R&P Post 1: Researching Our Film Genre and Opening Scenes

Hey there! Welcome to the beginning of my research for my groups' film project. In my next series of Research and Planning (R&P) posts I will be posting information and details about my own and our groups' research into our film project for the G321 unit. I hope you find it interesting, enjoy!

Research:
As a group, we have decided to go with the genre of a sports/drama film for our project. So I kicked off my research by watching the trailers of various different sports/drama films in order to get a sense of what film features this genre include. The movies I looked at include: 

• Creed (2015)
• Snitch (2013)
• Southpaw (2015)
• Warrior (2011)
• Hands of Stone (2016)

                           Examples of the film posters of some of these films

After this the next step was to concentrate on the aspects of these films' opening scenes (as our project for this unit is to create the first two minutes of the opening scene of a feature film). Generally what I found was that most of these movies start off rather calm and quietly but they begin to build up in tension and drama relatively quickly. This is what we need to do in our film so that we can catch our audiences' attention from the beginning.

Here are some specific examples of the opening scenes of drama/sports films:

• Creed- starts with wide shot to establish the setting and then the camera tracks to a scene of action where a fight has broken out. This rapid increase in drama draws the audience into the film from the start. 
• Warrior- opens with two characters meeting each other again after 14 years and the audience hears about some of the history between them. Again, this is an example of a slower build-up in tension to keep the audience on the edges of their seats. 
• Southpaw- starts with black screen showing titles with music building up (as diegetic sound) and then cuts to the scene which shows someone attending to the boxer (main character), music continues to boom and then becomes quieter and changes to non-diegetic sound as it is made clear to the audience that this sound is coming from the boxers' headphones. This particular opening scene has a slightly more gradual build-up in suspense which puts the audience on edge and makes them wonder what they are about to see. You can watch this opening scene here:

As well as studying the opening scenes of films within our chosen genre,  we also had to research opening scenes from general films. Here is what I found out:

• One example of an opening scene that really grabs the audience's attention is The Matrix (1999). The opening scene of this film is full of action which immediately draws the audience into the movie. You can watch the slightly shortened version of the opening scene of The Matrix here:

• The ending of this version of this film's opening sequence leaves the audience on the edge of their seats as it ends with one of the characters about to be arrested. This is very tense and dramatic moment and by having this action take place at the very beginning of the movie, it catches the audience's interest right from the start. When we come to make our own opening sequence, this is what our group needs to do: we need to capture the interest and attention of the audience from the very beginning. 

• Another interesting example of an opening sequence is Whiplash (2014). This film opens with a black screen with a simple drum pattern playing in the background which gradually builds up until it stops. At this point it then cuts to footage of the main character of the movie playing the drums, allowing the audience to see who exactly is behind this noise. The effect of using a black screen with music building up in the background is that it makes the scene much more dramatic, grabbing the audience's attention from the very beginning.

• Once the opening scene actually starts, it firstly shows a long hallway and at the end of this you are able to see the main character behind a drum kit in a wide, establishing shot. When he begins to play again, the camera starts to track towards the character which shows how this film quite literally pulls the audience into its footage. For example, the first shot that the audience sees is this:

• This shot establishes the setting and shows the audience what is taking place in the scene. Then once the character begins to play again the camera gets closer and closer towards him until it reaches this point:

• Once the camera reaches this point the drummer stops playing when he sees that another character has entered the scene. The music/noise of this opening sequence really builds up the suspension which keeps the audience on the edge of their seats throughout the sequence. However, when the drummer then stops playing and another character is introduced to the audience it makes it a little more interesting for them and also provides them with some context, evening out the tension that had been previously built up in the scene. When it comes to creating our own opening sequence our group should definitely aim to do a similar thing to Whiplash because it immediately grabs the audience's attention from the very start of the film but it also then gives them an insight into the story of the film, making them want to watch more and find out what happens.

You can watch the opening sequence of Whiplash here:

• Thirdly, Fight Club (1999) also has an exciting and attention-grabbing opening sequence. For the first half of this opening sequence the titles show on screen whilst travelling through what appears to be the character's brain. Towards the end of the title sequence the camera then travels out of the brain and then goes onto the surface of his skin, lastly traveling along the gun barrel that is being pointed in the character's mouth. Once this series of extreme close-up shots has finished, the audience is shown a close-up shot which shows one character pointing a gun into another character's mouth:

    This:

    goes to this: 

• This makes the opening scene of  Fight Club very dramatic and intense for the audience. By having an opening scene with this level of drama and tension immediately catches the audience's attention and they are fully focused on the film. Again, this is what we need to do when it comes to making our own opening sequence: we need to grab the audience's attention right from the beginning. 

In conclusion, what I have learnt from this research is what an opening scene need to do is not only catch the audience's attention but also their interest. They need to actually be interested in the film for them to pay attention to it. The way in which our group will achieve this is by having an opening scene which contains action and a certain element of drama/suspension but we will not make it too dramatic because we want to build up to this, gradually building up the tension of the film as it plays on screen. Additionally, in terms of creating a successful opening scene for a drama/sports film, our group will again have to have a scene of action within our opening sequence and grab the audience's attention by having a particular level of drama within the sequence.