Reseach Into Film Openings

Deconstruction of the interpreter:

• Smoke clouding the camera- green light suggesting a sense of calmness


• Sound of wind whistling in the open space, building up the tension and creating the idea its an open space


• Titles appear letter by letter filling in the shot


• A camera shot of the blind man capturing him in a black and white picture


• Very natural light at the beginning and then goes into a more darkened lighting when they enter the building


• Death in the opening suggesting that the film is a thriller


• The idea of not knowing whats going to happen throughout the film, gives the sense of mystery.


• At the beginning when showing the opening title sequences and logos of the distributors in the making of this film, one of the logos is created by a picture of a target shot, giving the idea that this film will feature guns and death


• Long shot at the beginning capturing that its a desolate place


• In the first shot (which establishes the setting) the transition is a dissolve breaking away to show the car



• After a while it cuts back to the land rover possibly portraying it as an important part of the storyline.



• The cut to the notebook which the man carries around with him, suggests this is also another important object to the storyline


• As the characters move in a more enclosed environment the natural lighting then goes, and artificial lighting is then used


• The music and setting most suits the sense of mystery until they walk into the enclosed space where the music fades and comes back as a more strange type of music

Deconstruction of Die Hard IV

• In the dvd opening it shows a type of blue prints of the main location of where the film is set
• The 20th century sequence starts off by the lights which shine on it, go off and a there is a sound as if there is a power failure
• tracking shot and establishing shot of all the laptops and computers possibly saying that this location is quite modern and FBI headquatres type place
• Theres a man, on one of the computers as it says on the computer 'unlocking password/username
• Constantly going black and showing actors and producers names, followed by a change of scene
• Close up of a woman and talking to the man about codes enphising that they are doing something illegal
• Cuts to another computer screen
• On the computer screen a lot of names show up and there occupations, flashes back to black screen showing the films name in block capitals in the centre of the screen
• The music in this opening of the film, is in some ways a lurky type of music with drums beating louder every few seconds like a heartbeat
• In the background of the computer screen there is a sort of robot face with orange eyes, connoting a sense of danger
• When each name comes up on the screen they disappear as if being erased by a computer
• Between each transition of the names there is a quick flash of some kind of technology blueprints
• The man we first see asks if what hes doing is legal possibly making him out to be an innocent character who is being manipulated in this first scene
• Also it seems that the opening is now coming to an end, as the names start merging with the motion picture instead of seperate black screens
• Then uses an elipsis to a new destination establishing that its a regular house on the outside
• Then cuts to the inside where a man is playing a violent game, where he is shooting people which a sense of foreboding for what is to come in the film
• The audience see the bomb under his desk before the man, so it gives a sense of irony
• It then cuts back to the computer screen, and we assume that the mans name which is seen on the computer screen, saying 'deactivated' next to it, is the man that just died
• After that all but one name have 'deactivated' next to it suggesting that, that one name will have some significence to the plot of this film
• All of these types of shots; and music suggests that this film is an action/thriller that could be very violent

Film noir:

Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Film noir of this era is associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography.

Deconstruction of Double indemnity:

• On the title opening on the DVD, it gives an idea to what the films like and uses small clips in a montage to give an idea of what the film is like

• The man on crouches in the title sequence is dressed in black and looks as if he's a detective in a stereotypical appearance

• The car speeding down the road gives the sense of rush; it is also alongside fast paced music, giving the idea that the film will be quite full of 'rushed' action

• The man in the speeding car is put in the dark to highlight a sense of mystery about him, so you don't see his face until he gets into his office

• We understand in the film opening that the man is a insurance salesman and we meet in the opening a woman he is obviously quite infatuated with her due to his playful banter with her

• There is a change in scenery and a flashback features at the beginning showing a big house, with narrative of the man over the scene

• We as an audience assume that the man has been injured in this past tense scene from what we see in the present tense when he is limping

• We get the thought that the woman is in the relationship with her husband for the way she ask about the accident insurance possibly talking about the man becoming injured or killed. This can be seen through her body language and the way the camera goes into a close up to her face

• The woman is very provocative in someways, as we can see from when we first meet her, adding to the idea that this film will be a thriller- with the theme of temptation and jealousy

• The woman seems to have no excitement in her life in the way she has a little playful banter with the insurance salesman, she sort of tests him as well to see how clever he is

The postman always rings twice:

• It starts off with a bird eye view, filming the carpet then a book appears in the shot on the floor with the name of the novel being 'the postman always rings twice'
• When it gets into the actual motion film it films a shot of a sign saying man wanted leading the audience to believe that a man is wated for a crime rather than a job giving a sense of forboding
• The first shot of the woman is of her legs, then pans up her body as if is it a point of view shot of the man who is working there
• We later find out that the woman is married to the boss who is quite fat and unattractive, so this becomes a quite a surprise for the audience who are watching
• You see throughout the opening how the two relationships (between the provocative woman and employee) becomes a lot stronger
• The representation of women in this film makes out as if they are all not to be trusted and lure men into false sense of securities
• The representation of the travelling man makes him out to be untrustworty and and quite mean