening sequence goes on, the audience then begin to understand just how relevant it really is.

Exposure


The continuity in this opening sequence was very well done. Rules like the 180 degree rule were followed, and there were some good uses of matched cuts/matches on action. Shot/reverse shot was used when the male character goes to open a door, and then we see things from the other side of the door.
The camerawork in this sequence was generally very good but a few shots stood out to me, since I thought they were particularly well done:
~ The shot looking into a an opened drawer - the camera panned quickly from the left side, to the right side and then back to the left side. This quick movement showed that the shot must have been a point of view shot, from the male character's point of view. You can tell this because the male character seemed quite panicked and was rushing and the quick pan helped to convey the sense of panic/rush.
~The low level tracking shot of the male character's feet slowly walking along a corridor - I really like these kinds of shots. I think they're great at creating anticipation since the audience begin to wonder what he's walking towards.
~ The shot from inside a room where we see the door opening - when the character first opens the door, the room is totally dark and the audience can barely even see his shadow, then he switches the light on and the sequence goes from being black and white (as it was previously) to being in colour. I thought this was very effective in showing the contrast between that room (with the pictures stuck all over the walls) and the rest of the rooms in the house.
Low-key lighting appears to have been used, which is very effective for a thriller opening (as well as thrillers in general).
The film's credits were super-imposed over the scene. I thought this was very effective since it didn't break up the film too much, and allowed the action to continue at a fairly fast pace (well, for the beginning part of the sequence, at least).
I thought that the film's title screen was really very good. The font was well chosen, and I thought the effect that they used (with the flash and then the screen/text becoming negative) was very effective in showing that cameras/pictures will be important during the course of the film.


Wanted


I thought that it was very interesting how this group had so many actors in their opening sequence. I think that the finished product works quite well, but having so many actors is something that I really really don't want to do because I think it would end up being far too complicated and hard to organise.
The mise-en-scene works really well too. Particularly the dress codes and lighting. The black costumes are very effective in conveying the 'underground' world that is being presented to the audience. Similarly, the low lighting helped to connote that 'underground' theme. Also, the character's action codes (smoking, gambling, drug preparation etc.) show that the film will be about these 'underground' type characters.
I thought that the music was also well chosen and was well-suited to the themes that were being represented.
The sequence featured cross-cutting, which worked very well since it set up the final meeting between those 5 characters and also showed how they came to that point in the first place. Lots of fades and one or two fade to blacks were used and this slowed things down a bit, but not in a bad/boring way.
We were shown a few different events taking place (all of which lead up to that final meeting) and in between these events were were the title screens were put. The titles were on black screens with white text, which could possibly have been used to try and represent the contrasting good and evil that the audience will encounter during the course of the film.

Under the Gun


I thought the camera work in this sequence was very effective, as it quickly showed us who's side we were meant to be on and which characters we're meant to sympathise with. The first few shots were out of focus, and it's soon made apparent (by something that the main male character says) that we are seeing things from a female character's point of view, and she has just been regaining consciousness (which is why the first few shots were blurry). Quite a few of the shots seemed to be from that female character's point of view, so the audience begins to sympathise with her. Low angle, point of view shots of the male character were used to make him appear to be intimidating/threatening. One shot which I found particularly interesting was one of the female character, where her face was partly in shadow. This connotes a murky past, which was further confirmed when she said "I'm not a part of this anymore" ("anymore" being the operative part).
A lot of fade to blacks and fade from blacks were used, and this made the opening quite slow in pace. But this still worked very well since their opening seems to be much more character-driven than action-packed.

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I noticed that most of these opening sequence had very little (if any) dialogue. I can see why these groups had to do this, and I think that for my own thriller not having too much dialogue could be a good idea, since a lot of dialogue can complicate things when shooting. But I suppose, since we have better sound equipment this year than in previous years, it may not be so bad. But still, I don't think I want to put too much dialogue in my thriller opening. I think having a bit of dialogue is fine, and probably a good idea, but not too much.

Most of the openings weren't really very fast paced, and I think that would be a good idea for my thriller opening too, since having a film opening being too fast paced can be extremely confusing for the audience. Having a slower pace can also build up to a final event (or something similar) really well.

All of the opening sequences had a range of shot types, with shots being taken from different angles and levels. I think that this is extremely important for my own opening sequence since having a range of shots makes sure that the audience don't get bored.

Most of the opening sequences also had quite low [artificial] lighting, which was very effective since it helped to create lots of shadows and a very thriller-esque atmosphere. I think that low lighting would be good to use in my own thriller opening, but I can see how getting the lighting just right could also become a problem.

The majority of the opening sequences only had 1-4 characters in them, and I think that this is probably the best way to go about things, since it ensures that you won't end up complicating things by trying to organise shooting times for a large number of actors.

So, overall I think that looking at previous students' opening sequences was very helpful and enabled me to find out what works and doesn't work both when shooting and with the end result.