The Ring
This starts with the title “Dreamworks” which is of a little boy fishing on the moon. Like all films it starts with an esablishing shot which is of an old spooky house in the night so it is quite dark from this start we know it is going to be a horror as the setting is spooky! The rain also set the horror scene, the sound of it makes the tension rise. There was then a wide shot of two girls sat talking but sat in the dark watching TV this also gives us a clue that it may be scary as they are talking about what happened to a gril when she watched a video (she died). It zooms in this creates tension. They have a conversation about the plot of the film this gives us an idea of what it is going to be about. It sets the scene/plot. It zooms on speech to the girls. All through the scene we hear rain this makes it more scary as if it was sunny and daylight you wouldn’t be too scared. It creates an atmosphere of horror. The phone then rings. There is silence- this makes the audience on edge they don’t know whats going to happen next they think of things that may happen if they answer the phone. There is a close up on the girls scared face. The TV suddenly comes on with no warning- silence again- the tension rises much more. There is a zoom in of the TV. Then the secen jumps to the next scene.
The Fog
The fog starts with a quote by Edgar Allan Poe. “Is all that we see or seem but a dream within a dream?. Then it moves to Avco Embassy & E.D.I presents, John Carpenters The Fog. This is a Debra Hill production. It starts with a close up on the stopwatch which shows the time of 5 to midnight. In the background of this shot you can see the childrens faces which show intensity, and scared expressions. the boy which you see in the background is staring right at you which maks you very uneasy so this tells us that its going to be an uneasy film. when Mr Machen shuts the watch it breaks the uneasiness in the air. when looking at Mr Machens face it is like there is no facial expression what so ever he just has a blank expression. “Almost midnight enough time for one more story.” “One more story before twelve”- Mr Machen. This tells us that something is going to happen at midnight so it builds the tension back up. When Mr Machen is telling the story there is a close up of one of the boys faces and this shows how scared the boy is. There is then the sound of the church bells ringing which tells us that it is midnight and it is then the begginning of the witching hour.
This then moves to an establishing shot of Antonio Bay so you can see the clear sky which is then a contrast to later where all you can see is the luminous fog. The church bells are still ringing whilst this is all going on and there is also spooky usic playing in the background. There is a loud crashing noise in the church and part of the wall comes in then the radio is dropped and this then changes the music to the radio which is very upbeat which is a contrast as the music on the radio is very happy and innocent but whats actually going on is not happy or innocent. The phone starts to ring which is quite an empty sound as there is noone there on the phone and they all just start ringing at the same time. then there is the sound of money falling fom the phones when there is a close up of the boy in the shop. When in the shop things start to shake and the sign has half fallen of the roof so there is an eary squeeking sound so your waiting for something to happen exspecially with the close up of the sign then to the boys face in the shop. Then there is an extreme close up of the clock on the watch which shows what time it is (4 minutes past 12). when the horns all go off together yet again there is another close up of a clock which shows the time as 5 past 12.
There is a montage in the opening section showing the the village, it has shots of the houses, the church, shops and the garage. This lets us see where we are actually based and the shots which are used in the montage actually appear in the film later. There is a shot reverse shot when the women is in her house there is a shot of the tv then her then back to the tv which shows that her tv has turned on by itself then shows her facial expression of confusion and also fear. In these scenes you can hear the ticking of the clock over the top of the speaking then it fades in to the background then completely fades out. There is a wide shot of the sea which shows where the fog will come in later then there is a point of view shot from stevie (the radio dj) out on to the sea.
The opening of the film finishs with 6 knocks at Nicks door then it goes to a close up of the clock which shows that its 1oclock then the clock smashes and the radio dj says “1oclock staight up, end of the witching hour” then there is a close up of the mans face looking outside seeing that the fog has completely gone. This film has a very good opening as it makes you want to carry on watching as it is very intreguing. it is quite a long opening to a film round about 25 minutes but you dont realise how long it is as it is very interesting and jumpy.
P.S. I Love You
P.S. I Love You starts with the logo Summit Entertainment, then moves to the Alcon entertainment logo which is a man shooting an arrow. This film is in association with Grovesnor park films LLP. The film starts with a soundtrack. ( The song which is played at the begginning is then used throughout the film as a motif). You can tell that this film is a romantic comedy as the music used is a love song, and mentions the word “love” quite alot. The actions used also the facial expressions used in the opening scene are very romantic and the way they react and act with each other at the end of the scene shows that the married couple are in love.
The film has quite a quick start and this is representated in the up beat music. In the start of the film there is only the two main characters, this establishs the relationship between the two characters. there are other characters mentioned in the opening but you do not see them. The film opens with an establishing shot of the street that the two characers walk along. Then moves down so you can focus on the main two people in the film (Gerrard Butler-gerry, Hillary Swank-Holly). There is quite a few close ups used in the opening scene so you can see there facial expressions. There is quite alot of movement with the camera at the beggining exspecailly when there walking up the stairs, when they walk up the stairs it is almost like a hand held camera has been used.
During the opening scene there is a main song which is used as a motif then when they walk across the road natural sounds have been added which is then followed by them talking but all the sounds are going on together they have jsut been added over the top of ach other. i felt that this was a good opening to a film as it wasnt to long (maximum of 15 minutes). The opening also kept your interested there with the upbeat music and the fast pace of the story line which goes along with the storyline. so i feel that this is a good opening.