Opening Sequence 5 Analysis

Yasmin Falahat 28 Days Later Opening Sequence The opening sequence of independent thriller ’28 Days Later’ has an open, linear narrative as it starts with what happened in the past then continues chronologically but with big ellipses. It has an open narrative so we don’t know what happens next. This leaves the audience drawn in and wanting to know what happens. ’28 Days Later’ subverts Todorov’s narrative theory as is starts with the disruption – this is conventional of the thriller genre. In this opening sequence, the audience are led to believe that the human rights activists are the heroes and the scientist is the villain but it turns out that the human rights activists actually released the monkeys and let the virus loose whilst the scientist was trying to stop them so Propp’s character theory can be seen differently for this opening sequence and the character’s roles are subverted. The narrative devices used in this opening sequence involve a twist (where the scientist was actually protecting the monkeys, not hurting them) and foreshadowing (the scenes the monkey was watching on TV of all the riots and disaster actually take place, even though we don’t see it exactly, we know they have happened later on in the film). It could even be argued that the opening sequence is a flash-forward. The open narrative, starting with disruption, enigma, low droning music and the dark/red lighting used in this opening sequence are all generic conventions of the thriller genre. The Bourne Ultimatum Opening Sequence The opening sequence of Hollywood thriller ‘The Bourne Ultimatum’ stars off very fast paced with a disruption instead of equilibrium. It is also a linear, restrictive narrative as it happens in chronological order from mostly the main character; Jason Bourne’s view. Just like the ’28 Days Later’ opening sequence, it is also an open narrative as not everything is resolved. Propp’s character theory is also slightly mixed up in this opening sequence too because as Jason Bourne is running from the police, we think he is the villain and the police are the heroes. This is the conventional stereotype given to the police because they are in society to ‘protect’ us but as the camera mostly follows him and sees things from his perspective, we start to think that he is actually the Hero and the police are the false heroes. The main narrative device used in this opening sequence is the use of flashbacks and these, in turn, trigger an enigma as the audience question what the flashbacks are showing. The running away from the police could foreshadowing that there will be a lot of running/chasing action in the rest of the film. Pathetic Fallacy is also used as the darkness of the night could echo the tone of the film. The setting of nighttime, the involvement of the police, the enigma created and the fast, dramatic music are all generic conventions of the thriller genre. Although this is a Hollywood thriller, it still has a lot of conventions and features similar to those of the independent ’28 Days Later’ thriller although TBU’s opening sequence is much more slick and fast paced whilst 28DL is simpler editing and camera-wise.

Yasmin Falahat V for Vendetta Opening Sequence The ‘V for Vendetta’ opening sequence is very different to the previous two as it is entirely a flashback. This still means that it is part of a linear narrative as the rest of the film happens after the opening sequence takes place. It has an open yet omniscient narrative because even though we just hear one woman speaking (voice-over), we still see what happens on the screen from all the character’s views. The character types I denoted from this opening sequence were the princess (the woman crying in the crowd and possibly also the woman speaking) and the hero, Guy Fawkes, even though he is made to seem like the villain as he is being hanged, the audience start to feel sorry for him and start to think that maybe he is the hero. The main narrative device used in this opening sequence is the flashback as the whole clip was a look into history. This could be a foreshadowing effect of what might be coming up in the film. The fact it starts with a flashback could create enigma because the audience might wonder what relevance it has to do with the rest of the film. Also, the man is running away from people trying to catch him and he gets killed – these two aspects as well as enigma are generic conventions of thrillers. I think ‘V for Vendetta’ is a subsidiary film as it has Hollywood and independent production companies. Memento Opening Sequence ‘Memento’ is an independent thriller which starts with the end of the film. This means it has a non-linear narrative and is also restricted as we see things from the main character’s point of view. Unlike ’28 Days Later’ or ‘V for Vendetta’, ‘Memento’ starts with the reequilibrium instead of the disruption or equilibrium. The only character we see in the opening sequence is Lennard who we think is the hero because we just see him, but we also think he could be the villain as he is seen shooting someone. Subverting Propp’s character theory seems to be a common convention of the thriller genre. There are a lot of narrative devices used in this opening sequence. These include; slowmotion and rewinding (which adds an interesting, surreal element to the film), a flashforward, a twist, dramatic irony (because the audience know that he is going to shoot someone but Lennard may not know) and foreshadowing. The whole opening sequence sparks lots of questions in the audience’s head as to who the man he shot was, why he was holding that picture etc. This enigma created is a common generic convention of the thriller genre. Freedomland Opening Sequence ‘Freedomland’ is also an independent thriller. The opening sequence contains linear narrative but it is left open so the audience would want to know what happens next. It starts with the disruption where the woman is wondering around at night by herself with blood all over her hands.

Yasmin Falahat In this opening sequence it is hard to say who the character types are but we could take it as the woman is the princess because she is injured and looks as if she needs help and the doctors could be seen as the heroes. Foreshadowing is a narrative device used in this opening sequence because the darkness, the location, the unusual behaviour of the woman and the blood could all represent things that happen later on in the film. Also, it could be argues that pathetic fallacy is used because the woman is dressed in all white as she is walking in the black night and a main theme in ‘Freedomland’ is the tension between the black and white races so the opening sequence could echo the separation between the two groups of people in the rest of the film.