It's Such a Thrill

     The best way to reach creativity is by inspiration. Not everything creative comes from a blank mind, there are times that the work of others can inspire or create something new and that's what I'm trying to accomplish with my opening. I've decided that it'd be best for me to watch film openings associated with films I've never watched, just to have a more broad source of inspiration. 

VERTIGO:

    The opening for Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo  is very interesting to say the least. It starts off with intense music that makes the audience know there's something going on. Which is then followed by two hands going holding up to a bar, straight into a police chase where the officers are jumping over roofs. As the last officer tries to jump he nearly falls but luckily saves himself by catching on to a ledge. This causes the other officer in front to stop chasing for the culprit and try and save the falling officer. Unfortunately, the rescue takes a bad turn, as the officer who is trying to save the other officer falls down to his death, concluding the end of the opening. 

    Now, the reason why I wanted to summarize these events is to explain how effective and engaging this opening was in the span of 1 minute and 30 seconds. It gives me the realization that a lot can be done it in a small amount of time, but besides that it also shows Hitchcock's genius. Hitchcock used elements like synchronization to bring the viewer into the near fallen officers world at that very moment. This specific moment, at least when I was watching, made me feel anxious on whether or not he was going to fall or not, but it also makes me wonder how he is able to survive after the opening. Overall, Hitchcock creates a wonderful opening that causes viewers to already be attentive and interested in a limited amount of time. 

THE PRESTIGE:

    The Prestige by Christopher Nolan starts off with an opening title with a background that fades in from black to a field of magic hats. It then goes straight into narration describing the 3 acts of a magic trick. There is a back and forth between two different sets of magic tricks where one is a more serious life threatening act and the other a more friendly, childish act.  Both acts are played through, but just as the more threatening acts is about to enter its 3rd act it is revealed that the magician is struggling to escape a water tank. This pretty much concludes the scene and creates a cliff hanging.

    Personally, I thought that the way this opening scene was constructed was genius. The calm narration describing the 3 acts of magic then having two polar opposite acts simultaneously works tremendously. It gives the viewers the extremes people go in order to create intensity. Something else I found to be very interesting was the lighting of the scenes following a warm but fulfilling atmosphere that makes the audience want to continue to watch do to the lightness on the eyes, which doesn't overwhelm whoever is watching. I also wanted to add on to my previous summary of the opening scene by talking about the man who becomes curious on how the magic is done, which breaks magician's code of not revealing secrets. By breaking this code it could be a reason why the magician ends up drowning as a form to tell the audience that the world being shown is something out of the ordinary. Although, this could potentially be a reach, I find it to be a very interesting idea. 

MEMENTO:

    The film Memento directed by Christopher Nolan, begins through opening credits in blue text. The background then fades in from back into the hands of a man holding a polaroid. The person shakes off the polaroid every few seconds and the polaroid begins to lose its color. When it fully loses its color the man inserts it back into his polaroid camera where he takes another picture and the camera cuts to blood, a bullet, and a dead body. Then all of the sudden the film reverses and it shows the man with the polaroid was the man who killed the person lying dead.

    What I find to be very interesting about this opening is the reverse at the very end. I've looked into the movie and found out it relates to a man who is trying to find his wife's murdered, but the man loses his memory every 5 to 7 minutes. Now, this takes me back to my interest in the reverse at the end because to me it resembles how the protagonist is constantly losing his memory. It's a fascinating way to showcase the plot in a very simple way. It also acts as a source of confusion for the audience as it uses an unusual technique. I also found that the opening was very simplistic and did not have a lot going on compared to Vertigo and The Prestige right up until the end. This gives viewers a sense of eeriness that then gets answered. Additionally, I wanted to discuss the sound which intensifies the eeriness and gravitates that feeling.  To end things of with Memento, the overall feeling just from the opening is one of a kind and gives a lot of important context with barely any dialogue.