Film Opening Analysis

Action (Fast and Furious 7)

In the film opening for Fast and Furious 7, we begin with Universal Studios Ident, which is attended with deep slow bass tones, the mood changes into a more sinister passed level as it shows a few of the credits. This is then accompanied by a single establishing shot which allows us to see where the location of the film is taking place as well as text display at the bottom left hand corner of the screen it says “London England”. This Mise-en-scene shows a very urban city filled with people and life, it has a bright tone to it which gives the mood that everything is calm and normal. The weather is being shown as clear and sunny which would make the viewer feel eased and relaxed. The shot backs up from becoming an establishing shot to an over the shoulder shot. As the first character turns around wearing a rich suit as well as a rich long coat the mise-en-scene shows us that he is someone who has money and is financially stable. We see him talking, it isn’t until the camera pans out that we see that he is standing in a hospital room with someone lying down on a hospital bed. The mood drastically changes from being a calm surreal setting to a depressing scene as the music in the background changes to a slower deeper and longer theme this is a connotation of how a hospital scene or death scene are represented as a slow depressing scene in a film. The scene is filtered with a hazy blue tone in a way representing death and the coldness the character feels to see his brother lying on a hospital bed. The camera then pans in to a two shot close up on the character on the bed focusing on his scars and face then focusing onto the first character who is sitting beside him and goes into a mid- shot, all of this is done in a single take with no cuts. The music throughout this scene sounds like a slow dramatic violin creating a sense of disturbance in the scene.

Comedy (Deadpool)

The opening for this movie we see Marvels ident appear on screen accompanied by the song “Angel of the morning” by juice newton which is a calm settling song which creates the mood of peace and harmony as it is slow. The ident fades into black for a split second then the next scene is faded in still appearing pitch dark but zooming out of a car cigarette lighter zooming out to show a man lying on the floor screaming with a circular burn mark on his forehead. Credits are also being shown during this time. This shows the viewers that soundtrack dissonances is being used to create a sense of humour as well as create a sinister atmosphere, The entire scene is edited as the entire scene looks like it was taken in one singular shot it is slowly showing the viewers what his happening throughout this freeze frame by zooming out whilst it presents the opening credits, they use small things within the credits to create humour by referring to one of the actors as “GOD’S PERFECT IDIOT” as well as “A HOT CHICK” “A BRITISH VILLAIN” “A CGI CHARACTER” this shows how the credits in a way give away the story and it’s a comedic movie as it doesn’t create a serious tone even though the viewers are seeing death and destruction. The shot begins with a close up and leads out which jumps straight into the action and lets the viewer decide where the action is taking place because it doesn’t give a clear establishing shot of where this is happened until it gradually moves out to show that it is being taken place on a highway, the mise-en-scene in the movie shows us that it takes place in modern day time also showing how this is taking place in an urban area where the city is filled with life and people.