Analysis of Silence Of The Lambs Opening

The opening to The Silence Of The Lambs,  director Jonathan Demme, begins with a slow, gentle piece of classical music. This is incidental and continues for the entire of the opening titles. By using an intense piece of music, the tone for the film is established immediately.

The first frame shown is a mid shot of woods. There's mist shown in the background which suggests the timing is early and also creates a more scary atmosphere which fits in with the theme of a thriller. 
The camera stays still but in the bottom right corner of the frame an underlined title appears which gives some context about the area to the audience. The title says Woods near Quantico, Va in a serfied, type-writer-like font which allows the audience to place when the film is taking place. The title is also written in white, which contrasts against darkness of the trees and atmosphere.
The title fades away and a new title appears. This time, the font is completely different to the previous one. The font is in big, bold, black, block letters with a white outline to make them stand out slightly more. The title stands in the middle of the frame and fills the width unlike the previous title. The title of the production company comes before any others which is typical of movies. 

The next titles to appear is the name of the main actors and actresses in the film. The first name shown is Jodie Foster's, this immiediately allows the audience to recognise who the main character is to the film as her name is displayed before any other. Her title is in a larger font than the production companies but only because her name is shorter. Regardless, her name seems more important to the audience than the production companies.
The next two names shown are the main male actors in the film, their names are bold and obvious also like the titles previous. By having their titles before the title of the film makes them seem important and significant. Each actor/actresses title runs for 4 seconds. However, the title of the film runs stays on screen for 6 seconds. This suggests that because it's more important it needs more time on the screen for people to read and acknowledge. The non-diegetic music also increases in volume as the title, The Silence Of The Lambs, is shown.

As all of these titles run, the camera starts to tilt downwards through the trees and head towards a central point. This point is the top of a hill and is focused on after the title of the film is shown.

After the title of the film disappears, the top of a hill is tilted down to and someone begins to come up the hill. The audience cannot distinguish any features of this person until the climb further up the hill. By this point, more titles have already been and gone, but by now, the audience has lost interest in the titles as anything of real importance has been show already. Whilst these titles are being shown, the scene continues to play which is why the audience's focus has been drawn to the person climbing up the hill using a rope. The use of the rope as a prop helps to understand the context in which the woman is exercising. The rope seems to be helping her which suggests that she is training for some reason, this is also reinforced later as there's a cargo net that she climbs over. The audience then sees the woman as someone with authority, power and the ability to work hard. 
As she climbs to the top of the hill, the camera doesn't cut and therefore it's shot in a long take. The woman breathes heavily, out of breath from her hike up the hill. She looks around and continues to run, out of the frame. The camera remains where it is, after she's moved out of the frame and zooms slightly to the trees behind before cutting back to Jodie Foster's character running. 
The titles continue to run as does the character, the camera follows behind as a mid-shot.

 The titles that run from this point on are in blocks of three, showing their relevance but also showing them as less important than those with a title to themselves. Also, there's a long amount of time between ANTHONY HEALD's title and BROOKE SMITH, DIANE BAKER and KASI LEMMON's title. This was to provide time for the audience to familiarise themselves with the character running. 

As she runs, the camera moves from behind her, to infront of her, to the side of her. This shows various perspectives.

There's a close up of her face, suddenly, which shows how hard she's working on training and shows her determination to succeed and what she is perhaps capable of.
She then carries on to run over a cargo net, in doing this, the camera moves around the base slowly enough to see how she moves over the top and rolls down the other side, almost as if she has done it thousands of times before. As though she is trained already and is just keeping up her standards.

Analysis of Pulp Fiction Opening

The opening to Pulp Fiction begins with an establishing mid-two-shot of two characters. A man and a woman. They're in what seems to be a typical American diner drinking coffee and eating. The man's costume consists of a Hawaiian type shirt, light-wash blue denim jeans and trainers. He's also smoking inside which sets the scene of America in the early 90's. 

The topic of conversation is not interpreted as the scene begins midway through their talk. As their conversation develops the audience becomes aware of the topic and realises what their occupation is. 
The shot of the two is broken by a waitress. The waitress asks them if they want more coffee in which the woman replies very politely. This largely contradicts the events which are to follow.

The scene begins to develop and the camera slowly zooms into the male character as they discuss their mutual want to not kill anybody, by doing this, the seriousness of their conversation is noticed and the audience is immediately engaged. 

Their conversation develops until they settle on the idea of robbing the coffee shop that they are currently in. Sound bridges are used between shot-reverse-shots as to keep the focus on one of the characters dialogue rather than cutting between them unnecessarily. 
The dialogue "I'm ready, let's do it. Right now, right here" is used by the woman to initiate the action of the robbery. The man then places a gun on the table and a fast cut is made to signify the importance of the gun in the situation, but it also focuses on the danger at hand. 

