TB: Analysing opening sequences

     
'Memento' (Nolan, 2000)

Genre

• This film is a psychological thriller
• The audience would be expecting the opening scene to slightly break conventions due to the psychological nature. However 'Memento' goes even further by playing the opening backwards.
• The opening does conform on the whole to the conventions of the genre, but does add its own twist to make the viewer think to keep up with the convoluted plot.

Film Language

• The mise-en-scene is what tells the audience that the events are happening in reverse. The polariod picture itself shows the scene of a crime, a murder which immediately establishes the genre as violence is something common in thrillers.
• The framing of shots is nearly entirely close-ups throughout the clip. This gives it a claustrophobic and intense atmosphere. It also illustrates the significance of every object the camera falls on.
• There is some slow, sombre music being played at the start of the clip. This is non-diagetic sound and gives the effect that something important has just taken place. It also makes the audience empathize with the protagonist as we feel like we have been with him for a long time.
• From the non-verbal language we can learn that our protagonist is very much in control in this opening. He looks calm and steady, which gives the impression that he is doing something neccessary, when under any normal circumstances he would appear to be the villain, just from viewing this opening.
• After the immediate opening, the colous goes and it begins to be shot in black and white, this is to show that it is a different time period, as well to express the blankness of his memory.

'A Clockwork Orange' (Kubrick, 1971)

Narrative

• The narrative is organised in a linear format, beginning at stage 1 out of 5 of literary plot development. The plot begins at a state of equilibrium for the characters.
• The audience is positioned at the start of the narrative although we understand that the acts carried out by the protagonist have been going on for some time.
• The close up the start is a technique of identification, as well as the audience viewing the protagonist 'Alex' in an evironment in which he is clearly confortable. He is also given prevalence through the dialogue as it is him speaking from his point of view. The fact that the camera pulls back and away from the group is an alienation technique used.
• Some of the themes in the opening sequence are friendship and teenage life all set within a futuristic dystopian society.
• The tension is created and maintained by the futuristic and eerie music composed by Wendy Carlos (credited as Walter Carlos). As well as the dialogue as 'Alex' is suggesting that the group are going to go and committ crime in a short while.

Representation and Ideology

• The only social group represented within this opening is a group of delinquent teens. They are represented as both charismatic and dangerous. It is hard to say if they fit in with the rest of their society as the audience is not familiar with the norms as it is a futuristic environment.
• From the dialogue we can infer that our protagonist is highly immoral, and his values and believes are based on hedonistic principles as he only believes in experiences of pleasure gained through other peoples suffering.

For the most part, the opening of 'A Clockwork Orange' does conform to the conventions of the sci-fi/thriller genres. The costume and mise-en-scene is futuristic. The main stand-out aspect of this opening is its use of language; its not unheard of for films of these genres to adapt language, but it is still uncommon. In this case it has been done as Anthony Burgess did it in his novel of the same name, and he said that it was largely based on the Russian language.






'Audition' (Miike, 1999)

Media Audiences

• As the film 'Audition' is a cult, arthouse horror film, it would typically be aimed towards the student audience. It is Japanese but is a successful crossover film, meaning it was internationally popular. In a review of 'Audition' Micah Blowers says: "It’s microscopically small. It’s for people who had once lived and breathed depression and aren’t hesitant to understand it no matter how disturbing"
• The opening is a very clear, unambigous text with little scope for varying interpretation. It is obvious that a woman has just died and that now a father and son are left without a wife and a mother.
• Due to the fact that it is just an opening with few possible readings of the text, my age gender and background has little effect on how I interpret the text.

Institutional Context

• Ryo Ishibashi is the star used in this film, he is less well known to an English audience but has gained some internation fame for his roles in crossover films such as 'The Grudge' (Shimizu, 2004) and 'War' (Atwell, 2007), which also starred Jet Li and Jason Statham. He has been chosen for his crossover appeal and to widen to potential target audience.
• The studio that produced the film was 'Vitagraph', it was an independent film.
• The most effective marketing technique used was to barnd the film as an 'Asian extreme', this sub-genre has a dedicated cult following which meant that 'Audition' already has a base audience of people who would want go and see it.

• The institutional context of the film is fairly evident in the production values of the film. It is a low budget film so in terms of production values the film cannot compete Hollywood tentpole. However the opening plays to its strengths and focuses more on the characters and emotions within the film rather than CGI or special effects. Its production values are not bad considereing the budget, as the film has the look and feel or a mid-range budget film.