MY INSPIRATIONS

MY INSPIRATIONS

A filming opening sequence is the most important part of a movie because its main focus is to capture the audiences attention and make their eyes glued to the screen. In this post I will write about my favourite film openings and what has inspired me to create my film opening along with the rest of my group.

1. THE GODFATHER (1972)

The movie starts with a monologue which is a common film making device. From the moment Bonasera speaks, the scene sucks viewers about the story of the immigrant experience-but not with a happy ending. The American legal system has failed Bonasera, setting free the men who beat his daughter. His hope is that Don Vito Corleone, played by Marlon Brando. By the time the scene concludes, we know that Don Corleone is a criminal but also the man who people look for in the community in search of justice. 

2. TRAINSPOTTING (1996)

The opening bars of Iggy Pop´s song “Lust for Life” will be forever associated from this gripping sequence from Danny Boyle´s breakthrough film, which opens with a three part montage. First, Renton- played by Ewan McGregor-and Sick Boy-played by Jonny Lee Miller run through the streets after a theft and the shoot heroin in a run down apartment and then play soccer. The rest of the characters are presented along the way where McGregor gives a monologue about choosing life or rather, choosing heroin instead of life- that puts the audience in the right mood for a frenetic, edgy and darkly comic story about the horrors of addiction. 

3.HALLOWEEN(1978)

John Carpenter´s 1978 horror classic heralded the dawn of slasher genre that would dominate the 1980s and it opens with a serious scare. The first scene is shot from the point of view of a killer spying on some teens before stalking and murdering one of them in her bedroom , a brutal event the audience sees through the eyeholes of a mask that the unseen killer is wearing. Its not until the end of the sequence where the face of the murderer is revealed which leaves the audience in suspense. 

4. REAR WINDOW 

Master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock knows exactly how to set a scene and he does so by showing us the world through the eyes of his hero. There is not dialogue in the sequence but the audience can tell what is going on:  the sweaty photographer with a broken leg is trapped inside his apartment and starved for adventure and spies on his neighbour