Film Opening Analysis

Harry Brown

This opening scene of Harry Brown represents the genre of action and drama. This film has many events that occur during a short clip. Throughout this film opening, the main focus is on the youth of London and how some may live their daily lives. Films like these form stereotypes that seem to become normal or 'true'.

The setting of this film switches depending on the events. In the beginning it is in a dark alley way under pass which creates an evening vibe. The weather during this scene isn't incorporated within the opening and does not contribute to the setting. The location in which this is set is south-east London and shows how crime can occur during the day or night. The second setting after being in the subway is in a park, this is shown whilst riding on the motorbike and also during the tragic event involving the woman's death.

Furthermore, within this film opening it represents the themes of both family and friends. It is represented in his way for family with the woman and baby, the film represents this to be between mother and daughter which makes the audience feel cautious as to how they live their lives. The second theme of friends is represented with the gang members. With one of the boys being pressurised into taking some drugs, this represents how peer pressure takes place in gangs to be accepted as a 'friend'. The theme of family and friends tries to portray the innocence and pressure that could be put on daily lives.

Icons played a huge part within this film opening. For example, the use of the props of the gun, the motorbike, the buggy and the drugs. All of these props on their own have a single idea presented of them instantly however, with them all associated with each other, it creates a massive shock towards the audience. The drugs have a few associations within this film opening, firstly when they are being use for recreational purposes, when the whole gang pressure the boy to taking drugs. Secondly, it makes them seem like they are continuously on drugs through the motion of the camera and how messy the filming seems.  The baby in the buggy is a slight representation of the difference between the youth of the gang; behaviour is violent. Also the youth involved with the baby in buggy. It is the comparison of violence and innocence which is tried to be portrayed throughout the whole film opening. For example the difference between the boy and the gang is the comparison between innocence and violence, which is what many of the icons try to portray throughout.

The narrative involved within the film opening is focused on the characters and plot. The plot is extremely unorganised all the way through, it is mainly based on gang members that cause many events of grief . The characters within the film opening are mixed, comparing the baby to one of the gang members, however they don't name the characters therefore grouping all type of personalities together. The buggy as a prop is a representation of the weak and innocent within the short opening. Although the pressurised boy is involved in the gang, he is more like the woman and baby and represents the virtuous type of personality in the clip. 

As a main focus on who is involved in the film opening, the gang are the main cause of events in the clip. Their class is also presented straight away through the area that they are in and the clothes that they wear. Their class is seen as lower class and are teenagers around 16-18 years old and the woman (at a glimpse) is seen as though she is in her early to mid twenties. All of the gang members are boys, which a dominating effect against the woman is created. I believe they had used boys only in the gang members to target the woman because it makes the woman seem as though she can't fit back because she has no power. 

Analysing the way that this opening is filmed manages to tell a big part of the story, however intrigues the audience a lot more. The camera and editing isn't taken too seriously and the camera as a part of filming this opening scene could also be seen as a prop to the fact that the messiness of the camera filming could represent the gang members lives. Also, they make sure that a scene isn't focused on one particularly event at all, this may be because the producer wanted the audience to be more focused. Although the camera isn't focused at any time, it is still made clear what is happening. Moreover, at the beginning of the clip the camera is filming the gang as though the audience is a part of the gang. It also is very close to the innocents boy face, which could represent how up close and personal the other gang members get, which make the boy feel invaded and claustrophobic. The lighting also used within the film opening is varied, at the beginning it is dark which contributes to the chilling mood and then instantly changes to light, mainly looking as thought natural lighting is used. However with the use of day light it seems more out of the ordinary that crime took place in broad day light, which made it more shocking. Although at the beginning, it wasn't seen as an irregular event as the whole scene would have been in many films before. 

Dialogue doesn't play a huge part in this opening clip however, sound does. There is minimal dialogue in the beginning but it is the gang chatting to the boy, acting upon all pressuring him. The part towards the end is all focused on sounds and even though they may be a little bit of dialogue, their voices are muffled because the motorbike overpowers the scene. The gun shot plays a huge part of the film opening, it makes the audience feel more insecure when the first gun shot goes and makes the audience question wether the first gun shot wasn't a good aim on purpose and it all may have been a harsh scare. However the repetition of gunshots shocks the audience and at the end of the film opening it leaves everyone who is watching extremely unaware of any of the consequences. 

