Analysing Codes and Conventions of Film Openings

In the last lesson we examined the openings to the films Halloween, Amelie and Trainspotting. Each of these films are of a different genre. 'Halloween' (1978) is horror, 'Amelie' (2001) is a romantic comedy and 'Trainspotting' (1996) is drama.

HALLOWEEN (1978)

Sound and tension tracker for 'Halloween' opening

By drawing a sound and tension tracker, I could pick out the points in the opening where diegetic and non diegetic sound creates suspense and fear in the audience. The POV that is used in this opening enforces the audience to witness whatever is happening and only gives insight to what that character  who's eyes they are seeing through is experiencing.  As the killer moves round the house and sees the upstairs light turn off, a sudden high pitched sound occurs, immediately heightening the suspense and foreshadowing that something bad will happen. This film opening does not include as much sound as the opening for 'Trainspotting' and 'Amelie' does, but this absence of sound heightens the level of intensity and emotion, as only a high pitched sound can be heard for the majority of the opening as the character is moving through the house. The only diegetic sound that is heard is the boyfriend suggesting to the girl that they go upstairs, the girl screaming and the parents asking "Michael?" at the end of the scene.

Iconography of a Jack-o'-lantern

The view of a young couple in a living room from outside

Also like the other film trailers we looked at, the opening had established a dark colour palette with low-key lighting, which is a typical convention for the genre of horror. This is also because the scene is set at night: also a common convention for a murder to happen. Tension rises as the killer enters the house and gets a knife from a drawer in the kitchen, as he is walking up the stairs the lighting is very low and the audience can almost see nothing, creating a more ominous atmosphere with the fear something may suddenly happen.

POV with mask on

The killer then puts on a mask, covering the edges of the camera, putting the audience in an uncomfortable position as the relation between killer and watcher becomes more intimate. After murdering the girl, the killer walks downstairs and outside, where two adults approach him and pull of his mask, revealing that the murderer is a young boy, presumably the girls younger brother. The music becomes louder and busier, adding to the dramatic effect as the camera slowly zooms out, showing the boy standing there with a blank expression on his face.

The reveal who the killer was the whole time

AMELIE (2001)

Sound and emotion tracker for 'Amelie'

With 'Amelie', the scene opens with a cobbled road in a french town, accompanied with stereotypical French instruments such as the accordion, to establish the French setting of the film. Just like in 'Halloween', the opening begins with a still to set the scene, such as the front of the house where the murder takes place. Also like 'Halloween', the opening follows a linear narrative, but at a much faster pace, as it shows Amelie being born and growing up as a child. This supports the common convention in film opening that characters (usually the protagonist) are established quickly, which is important in this case as Amelie is the protagonist of the film, suggested by the film title. The opening shows that a mans best friend had just died, and at the exact time Amelie was born, this could suggest what kind of film 'Amelie' is, portraying that when one life ends, another begins.

Opening still of French road

Credits

In contrast to 'Halloween', the colour scheme is very different, displaying warm and very saturated colours and white flashes between shots of her childhood. Despite the difference in colour, both openings still follow the colour conventions and what they suggest in terms of genre and mood.

The piano music played is mellow and fairly calm, which accompanies close up shots of the young girl in a room doing things such as playing with dominoes, drinking through a straw, peeling glue off her finger and spinning a coi, giving the audience exaggerated insight of the protagonist. Unlike 'Halloween', where the absence of music creates suspense and fear, the non diegetic music creates a sense of innocence, as we are watching a child do things that children usually do. Enhanced diegetic sounds relating to these actions are also featured, such as squeaking, slurping through the straw and the sound of paper rustling. The editing shows that most of the scenes have been slightly sped up, just like the time lapse of her mothers stomach increasing in size when she was pregnant. The opening ends as the screen fades to white along with the music, clearly showing that the opening sequence is over, which is a common convention used in film openings.

Close up shot of Amelie

TRAINSPOTTING (1996)

Sound and intensity tracker for 'Trainspotting'

Compared to the last two films, the opening for 'Trainspotting' is non linear in narrative and is very faced paced. But they share similar conventions, such as the introduction to the characters, which is seen with the freeze frames of the character and their name. The first shot is also a still just like in 'Halloween' and 'Amelie', showing a city street in Scotland, before Renton and Spud run through it. The level of intensity is raised in all three openings at some point, such as the murder in 'Halloween', the baby being born in 'Amelie', and the drug use and fast paced running in 'Trainspotting'.

The non-diegetic sound added is upbeat music (Lust for Life by Iggy Pop), accompanied by a voice over narration by Renton, who seems to be the protagonist due to his voice being the one to narrate and the first to be introduced. The order in which the characters are introduced to the audience show us who is most important in the film and who's story we will follow the most. The voice over carries on to talk about life and what you choose in it such as a car, good health, insurance and your friends.Towards the end of the opening, he loses this positivity and tells the audience that he chose heroin instead of life as he lies on the floor and the camera zooms away from his body.

Opening shot

First introduction to a character

The lighting used in the beginning of the opening is natural, as it was hot in broad daylight, but other scenes include dim lighting as Renton takes drugs in a room, and contrasting light as they all play football at night with bright lights for them to see. As mentioned before, the opening for this film is fast paced, which can be seen throughout the scenes of them running down the street away from people, them playing football and the fast paced music to heighten the intensity.