Why are film openings important?
Similar to when we meet new people, we want to leave an impression. Film openings are used to establish an overall tone of the film. Film openings are used to build curiosity and interest for the audience to finish the film. The audience also rely on the opening sequence on whether a movie will be mediocre and cliché because of common themes and elements that movie creators will use. Often times, the audience can guess the overall narrative of the story if the creators give away too much spoilers in opening, thus, leading them to not finish the film and just assume what will happen.
Detailed analysis of opening sequence
Movie #1 (1,107 words)
Title: The Greatest Showman
Distributor: 20th Century Fox
Productions Companies:
Laurence Mark Productions, Chernin Entertainment. TSG Entertainment
Year of Release: 2017
Director: Michael Gracey
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Zac Efron, Michelle Williams, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya
The film opens with the traditional logo "20th Century Fox”, its distributor. It then fades black transitioning to the logo again but this time with a background music accompanying it. It then quick cuts to the production companies of the film. The film editors utilize the L-cut to sustain the audio while quick cutting to different production logos to recognize and introduce the production companies. They eventually show some snippets of the film but they quick cut again to the production and distributor names, eventually they also show the title of the movie.
Still using the same soundtrack, the film finally quick cuts to a man dressed as a ringmaster. This is well established because a ringmaster is often recognizable for his or her distinct outfit. The people in-charge with costumes (Mise en scene) have adopted the conventional formal and attention-grabbing costume that includes a large top hat, cane, and a formal coat with coattails. We can assume that the ringmaster is the protagonist of the film because of the screentime that is given to him. Aside from that, editors utilized a shallow depth of focus along with low-key lighting (creating a silhouette) to highlight his importance in the frame.
Dutch angles are often used to create a feeling of disorientation, madness, or imbalance. This camerawork is used to enhance the exciting tension of the musical act. The usage of a Dutch angle is appropriate in the scene because circus acts are often associated with peculiarity (Stereotypes; Stuart Hall’s Theory) which conforms to the idea of Dutch angles and its creation of madness and imbalance. In addition, the stumping diegetic sound of the circus audience implies that the act is engaging and exciting.
 Circus performers |  Circus audience |
We can clearly distinguish the circus performers from the circus audience though their costumes (Mise en Scene), the performers wear makeup, sparkly and bright colored clothing. In contrast, the circus audience wear formal (suits & dresses) and conservative clothes. Through their costume style, they also establish the film’s time setting, which is mid 1800s. Additionally, the circus audience were dominantly white people, meanwhile the representation of black people (particularly Zendeya’s character) was from the circus performers. This racial binary falls under the post-colonial theory of Paul Gilroy, as the representation conforms to the social norms during that time. The white people were given more focus and superiority while the black characters are treated as the “other. Historically speaking, black people were deemed inferior and during the 1800s the 13th amendment was just new. Thus, the prejudice and oppression of black people was rampant and not really called-out.
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The film transitions using a 360 angle turn along with lighting dimming. As this happens the music softens down to only the protagonist’s voice. This creates a feeling of isolation. A very neat slide-fade was used to bring back the protagonist to his childhood. Through this, the film establishes a non-linear narrative (Todorov) and a young-old binary opposition (Levi-Strauss).
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Now back to his childhood, the protagonist is seen from outside a tailor’s shop reflecting a red tailcoat and a black top hat. This framing creates a division and isolation of the protagonist from the expensive looking shop. It is also an effective symbolic code (Barthes) to show that he is longing and dreaming to wear something similar on the mannequin someday. In addition, the frame quick-cuts to his dirty, rugged, and broken shoes that exposed his toe. This is implying that he is not from a high socio-economic background.
A man (presumably his father) goes out of the tailor shop, carrying multiple rolls of cloth. The man then said “Hurry up Phineas, we’re gonna miss the train!” while grabbing onto the protagonist’s arm. Through this dialogue the protagonist’s name is finally revealed. The dialogue also creates an enigma (Barthes), the audience will ask questions like “where are they going?” As the father drags Phineas’ arm, he is seen looking back at a well-dressed kid eating a sandwich. This implied that he might be going on his day hungry, and also he is not as fortunate to buy himself food like the other kid.
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The scene jump cuts to a wide shot of Phineas and his father walking to big and luxurious looking house. Basing on the look of the two, they are not the house owner. Their clothing makes them look like workers. This assumption is verified when the scene quick cuts to Phineas and his father in the house’s living room and they are taking suit measurements of a wealthy-looking man.
As the father is busy taking measurements, the scene straight cuts to Phineas looking at a girl in a rounded table. The girl is with a teacher teaching her proper tea-etiquette. A binary opposition of rich and poor is well established with Phineas’ wrinkly and rough looking clothes and the girl’s neat and new looking clothing. Through a dirty three shot, we see the back of Phineas, implying that he is looking at the girl while she’s having lessons. A reverse counter shot is utilized to imply that Phineas and the girl is looking at each other. An insert cut of a wooden bowl is seen, this highlights that its going to be used in any moment. Phineas grabs the wooden bowl and empties it out, he mimics the girl by making a tea cup out the wooden bowl. Phineas made the young girl laugh, causing her to spit out the tea she just drank.
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The commotion caught the wealthy man’s attention. The girl’s name is “Charity,” this is revealed as the wealthy man calls her. She then gets reprimanded for her behavior, Phineas was quick to say that it was him who made Charity laugh. The wealthy man who is Charity’s father goes near to Phineas and gives him a heavy and loud slap. The impact of this was heightened with the utilization of counter shots of reaction from Phineas, Charity, and a dirty two shot of the two fathers. He also said the line “Stay away from my daughter, this establishes a relationship that Charity and Phineas will have when they grow up, additionally it also implies that Charity’s father disapproves of her socializing with people who is below their socio-economic background.
The scene quick cuts to a wide shot of Phineas sitting by the seashore. The diegetic sound of the ocean and the framing of the scene makes the protagonist look small and isolated. A foley of the tall grass is added and Phineas was followed by Charity who sneaked out by going through her window. This further establishes that Charity will be the love-interest of the protagonist despite an implication of their socio-economic background hindering them to be together.
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