Looking at Opening Scenes

Below are examples of opening scenes of opening scenes of films that we plan to interpret to compose our opening scene project:

Sin City

Use of low-key lighting creates a tense, intriguing atmosphere that engages the viewer. The highlighted red draws focus to particular areas and has a high impact against the contrasting black and white.  We plan on using the film noir appearance with red highlighting in our opening.


Casino

It typical to have a massive impacting moment in opening scenes of gangster films (like the explosion in this one).  Gangsters are typically smartly dressed, in suits to show their power and wealth.  We plan on using suits as part of our mise en scene in our opening scene and like the idea of rolling the credits after the explosion however, we will try to roll titles after a gun shot and from blood.  We may also incorporate a voice over into our opening.

The Godfather 

Our group plan to have a scene were a group of people (the gangsters) are playing poker.  For this scene, we want the setting to be dark and intense to create a sinister atmosphere and will use top lighting like it is in The Godfather to create this look.  Zooming out slowly to reveal the characters will also be a technique we plan to use to add to the slow unravelling and introduction to the characters.  The conversation in the opening of The Godfather could be a similar tone and manner that we could use for the voice over in our opening scene.