Movie Opener Brainstorming & Research

     Today, I watched a bunch of different film openings made by previous AICE Media Studies students. It was interesting to see how everyone conveyed their story in such different ways and they were all fun to watch :)

Rise:

The first movie opener first starts off with the main character (a soccer player), arriving at a soccer field to practice. Meanwhile, hype and upbeat music starts to play in the background as the protagonist practices. Many different camera angles are utilized in this opener, such as as full body shots and mid shots. Both of these shots aid in portraying the actor and furthering the story. The editing of the video also had some clips match its cut to the beat of the music, which was satisfying to see and is something I would like to incorporate as well.

Dear Lover: 

As the viewer, it is easy to tell by the title that this film opening is something related to romance, which is a good trait to have. Nevertheless, the video has nice, calm music in the back and has many appealing shots of the environment it is shot at. The main character introduces herself through a monologue, with the shots of her looking wistfully over the river as she says it, setting a somber mood for the film. There are also clips that contrast this mood by showing the character happy in multiple flashbacks. I would like to incorporate contrast in my opener as well.

Dare to Thrill:

This opener is very different from the previous one, with much more upbeat music in the background and a much happier tone. The main characters are seen going to their car, with lots of excitement surrounding them. Once they arrive at the car, the excitement is amplified as music becomes louder and the camera angles shift faster. This opener did a great job at portraying an excited mood and I hope to be able to create a mood in my opener in a similar manner.

Always Watching:

This opener includes many different close ups and mid shots of its main characters to portray the facial expressions and emotions of the characters. Since this is a horror movie, it is vital to have the audience see the reactions of the characters, so it was a good thing that they decided to do that. The music in the background is eerie and creepy, which further adds to the suspenseful mood of the opener. I would like to incorporate most of the details from this opener into my own, since I am looking to create a suspenseful mood in my video.

The Blue Boar:

This video was fun to watch as it features a vibrant color scheme and jaunty music to portray the lightheartedness of the film. It captures the beauty of the main character, a young girl, by using close up shots. However, I don't think I would incorporate anything from this opener into my own.

Stalker:

This opening was very interesting to watch. It had very little sound in the beginning, and I was struggling to figure out what was going on. After a bit though, I heard the sound of a camera taking a picture followed by a title card, then music + heartbeat. After these elements it was easy to see that this was a horror type opening and the 'stalker' was stalking the protagonist. I probably would not include any elements from this opening into my own video.

Nostalgia:

This opening mainly revolves around an old woman and her the experiences she has had throughout her life. There are beautiful visuals throughout the video that I really admire. At the end of the video, we see a younger version of the woman, which was a nice detail. I would like to include visuals as appealing as this one into my video but obviously suited to the theme of my opening.