Researching into Film Openings

Whilst researching on the genre Drama, I watched film openings to the same genre I aspire to have our film opening. Like Seven Pounds, The Art of Getting By, My Sisters Keeper, While You Were Sleeping and The Help. They all establish the genre, character, setting and narrative in the opening, but in their own different way. However, there are some techniques that reached out to me and gave me an idea on how I could establish everything needed in a film opening. For instance, I really liked the use of the voice over in 'My Sisters Keeper', and really inspired me to want to use it in my film opening. It's an easy way to explain the position of the film, an idea of the narrative and a taste of the character's personality; words are strong and using a voice over to kill three birds with stone, is a great way to go. 'The Art of Getting By' is set in New York, showing how you can use even city landscapes in a drama genre film. The isolation, the grey days and the narrow pavements filled with restless people can add to the genre, the character's feeling, circumstance and personality and it can add to the atmosphere. On the other hand, the landscapes are so beautiful aswell, so it could be used to create a happy vibe, nevertheless, it made me realise the contrasts of scenery I have in london and a bus or walk away from my house. Also the time the film is set in is during winter and being in winter helps add the gloomy lighting and atmosphere, and to the narrative also. So, I decided that shooting our footage in winter will not be a problem and maybe even a plus side, and we can use it to out advantage and introduce our genre to the film.

However, what I found most enticing was the use of having the present first, explaining the circumstance, leaving the audiencee questioning how they got there or what will happen. Seven Pounds does it by giving away the main character wanting to commit sucicide in the present and we want to know what happend in the past that lead him to that current even but at the same time we want to know what happens next when the paramadics do come. The Help is opened along the same lines, with the main charcter interviewing the main 'help' and gives off her horrible circumstances in a few sentences, it then goes a little back to the past and explains her circumstances,. On the other hand, My Sisters Keeper is done a bit differently as she explains the main climax the story is based around with a voice over, explaining the main characters problem and gives us an idea of what the narrative is about. It also gives off what type of character she is and what other character will be involved, with the many little home video footage flipping on. The film While You Were Sleeping also explains her circumstance and her main aim or the main climax of the movie, starting with her chidhood. Overall, researching and analysing closely into the film openings that matched my genre really inspired and influenced me on my ideas and how I would develop them and how I want the outcome to be.

Farjana [Reshma] Rahman