Film Opening Techniques
There are a vast variety of different techniques available to a film maker at the start of a movie, the use of these effects help to set the scene for the rest of the film, and ultimately can make or break the movie, depending on how well and often they are used.
With the movie Sleepy Hollow we see the use of sound to build up dramatic suspense, starting off fast and gradually slowing down; this comes hand in hand with a series of mysterious images that aren't clear to us the viewer at first glance. For example when the man is stamping the letter, our minds immediately jolt to the conclusion that it's blood, when really it's just Red wax. This could be somewhat comparable to a 'Truman Capote' style of building up a great sense of action and then producing an anti-climax.
On the other hand with Flags of our Fathers we have an analeptic opening of a dream sequence. This is portrayed via a plethora of different methods; we have the muffled sounds of explosions and gunshots; a desolate wasteland and above all, a 'ghostly mask' over the picture, telling us the audience we don't know the full picture, and in a few minutes time will know that it's in fact a dream sequence.
Finally City Of God uses a series of shots that gradually pick up pace, becoming faster and faster. This is cleverly used to show the rapidly increasing fear of an insignificant character ; a chicken, while all the other chickens around him are being brutally slaughted. Eventually when the chicken escapes, we're treated to a series of long-shots, this is done to show us the whole surrounding area, and how people have become accustom to 'gun-totaling maniacs' carrying out this sort of behavior.
There are a vast variety of different techniques available to a film maker at the start of a movie, the use of these effects help to set the scene for the rest of the film, and ultimately can make or break the movie, depending on how well and often they are used.
With the movie Sleepy Hollow we see the use of sound to build up dramatic suspense, starting off fast and gradually slowing down; this comes hand in hand with a series of mysterious images that aren't clear to us the viewer at first glance. For example when the man is stamping the letter, our minds immediately jolt to the conclusion that it's blood, when really it's just Red wax. This could be somewhat comparable to a 'Truman Capote' style of building up a great sense of action and then producing an anti-climax.
On the other hand with Flags of our Fathers we have an analeptic opening of a dream sequence. This is portrayed via a plethora of different methods; we have the muffled sounds of explosions and gunshots; a desolate wasteland and above all, a 'ghostly mask' over the picture, telling us the audience we don't know the full picture, and in a few minutes time will know that it's in fact a dream sequence.
Finally City Of God uses a series of shots that gradually pick up pace, becoming faster and faster. This is cleverly used to show the rapidly increasing fear of an insignificant character ; a chicken, while all the other chickens around him are being brutally slaughted. Eventually when the chicken escapes, we're treated to a series of long-shots, this is done to show us the whole surrounding area, and how people have become accustom to 'gun-totaling maniacs' carrying out this sort of behavior.