Film opening idea

In this document, I will be giving an example of my fourth film opening idea. I will explain the narrative and what will be in the opening.

Prologue

In the beginning of the narrative, opening shots will be set in the woods. This is not the main setting of the film and is a brief scene from the narrative in the middle of the film. I used this idea of the woods to create an atmosphere for the audience surrounding this character. These shots will be a connotation to the characters personality being dark, lonely and dangerous. Along with the montage of shots the music will be used to help create tension.

After the establishing shots of the setting, the shots will lead to a mysterious figure holding a hammer with his back to the camera. A low angle shot will be shown at this point. Various other close-up shots will be shown to establish the character and create tension. Close ups of his hand and weapon, his muddy boots, the tattoo on his arm, this will then lead to a POV shot of him looking down at a body. A close up of his face focusing on his eyes will then be shown. A POV shot from the body looking up at the figure will be shown which will be blurry. An extreme close up zooming into the protagonist’s eye/face until a blank screen is presented; with the text ’48 hours earlier’ will then be shown.

Opening credits

There will be opening shots of the city (London, possibly iconic locations) and streets at night to establish main setting.

A shot revealing a news report on the TV will show a news reporter explaining new leads on a serial killer who had been active for 5 years. After this a montage of shots in the protagonists house will be shown along with the start of the credits. These shots will include close ups of the news report, torn news articles on the wall of the killer represented in a trophy like fashion, the characters journal/diary, maps on the wall with pins in locations, possibly weapons, surgical gloves, tape. After this a shot back to the protagonist watching Tv will be shown.

It is common is modern films for the prologue to be introduced and followed by a credit montage which is why I decided to apply this to my opening. This can also gain more attention from the audience.

Overall time: 3 minutes

Sound:

The sound will be used to create tension and mystery as sound bridges will be used to create enigma codes. Slow, dark and intimidating music will be heard throughout the sequence and will eventually become louder and more climatic.

Lighting:

The sequence would need a lot of low-key lighting to show the darkness of the woods and also the seriousness of the situation. The character will have dark lighting to show the dark side of his character and hide some of his features to the audience.

The protagonist’s house will be lit with low-key lighting to show a similarity with the characters comfort and dark personality in both locations.