Opening Sequence - The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight This film starts off with the product companies. they last for around 50 seconds. we then get a crane shot of a city which slowly zooms into a building. as we are zooming in the music slowly builds tension until the window is smashed

we then cut to a single man who is holding a clown mask in his left hand and a bag over his shoulder. this could be a hint at a main character but is not confirmed. A car then pulls up and the music suddenly changes, it makes the scene fit the role for the action genre. we then have some tracking shots of the characters entering the bank as they fire there guns. the film cross cuts between the bank and the rooftop where other characters are hacking the phone system.
whilst the robbers in the bank are taking hostages we then see another character trying to break into the bank vault. all of the robbers are wearing similar masks so we can clearly identify which characters are which.
The music in this opening scene is vital for the film to be successful as it changes its pace to keep up with the visuals on screen.

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Opening Scene - Now You See Me

Now You See Me (2013) The opening scene for Now You See Me introduces the main characters in the film very clearly, after the film productions are shown, we cut to a scene which shows one of the main actors narrating, during this scene the music in the background creates mystery around The film.
 The next shot shows Chicago, we know this from the text that appears at the bottom of the screen The same music continues from the first scene and the same actor is present. he is now showing us a magic trick, and the camera angle used puts us in the film, and the actor is asking us directly. after the trick is performed the pace of the music builds up as the card is revealed. we are then shown a hooded figure and the music changes.
 The music almost resets as we start the next trick. at this point the second of the main actors are introduced. after he performs his trick the hooded figure re appears and the same music plays.
We then cut to the third character who is also performing a trick on a boat... within 2 minutes of the film we already know that the main characters in the film are going to be magicians. the third character is also performing a trick, however the tension on this character builds up very quickly, this is done using both music and camera shots.

Opening sequence review

Ranking	Video	Why?
1	Abduction	Good effects to show hidden camera. (looks as though it’s a CCTV camera) Clear as to what is going on in the story
2	Deception	Music and camera shots build tension When he is walking up the stairs the montage of different
3	It swings on roundabouts	Builds tension quite well Tv scene has good use of effects The music matches the genre of the film
4	Snakes and Ladders	Clear story, good transitions and effects (colour from dress to bottle, also the hair spray behind the title scene is good)
5	Slayer	Good use of props, detective office, clear it’s a police office with posters in back. Music throughout builds tension
6	Graves	Narration at start is good, good use of pan shot Titles match the story
7	Rundown	Good use of camera angles, showing first person
8	Bacterium	Mis en scene, clear the room is a lab, However costumes on other actors weren’t great
9	Resistance	Start is good, tension builds up. Ending looses all the tension. Location for filming is good
10	Chroniker	Over use of the ‘split effect’ Story is unclear
11	1962	Music good, ‘music box’ story is unclear

prelim analysis

In our Preliminary sequence we used a range of different camera techniques. one which i believe we done fairly well was the match on match action. one instance where it was used was during the shots where the character was walking in through the door, we tried to use this as best as possible, and i believe it worked well. the time between the two shots was minimal as felt like there was no jump between the two.

we also attempted  to use a form cut in our sequence, where we would cut from an eye to a cup of coffee. it didnt work as well as we expected the main reason for this was because the zoom in of the eye was not steady and did not zoom in all the way, in our final film we will try to make all the shots as steady as possible by using the tri pod.

one with that was not used in the prelim was the use of music, music and sound effects can have a massive effect on the  movie and we will need to add this on the final film

Prelim Task