Clueless

This film opening of clueless is mainly focused on a blonde teenager that goes to an american high school. This film is based on friends and partly family, and it is the genre of teen rom com. It is also known as a chick flick and is popular for viewers of a younger age. This film stereotypes teenagers, and how the typical blonde girl acts in her life in america. 

The setting of this film is based in America, Beverley Hills. There are various settings within this film opening, including a high school, her house including her bedroom and the outside of her house in a car. The location are all changing during this opening scene to set the idea of the whole film for the audience so that they know what type of film it is going to be. The difference of locations intrigues the audience into focusing more because they skip from scene to scene so the viewers have to focus more on what is going on. Another setting that is shown in the filming opening is on the streets of america. This shows that the girl within the film has a strong passion for shopping and gives the audience an idea that she is a girly girl. 

Themes that are presented within this film are family, friends, school and love. Family theme is presented within this film opening  through the scene between her dad and herself. The other theme of friends is also abruptly presented when she meets her girlfriend whilst she gets in her car, also whilst it quickly pans on the scene of many teenagers gathered round a pool together. This film opening significantly highlights feminism due to amount of girl domination shown in the film and how her attitude is towards her dad.

The characters presented in this film opening are a variety of different personalities. The girl throughout the whole film opening is shown as though she is the main character in the film, mainly because he voice is the one that talks over and throughout the scenes of the opening scenes. With this voice over description this also helps the audience to understand what is happening and provides more information on her character and others. More characters that are presented are some of the teenagers that go to her school and her farther. The plot of the film seems as thought it evolves around the girl named Cher (identified when her father speaks to her). Although it doesn't give the audience much of the idea of the plot but within the film opening a guess of what could happening is that the girl goes to a high school and many events may happen effecting the girls situation. The characters within her house are also given names such as 'lucy' and 'daddy' which shows that in this clip there are going to be a variety of different characters due to them being named.

Body language plays an important part in this film opening also. For example her body language when she sees her dad and her vibe, she acts as though if she is extremely kind to her father she will receive what ever is in her eye and the way that she uses her hands in conversation with her father shows that she gets her own way because although she does respect her dad she is still forceful with him in her tone to ensure she gets her way.  Her class compared to many of the other teenagers is represented as higher class due to the technology she uses, her house and her and her fathers clothing. Her age is appeared to be around 15 years old and she is a female. With her being the leading character she seems to involve herself with many other girls however there are quite a few boys who are noticed in the clip. Her ethnicity is white american and the way that she approaches and talks about boys, she seems to be heterosexual. 

Many of the camera angles are varied in each scene, for example there are back shots, above the shoulder, panoramic and full body. With the camera being used for many different scenes, the producer probably wanted a little bit of variation to ensure that the audience stayed intrigued and wasn't bored at any point, especially with this being the opening scene. Costumes that are used in this film opening are extremely fashionable for the time that this film was released. Again, many of the costumes vary according to what type of character they are. They try to show to the audience the personalities of characters through their costume, for example you could notice that there was a maid as she was in victorian type of overalls and it was clear that her dad was a business man due to wearing a suit to work. The lighting is fairly bright all the way through the scenes. This may be for many reasons such as to much sure the audience can see what is happening clearly. There are many different colours incorporated as well such as the preview of the title and the costume colours. The colour of the costumes could show connotations of what they are like. For example Cher is wearing a yellow dominated outfit and this could represent happiness and joy which is what her character mostly looks like they are. There is a minimal use of makeup used within the clip except for the essential filming make up and the noticeable makeup on the girls that the producers make look as though they have applied themselves. 

As for the sound used within the film, the main noise recognised in the short clip is the song called "we're the kids in america' the use of this song could have been used to help blind people understand what type of atmosphere or vibe they are trying to portray. With there being a song played for the majority of the start of the film opening, there is a good amount of dialogue in it which introduces more of the characters such as Cher's best friend. "Here is where Dion lives. She's my friend because we both know what its like to have people be jealous of us" not only does this dialogue give us a lot of information into knowing what her personality is like but it also informs us on different settings and different characters. Sound that is also used in this clip is of teenage girls laughing with one another. This gives the audience an insight into the film being along the lines of comedy and how the film isn't one for seriousness or immense violence.