After this, the couple share a kiss. This long-lasting kiss seems significant to the audience as they're about to rob a coffee shop with weapons. The significance is also reinforced through a close up as they kiss. The kiss seems to symbolise their affection for one another but it also acts as a farewell/see you on the other side kind of kiss.

The couple sit back down and exchange their affections. 
The woman first says "I love you, Pumpkin" and the man replied with "I love you Honey Bunny". Their use of pet names supports the idea that they've been partners in crime and in life for a long time. 
The sweetness of these previous actions is immediately contradicted as they stand up with their guns and shout at the customers and staff in the shop. 
The man jumps from his seat in the booth, the camera tilts up with him, and he seems to take a 'good cop' approach as his dialogue is "Everybody be cool, this is a robbery". 

 Next, the woman stands up and takes a much more aggressive approach, brandishing her gun and pointing it at everyone. Her line of dialogue is "Any of you fucking pricks move and I'll execute every mother fucking last one of you". Despite their conversation about not wanting to kill anybody, her attitude portrays something different and the audience is then shocked by her immediate change to a criminal. The woman's character strays far away from female stereotypes by being loud, angry, aggressive and using taboo language. 

There is then a freeze frame of the two pointing their guns to the right of the frame, in which the first title appears. As the the freeze frame begins, non-diegetic, fast paced music begins to play. This keeps the modern atmosphere but also creates carries on the fast paced nature of the scene previous. The titles are all in a contrasting yellow, sans-serif font which keeps the modern feel to the film. By placing the title at the bottom of the frame, the characters can still be seen and their actions are still memorable to the audience.

 The freeze frame then fades to black and the titles continue to run. 
A BAND APART being the title of one of the production companies is presented in the centre of the frame and is accompanied by the companies logo which helps the audience to remember them.

 The words AND and PRODUCTION are in a much smaller font than Jersey Films which helps to accentuate the importance of the production company.
The two production companies are also shown before the director and title of the film which bares some importance also. 



Quentin Tarantino's title seems to stand out more than the previous titles. This seems so because his name is long and fills more of the frame but also because his title is accompanied by "A film by". This suggests that he is a well-known writer/director and draws in the fans of his. 

 Finally, the title of the film is brought into the frame through a credits transition and it moves upwards from the bottom. It stops moving in the centre of the frame so that the audience can read the title of the movie. The large, block letters stand out against the black background and are 3D, this differs to the previous titles but the colour scheme of yellow/orange remains. The large letters are also in a serifed font and are also in capitals. This signifies the great importance of the title of the film.
The titles of the actors and actresses after this are white, which creates a contrast to the yellow colour scheme but also makes them stand out as they're in a different font too. 

Analysis of Kill Bill Vol.1 Opening

The introduction to Kill Bill begins with a quote. The quote is written in a sans-serif font and is seen as very modern. The white font is used to stand out against the black background, creating contrast. The quote reads "Revenge is a dish best served cold.". Tarantino probably put this quote at the very beginning of the film to let the audience know what to expect from the film. Revenge. By establishing the movie with a quote such as this, the audience is then encouraged to indulge themselves in the movie immediately. 

The entire scene in the opening is filmed in black and white, this connotes that perhaps everything white is pure and that everything black is not. As soon as the quote fades out, a sound bridge of a woman breathing heavily is heard. She sounds distressed and worried and the audience is quickly drawn in by the mystery. As this continues, the titles continue with 'Mirimax Films Present' and a 'A Band Apart'. This then fades to the already black screen, before a straight cut to a woman, lying on the floor, bloody and battered from a high angle, mid-closeup. All that is seen of her costume is a veil but it is drenched in blood as her face and the floor. Her hair clings to her face, wet and her face glistens with sweat. 

As she breathes and cries, loud, deep, ambient foot steps can be heard. An eye-line match is made where the woman turns her head and her eyes go wide before the camera cuts to a shot of a man's feet. He wears heeled boots and this explains his overly loud footsteps. As he walks, the creaking of the old wooden floorboards can be heard too, this helps to bring atmosphere to the scene and add to the verisimilitude. As he walks, the shaky breathing of the woman can still be heard, suggesting that he is walking towards her. This suggestion is then reinforced as the camera cuts back to the woman and his foot fits only slightly in the shot. 

