Film openings analysis

Film Openings

The Fugitive –

Strait away see the studio name “Warner bro’s” and the producers. Then there is the first main title that is Harrison Ford along with some suspenseful music that the letters of his name have a supposed police torchlight flashing in the background, it then goes onto say the next main actor with the same layout which is Tommy Lee Jones, and ending with the title of the film. All through this scene there is suspenseful music with a synchronous beats and has a blue police like outline to all the text.

It then opens with a big landscape shot of the main city(Chicago) , and swiftly goes into a black and white shot struggle between a woman and a man, all through this there is a non-diegetic soundtrack but a distinct diegetic sound of sirens. There is then a quick swap between the city landscape and the struggle and you then see this woman get shot, therefore highlighting that this will be a crime film.

You then go to a city view where there are ambulances around a house and when you go inside you lots of detectives walking around, there is then a few quick shots of her dead in black and white(shot) then you see Harrison Ford who looks lost in thought with blood on his shirt and scratches on his neck making the viewer believe that he could be a suspect for this murder of his wife. He is then willingly escorted out of the building while you hear lots of diegetic sounds such are police radios. There is then a news reporter talking about tonight’s murder while Harrison Ford gets into the police car.

Ferris Bueller’s day off –

Paramount pictures , a john hughes film, Matthew Broderick with diegetic sound of a radio then First thing you see is a massive suburban house with the cars in the drive , you then go to hear the parents calling his name, he then looks like he is staring into oblivion like he is meant to be ill , his sister walks in and starts moaning about their parents believing him for pretending to be ill, Ferris then waits for his parents to have left the house , he then gets up and talks to the camera about how stupid his parents are and how he couldn’t be expected to go to school on a sunny day. This shows the audience that Ferris is arrogant but also funny and that his parents are very naïve.  

Pulp fiction –

The film opens with two people mid conversation in an American diner, they are talking about robbing banks, the man who is telling the woman that he is always right and how robbing liquor stores and banks are behind him. They are bickering about the man complaining when a girl asks them if they would like more coffee , this is obviously a relatively old film because of the fact that they are smoking inside , You can tell from his dialogue that the man is laidback and by the way he sits almost perched in the diner’s chair. Where the woman seems much more wired and feisty especially by the way she looks like she is trying to be extra nice to the waitress, you can see that the man is downgrading all the potential risk of robbing and goes on to explain how easy it is. You could get the sense that the woman is quite neurotic and unpredictable from the way she seems to be so enticed by what the man was saying and how snappy she is.  Another thing that could show this would be their outfits, the man is slouched in a Hawaiian shirt smoking a fag this could definitely suggest that he is relaxed where the woman is a purple jumper with a tight gold chain around her neck and wild ginger/red hair this could suggest that she is wound tight and crazy. There is then a lot of conversation about how he thinks that robbing banks and stores are bad due to the people who own them he uses racist terms such as “gook” or “granddad urvin” when talking about jews and Vietnamese this could suggest the time when the film was made but also his lack of caring for other people. He then tells her that he wants to rob the American diner that they are in but had just called for more coffee so that the woman has to sit back and realise how clever but Ludacris this idea is. You then have a close up on her face while he is explaining how they should to it, you obviously see that she is becoming more and more ready or exited to rob the diner. You can tell that they think they’re better or braver than all of the people around them by the way they are talking. Until she gets so exited/ rowdy that she says “im ready , right now , right here “ This shows that she has an impulsive personality, then then pull out their guns then a very close up shot of them kissing before the both stand up screaming “nobody move this is a robbery” . Then the titles start.  


Lock , Stock and Two smoking barrels-


The film opens with a man standing at desk in the street with a handful of people standing around him , straight away you could get the sense that whatever is happening is quite dodgy because of the grimy london scenery and the fact that whatever he's selling is not a legitimate business.  He then goes onto start a large sales pitch about dodgy goods to a handful of customers saying things like "if you cant see value here today , your not happier shopping , your happier shoplifting" or "see these goods they have not seen daylight , moonlight or Israelite" by saying this he's definitely identifying himself as a crook. While this is happening the credits are showing up in a white font with a black background for a few seconds but Jason Statham is still talking while this is happening, this could give the audience a feeling of  urgency. What makes him a good crooked sales person is that he is a fast talker who can relate himself to the audience "please your wife or please someone else's wife but its a lot more fun if you don't get caught" With each little sales pitch he does after a credit has appeared for example "SKA films" the crowd/buyers gets more and more bigger and involved. He then starts giving prices which is when his mate comes running in and says "£10 , thats a bargain i'll take one" this then starting the crowd to begin to feel comfortable with spending money this being another good sales technique therefore showing the audience that he's a skilled crook. It then shows the last credit which is " A Guy Richie film" then his mate shouts "bacon rozzers" and a police chase begins. Now there's a clear separation between the two crooks and the police and this is shown when the two crooks either jump over or smoothly slide under a barrier however the police then slowly awkwardly clamber over it. It then goes into slow motion when they skid round a corner but while this is happening there is a narrative of a mans voice talking about how these men know their days of selling "moody street goods" is over.  Then come the main titles "Lock , Stock and Two Smoking Barrels".