Brainstorming
Before discussing collective ideas with Isabel, I began to brainstorm on my own. I thought of different films and pieces that really intrigued me, with common genres being two: psychological dramas and dystopias. In a previous blog, I wrote about the genre characteristics and further research about the subgenre of the big umbrella that is a "drama", psychological dramas. You can access that blog posting here. The idea of translating people's thoughts and intense emotions (a big takeaway when I watch dramas in general) into the medium of film and making sensitively articulate choices that truly reflect a character's/ multiple characters' state, with that being the central focus really pulls me in. As that is a major objective of our 2-minute opening (pulling the audience in), I began to truly consider that genre.
Secondly, the genre that is dystopia has always attracted me as well. The societal questions that can be raised from one specific plot and the execution of that plot are so effective and impactful (obviously depending on the piece of work at hand). While I haven't yet truly dived into the historical context of the world of dystopian film, I have dwelled in dystopian literature, reading books in my Language Arts classes like Fahrenheit 451, with deep and annotated analysis teaching me about the real-life application/ effect of fictional stories on society. In the book, one of Ray Bradbury's (the author) messages relates to the real-life act of book burning, and how books are our saviors with knowledge that shouldn't be censored/ kept at the hands of the authority. With that being one example, dystopias have always given me a feeling of questioning that I am very open to about our society and not-so-distant futures.
In-Class Research
During class, Isabel and I finally got a chance to sit down and share our ideas. We began to run through specific genres and listed them as "yes" or "no" based on a few judgments: what approach do film openings of the discussed genre usually take and would we be able to fully execute the discussed genre's opening in a successful/ fulfilling way with our available resources/ rather limited experience?
Isabel and I have done almost all group projects for this school year together (in this class), with some being found in my blogs. I know we work well together and have similar interests when it comes to distinctive creative ideas/ feelings we want to exude. We began to list genres such as action, dystopia, drama, and even comedy. After discussing for some minutes, we began to look at specific openings for certain movies with these genres, primarily focusing on action and dystopia.
Specific Film Openings
The main goal of watching different film openings was to see how not only did the opening relate to the whole movie (as we watched film openings of films we have seen)- did it alludes to future moments of the plot, how the approach represents chosen aspect (tone, character, setting) and relation of that to audience perception impact for rest of movie... BUT also to observe the different avenues we can take for our own opening.
The first opening we watched was of the movie Divergent, which originates from the novel (part of a famous trilogy). The genre of the movie is also science fiction, one example of possible connections we can make to other genres, also relying on aspects of action to complement the heightened stakes. This opening, which you can access here, starts off by displaying the production company and director titles, followed by the title of the film. During this calm and intriguing first few seconds, the pan of a vast field is exposed, listing credit titles accompanied by instrumental music, both repetitive in notes and alluring. The vast view of the outside of a city is then shot-by-shot led into the actual city (of Chicago), already communicating the film's large scale and establishing location (and further context later in the opening). In my notes, while watching the opening, I thought that it felt sophisticated and professional, mainly because of the rather still and non-rushing intro. The zooming out/in displays the setting and their societal circumstances, giving further context. The possible approach that I got from that opening was to give time for the audience to adjust to the world being created in our film, as the opening's pace made me feel eased into their world, also shown through the movie The Maze Runner's opening.
Another opening we watched was of The Truman Show, a 1998 comedy/ sci-fi film that also is included in genres of psychological drama and dystopia. Being one of my favorite movies, it was interesting to go back and see the opening and reconnect it to the plot of the overall movie. This opening, which you can access right overrrrrrrrrr here, has no strong action shots, displaying almost all medium/ close-up shots of important characters of the movie, such as Christof (the outsider), Marlon, Meryl Burbank, and of course Truman himself. The approach to this opening is that of character development, as Christof breaks the fourth wall to let the audience in on an instantly personal and targeted feel. As the music builds, the "credits" roll in (limited), which I found really interesting. This movie is of course a particular case, but the credits act (such as "Hannah Gill as meryl") as the cast of the Truman Show that the actual movie is about, not the cast of the movie "The Truman Show"(if that made any sense).
The last opening we looked at was of the 2021 Marvel movie, Black Widow. This is the one that I was most inspired by/ most impacted by, as I haven't watched the movie and felt immediately impacted. After Isabel explained some context of the strongly action-filled movie, the opening's darker tone, giving context through visuals, makes sense concerning the main character Natasha's personal life experiences. The opening is intense, with stings and the credits playing back to back. The editing style and overall content shown begin the audience with questions yet understandings, as people are circled in red to indicate possible targets/ enemies. In general, this opening is one that I think we will be taking a lot of inspiration from, with the editing and specific approach intriguing audiences heavily. I also understood the intention of making the audience feel like they're in on a "secret", as the main character's background isn't explicitly stated yet intensely introduced right before even meeting the present-day character, already creating a connection to her and leaving room to relate back to the opening of her past ever comes up. You can access the opening here.
Other Watches
Other pieces we watched a part of were Don't Worry Darling, a 2022 thriller/ mystery film that harnesses dystopian tropes/ some underlying tones relevant to dystopias, and the Disney Plus show WandaVision, which also misleads the audience and has dystopian themes. In one scene of DWD, the main character Alice Chambers played by Florence Pugh traces the board of a model of the "town" (which we later find out to be... SPOILER ALERT... fabricated!) she "lives" in, with her finger tracing all the way to the edge of town, a sandy isolated area. While she does this innocently, she is alluding to her final actions of the trial of escape. I found this impactful looking back at it and might want to incorporate some element of detailed closeup (as her tracing finger was shown with a tight closeup) that will allude to/ communicate something of importance to the viewer. In regards to WandaVision, we watched the ending of Ep1, "Filmed Before a Live Studio Audience". It is very intriguing, completely throwing the audience off course of what they thought was the "whole picture" that the first episode displayed. It shocked me when I watched it, making me quite literally upset that my many questions couldn't be answered with another episode for a full week. The show's ability to intrigue an audience I think stems not only from the circumstances of the show but also the lack of contextual establishment for the audience stemming from character-character interaction.
Reflection
After viewing and discussing different openings of dystopian-like films/ films involving dystopian themes, I think that choosing between which "type of dystopia" is important for our piece and in turn opening. The choice between explicit societal problems that include grand action sequences or more implicit, almost creepily alluded-to issues until a final breakpoint (examples of opposing "tropes") is one that we have decided, after viewing parts of openings and endings of The Truman Show and WandaVision, that we possibly will leave questions in the air and not give everything away to the viewer, with our film not relying on action to stay interesting, but rather eerie topics like social experiments to intrigue an audience. We want to watch more dystopian films to get inspiration, with some including Children of Men and Oblivion.
Below is a picture of my notes from when we were watching the openings in class:
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