An Analysis of a Film Opening in my Chosen Genre

For this task, I am going to analyse an action film as that is my chosen genre, so I go look into the aspects of an action film to see what content is included and how it draws in an audience. I have chosen to look at the film opening for Divergent because its a good action film with an in-depth storyline which draws me in as a viewer, and I want to see how I can put this in my own film opening.

Genre

This film is an action film so therefore its a mainstream film. There are many ways that this film opening introduces the genre to the audience. First of all, the location is set in a well-known location (Chicago) as we see an establishing shot of the city. Also the surroundings of the city are full of emptiness, telling the audience that there was a war that has devastated the land and left Chicago still standing but in ruin. The music sets the mood of mystery and sounds quite emotional, connoting that there is an in-depth story which is quite dramatic. Overall, the general point is that in the film opening the genre of the film and the type of film its going to be is made clear to the audience.

Narrative

In this film opening, I like how it begins with showing establishing shots of the area because I feel that it really introduces the audience to the story by letting them imagine what's going on before they are told. After the audience get to visually see what's happened to the world, non-diegetic dialogue is used from the main character over the top of these establishing shots half way through the film opening to then give e brief overview of what happened to the world and how it runs now. I think sing this narration really intrigues the viewer as it allows them to understand what has happened to avoid confusion and to help introduce the background of the story that won't be shown. Doing this puts the viewer in the perspective of the main character as she is telling you everything she knows, therefore the audience know as much as she does. It also lets the audience know that this film is going to have a complex storyline because telling a brief overview of the past represents just the beginning of the story.

Character

A lot of the characters we see in this film opening are representing their position rather than themselves to represent the community, so therefore many of them aren't specific characters. A couple of characters are introduced but they aren't main characters. Also we aren't completely introduced to the main character as we don't really know who she is but she explains about her views and what life is like for her. Seeing the clips of her when she was younger suggests that all these shots represent either a montage or a flash back.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere seems quite dull and sad because of the setting, non-diegetic background music, and the colours aren't bright but very grey and neutral. The only time we see bright colours is when we see the sunrise which may represent the good in the bad. Also because it looks so empty and that just viewing the first shots gives the viewer and idea of what's happened and that its bad. However it also seems quite happy further in the film opening as we get to see that the people are living well and living a unique but peaceful lifestyle.  

Themes

The theme of this film opening comes across as quite peaceful as everyone is living in harmony and although at the beginning the film comes across as sad, as it goes on we see a more happier approach to the story. We see themes of courage and justice because of how they are all managing to continue living after the devastation of the world. Though, the main theme that stood out to me was loneliness from the first few shots in the film opening because of how empty the world looks. It begins showing the landscape of the world and it then turns to Chicago, comparing how much of the world there used to be and how much is left.

Setting

The location is set in Chicago but  its Chicago in ruin which makes it a much more interesting location as it is a real place that you wouldn't get to experience seeing in this state. This suits the genre of action because it is located in a well-known city. The lighting is very warm at the beginning suggesting sadness but peacefulness. Further in the film opening the lighting becomes more natural, reflecting the natural lifestyle they now live in. In my film opening I will consider using a lot of natural lighting to make the situation more realistic.

Sound

Throughout the whole film opening there is non-diegetic background music. At the beginning of the film opening it is has quite slow violin and piano making it sound quite sad and emotional. This matches with the shots focused on the devastation of the world. As the film opening progresses the tune stays the same but it becomes more dramatic when we first see civilisation and when we are introduced to the faction 'Dauntless' which could be highlighted as foreshadowing the faction she chooses later on in the story. They seem happier and free so the music gets faster and happier to represent how they feel even though the world is in a bad state. Once we are introduced to the civilisation, a non-diegetic voice over from the main character is used to briefly describe the situation whilst showing a montage of shots. I like how this has been done because it puts the audience into the perspective of the main character whilst introducing the baseline of the story to draw the audience into the universe of the film. I feel that my ideas don't evolve around such a complex storyline so there's not much of a story to talk about if I used this concept, therefore I probably won't use it. However I would like to consider using it as I really like the idea, I am just not sure how I could include it. Behind all this we also get some diegetic sounds as well to bring more life into the shots of the film opening.

Titles

As there is a lot of narration, from midway through the film opening, there isn't any titles. All of the titles are shown from the beginning before the main character starts to speak. The sort of titles we see are of cast, crew, location and institutions. It begins with the institutions as they are the ones who are presenting the film. We then get the title of the film, main cast and then crew. However during the titles of the crew when an establishing shot is used on the city, the title 'Chicago' is used to clarify the location as people may be unaware as it is in a different setting. It is also highlighting the location because this is where the whole film takes place so its an important aspect to the story. The director's name is the last title to be shown. The style of the font matches the technological theme of the film as it looks a bit like electricity and it looks futuristic. I like the transitions they use on the first few titles as the lines on the letters join together to form the letter which matches well with the theme.

Conclusion

By doing this task I learnt a lot about the aspect of a complex storyline towards an action film. I know that it isn't completely necessary to use for an action film opening but I do like how it is shown because I find it very intriguing as a viewer and I would like to get that feedback from people who watch my film opening. This task has helped me gather more ideas as I have looked at a different type of action film compared to what I have previously looked at because none of them have had as much of a complex storyline.

Divergent film opening: