The Research Continues...

Hi and welcome back to my blog!

As I stated in my previous post, Riley and I have decided on a film opening of the crime drama genre. In my last blog post, I mostly researched the conventions of this genre, like the setting, characters, and title. Today, I'm going to research this genre in more depth, focusing more on sample openings for films of this genre.

I mentioned the Netflix Original show Elite in my last post. This show was what inspired me to further research this genre and eventually to choose. I really liked how Elite started, it was the beginning that really drew my eye and kept me interested. I decided to rewatch the first five minutes of the show and take notes of its elements, as if I would have to write a visual analysis essay on it after. I'll type out my notes below.

Elite Notes

- Introduces production company first on a dark screen
- Production company is introduced while a loud nondiegetic sound is heard in the
background
- This transitions to flashing blue and red lights - reminiscent of police sirens - while
a dark song
plays in the background
- The camera zooms out to reveal the main character, a teenage boy
- The boy slowly turns, looking directly into the camera
- Low-key lighting is used - suspense
- Many jump cuts as the character walks, creates a sense of confusion and despair
- High pitched noise heard, similar to those used in horror movies
- The sound of the boy’s heavy breathing is magnified, shows his unease
- In this flashback, his face is shadowed (low-key lighting), creates mystery
- Transitions to the boy and an older woman in an interrogation room, boy has tears
in his eyes, the lighting is stronger, his face is visible
- Shot reverse-shot of the boy and the interrogator

I really liked the layout of this film opening and plan on employing a similar layout for my own. First off, I liked that the production company was introduced first and on a black background. To me, this looks much better than if it was introduced while the scenes were playing. I also really liked how the film starts with flashing lights and doesn’t initially reveal the face of the character.

I was thinking of starting my film opening with shots of the crime scene and/or the crime that the main character has been accused of. Similar to Elite, I would use low-key lighting for these scenes. This would create a sense of mystery and suspense that would draw the audience in and keep them interested. This would transition to scenes in the interrogation room, where the main character’s (who will be either me or Riley) face will be fully revealed, as the lighting will be brighter and harsher.

As the interrogator (we’re not sure who this will be) asks questions, the main character will have flashbacks from either the actual crime or from the aftermath of the crime. We will frame this with scenes similar to the initial scenes with low-key lighting. The name of the film ("The Sirens") will then pop up. I'm still not sure when we should introduce the name of the director, actors, etc. We probably will pop their names up on the corner of the screen as the initial scenes are playing.

We also need to keep in mind that Elite is a TV show and we are producing a film, so obviously there will be differences in the layouts of both openings. It will be difficult to center the film opening on the crime committed in a way that will be engaging and interesting, but also in a way that doesn't expose or spoil the actual crime, as that would ruin the rest of the movie. It's difficult to plan this out, but if we loosely plan out the rest of the movie, we can solve this issue.

Thank you for reading, I'll see you in my next post!