Analysing And Comparing Three Opening Sequences
Forest Gump
The opening sequence starts with a high angled establishing shot showing high buildings, the camera follows a white feather blow around in the wind; by following the feather it makes the audience feel like they are with the feather on its journey in the wind; making the audience engaged with the film straight away as we are interested in where the feather is going to land. At 1.47 we see the feather land on a mans shoulder crossing a road swiftly bouncing off him again. As the man is crossing the road it is clear to the audience the film is set in the 1990s in America by the old fashioned cars. At 1.50 we then begin to continue the feathers journey passing a man sat on a bench. The feather then lands on the mans shoe at 2.10. When the feather lands on the mans shoe the camera does a close up. The camera then stays in a close up position as we see the mans hand picking the feather up from his shoe which gives the audience clear facial expressions of his confusion of the feather. As the man picks it up the camera moves; staying in a close up position but zooming into the mans face as he looks at the feather and places it into a book in his briefcase. The camera zooms in to see his facial reactions. The camera then zooms out to high angled shot showing the audience the man is sat on his own on a park bench, making him look weak, lonely and venerable.
Confessions of a Shopaholic
The opening sequence starts with a close up of several boxes of sparkly shoes; it is clear from the close up that people are trying them on as we see peoples hands clipping the buckles of the shoes together and another pair of hands giving out different pairs of shoes. As we see the close up of the shoes the camera stays in a close up but moves to it's left showing someone stood still in a ugly pair of shoes nothing like the ones people are trying on. I believe the institution have purposely done this so we see the nice shoes and then the horrible shoes to make us feel guilty to whoever is wearing them.The camera then changes again to another close up of a little girl with two older women. The camera then quickly changes again to a mid shot of three young girls sat on a seat trying all the sparkly shoes on. By the camera moving angles it shows the audience that the little girl is separate to the girls trying the shoes on and is left to just stare; this camera shot angle makes the audience feel guilt for the character as we can see she is on her own. The camera follows the little girl leaving the shop and as the audience we are meant to feel what the girl is feeling as we follow her; as she leaves the shop the little girl sees another pair of shoes she is clearly dreaming of having; she puts her hands on the window and gasps. This is filmed as a long shot and took behind the glass from Inside the shop to see the girl looking in. Making the audience feel and see what she is. We then continue to follow the little girl into the shop; walking straight up to the counter. The camera changes into a high angled shot took from behind the counter to make the little girl look small and weak. We see the little girl looking up at someone buying something. The camera then zooms into the little girls face showing clear facial expressions of amazement. ( 1.19 ) The camera then does a close up of a pink bag being handed across the counter. The scene then changes into a long establishing shot of a beautiful adult walking down the street; hands full with shopping bags. The director has clearly wanted to trick the audience as we felt sorry for the little girl but can now clearly see that she now she has grown up she is able to gets everything she wants. When we see the long establishing shot of the women walking the down the street we see yellow taxis and tall buildings behind her which tells the audience the film is set in America.
The Room Mate
The opening sequence starts with lots of quick establishing movement shots to show the audience the film is set in America. We see high buildings, the beach, palm trees, yellow taxis and a sign saying ' University of Los Angeles ' which obviously tells the audience where we are.
After we see the university sign we see a yellow taxi driving to the door of the University and a girl with her suitcase getting out. The camera is then positioned inside the university doors as we see the girl walk through them and towards the reception; making the character look vulnerable. As the girl approaches the reception desk the camera is positioned behind the desk in a low angled shot looking up at the girl,this gives us the receptionist perspective of the girl; the camera then changes again to the other side of the desk to a high angled shot showing the audience the girl looking down on the receptionist making the audience feel she has more power than the receptionist. At 0.57 we see a mid shot of both of them together talking across the desk it is clear from there conversation the girl is finding out what room she will be living in as the receptionist then gives her a key at 1.00. At 1.04 we see a close up of a bag on a trolley being pushed across the corridor, which is clearly the girl pushing her luggage to her room. At 1.10 the girl opens the door of the room, the camera is positioned already inside the room at a mid shot to see her facial expressions as she opens the door. The camera them moves around the room showing the audience the room but making it so we see what the girl is seeing aswell. The camera is then put back onto the girl at 1.20 at a mid shot to see her facial expressions after she has had a look around. In the room we see 2 beds one clearly for the girl and the other one for someone else, from the girls facial expressions she looks happy she was first in the room as she has first pickings of the beds. At 1.30 we see the girl sitting on the bed she has chosen, we see a close up of her face as she pulls out a photo frame from her bag and places it on the table next to her; looking almost lost. We then see the girl get up from the bed and walk to towards the door to collect her bags from the corridor as she does at 1.40 she bumps into a girl, we see a close up of them both awkwardly laughing. At 2.19 we see the girl sat back on her bed still on her own,the camera is positioned at a high angle to make the girl look vulnerable; the girl looks at the other bed In the room and the door knocks. This adds tension for the audience because the room looks and feels empty and the knock almost makes us jump.
Comparing the three films
From all the three opening sequences the audience are quickly aware of where the film is set, with lots of key shots of American things; for example, yellow taxis everyone associates with America, If the taxi was black the audience would probably presume it was set in England. In all three scenes there a many close up shots of the characters faces, this shows the audience clear facial expressions of what they are thinking of feeling. Forest Gump and The Room Mate both start with establishing shots so the audience are aware of where they are straight away, however in Confessions Of A Shopaholic the opening sequence starts with a close up and ends with an establishing shot so throughout the opening sequence we not aware of where we are until the end. In Forest Gump and Confessions Of A Shopaholic the audience follow the camera, for example in Forest Gump we follow the feather which finally lands on the man and in Confessions Of A Shopaholic we follow the little girl which then we realise is the young woman when she was younger. By following the camera it makes the audience feel they are also on the journey of the feather or the little girl.
In my opinion I feel Forest Gump and The Room Mate are the most successful out of the three films I have chosen as they both start with establishing shots which I feel is very important for the audience, so we know where we are straight away.
The poster for the film ' Dear John ' has two famous A - list actors names at the top left and right hand corners of the poster, this has purposely been done by the institution as these two actors names are key selling points of the film. Both the actors Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried have equal billing so their names are equal size fonts on each side of the poster.