He bends down and wipes blood off of her face with a handkerchief, embroidered on it is the name Bill. This is highly significant as the title of the film is Kill Bill and the quote on the beginning suggests revenge. By using the embroidered handkerchief, the audience then knows who's dialogue this is and then knows who's footsteps they were. However, throughout the scene, Bill's face is never shown and the woman's is. The reversal of their hidden identities helps to further create mystery as his face isn't shown but his name is and her face is shown but her name is not told. This further entices the audience and draws them into the narrative.

The first part of dialogue in the entire film is spoken by Bill. He says "Do you find me sadistic?". He says this to a woman that is lying on the floor covered in blood and she's crying. This suggests that they know each other, as that question isn't commonly used as an introduction. 

Bill's costume consists of what appears to be an expensive bracelet,  a long sleeved shirt/jacket, trousers and heeled boots. This gives the impression that Bill is someone to be feared, this is especially reinforced by how casually he deals with the situation at hand and the way he talks to the woman. 

As the scene progresses, the woman's eyes grow wide after Bill has moved himself from the frame and says "This moment, this

is me in my most masochistic", while he says this sentence, the diegetic sound of him loading a gun is heard. The woman replies to this with "Bill, it's your baby.". This suggests that woman is pregnant by this man. This then confuses the audience as he seems to be a threat to the woman. After her first line of dialogue, Bill shoots her in the head. Thus creating a very gruesome opening scene to a thriller, exciting and stunning the audience into watching more. 

This is immediately cut to a title showing that this is the fourth film that Tarantino has directed. The name of Quentin Tarantino is written in capitals, bold and a larger font to the rest of the title, this signifies his importance to the film. Also, as soon as this title appears, the incidental music, Bang Bang, begins to play slowly and solemnly. This truly helps to create the dark, twisted nature that film already bares. 

This title then fades to a blank black screen which is followed by Uma Thurman's title, which is also in the same format as Tarantino's title. This signifies how important Uma Thurman is to the film and states her alongside Tarantino before anyone else is mentioned. Uma's name the fades to blackness before the title of the film appears. 

This time, the font is serifed and stands out in white boldly against the black background, as do the rest of the titles in opening. 

Analysis of Lost Highway Opening

The opening scene to Lost Highway is introduced with a jumpy, fast paced image of a road with headlights jumping around. The vehicle being depicted is obviously driving very fast and this connotes danger and the possibility of someone being injured. 

There's bright yellow stripes in the middle of the road which are vivid in contradiction to the darkness of the road and the bright lights from the car. This suggests to the audience that there's a situation in which people need to be driving recklessly. This is fitting of the thriller genre as risks are being taken and this puts the audience on edge. 
The titles zoom into the screen as if from the distance, the font used is bright yellow - which fits in with the theme of yellow that is seen on the road - in capital letters and in a sans-serif font which indicates that the movie is modern. The font used bares a resemblance to road signs and the painted writing found on roads. The theme of roads is therefore continued and sets up the semantic field of the movie to the audience. 

The incidental music in the opening to Lost Highway is very fast paced and has lots of layers of heavy techno beats and drums. The fast rhythm reflects the actions that are being displayed on screen. Also, the titles zoom into view in time to the music which holds the opening together well. 

The title of the film appears in a much bigger font than the other titles. This allows the audience to remember the title and depicts the importance and significance of the title to the film.

Analysis of Mulholland Drive Opening

Mulholland Drive, dir. David Lynch, begins it's opening sequence with a black screen and the titles fading in and out in time  to a low pitched, soft toned incidental music. The music has a dark feel to it which fits in with the theme of a thriller. However, this is quickly contradicted by the bright pink dancing scene which follows.  

This juxtaposes the introduction to the film as dark and scary to light and lively. As the pink is being introduced through silhouettes, the music changes and becomes more lively and upbeat and focuses on the sound of drums and trumpets, also as the dancing scene progresses, the ambient sound of audience cheers is heard. 

The costume that the people in the dancing scene wear is very stereo typically 40's, they wear oversized shirts with old-fashioned patterns, long brown skirts and dull colours. Layers of editing is used to compose what is in the frame. Towards the back there's a pink background and silhouettes of people dancing, and various clips of couples dancing are edited in. Towards the front of the frame, very white images start to move around and further focus into people smiling. This helps to create an establishing idea of the film as light-hearted and happy, which is then flipped on it's head as the music begins to fade out and the people dancing disappear. Suddenly, you can hear someone breathing and the camera uses a point of view angle and blurs in and out of focus. This suggests that the person is weary and unstable which contradicts the scene before. The uncertainty of the situations draws the audience in.

The audience is introduced to the title of the film through a street sign that says 'Mulholland Dr.', this subtly informs them of the title without it being too explicit.