Analysis Of A Film Opening Sequence - Rambo: First Blood

The opening sequence that I have decided to examine is from ‘Rambo: First Blood’. I like the opening of this movie as it doesn’t expose any of the content of the film or even the genre to an extent. This stands out to me as it isn't conforming to the conventions of a title sequence. A title dequence is supposed to expose the genre to the audience whereas this does not.  In the opening, Rambo is walking through a forestry area towards a house. As the audience, we do not see his face close up, only the clothing that he is wearing. From seeing his clothes it is not apparent what he is like or what his profession was.

Towards the end of the sequence there is a close up of Rambo’s face. Even from this shot we cannot tell that he is a ‘dangerous’ man. In the shot, he looks calm and peaceful. He looks innocent and seems to be a genuine person. He also smiles at one point. His smile denotes happiness. Given his situation, the smile, for Rambo, could connote a sense of belonging or home; he feels accepted again.

The music in the opening scene also makes the film appear to be calm but also sad. The music seems to be sorrowful. This connotes that Rambo could get upset in his near future or that he has led a sad life.

Rambo is an action film. The conventions of an action film include: fast, upbeat music, bright colurs such as red and yellow that would connote danger. Fighting and violence are key to action movies along with guns and weaponary and maybe even explosions. Rambo goes against the conventions in the opening scene by using slow, sorrowful music that does not indicate an upbeat film. The colours are also very natural which indicate and calm and laid back person. The natural colours connote a peaceful and non violent man. Also, in the opening scene there is no sight of danger or violence. Througout the rest of the film, each of these conventions are expressed which then shows conformity. As the movie progresses it becomes more upbeat and violent.

The credits in the opening are a verbal code. The font and colour of the text are symbollic codes. The font used is large and bold. This could connote the type of character that Rambo is. He was an ex war fighter which therefore meant he was brave and extremely physically able. This font may have been used a subtle way to introduce Rambo. The content does not indicate much about the genre so instead the producers chose to do it this way. The colours used for the text is red and white. The red connotes danger, death and blood and the white connotes innocence and surrender. These together connotes that Rambo has a mixed personality. It suggests that he is an innocent person however, his dangerous side over writes that and that is how people percieve him. It could also connote that he is a violent and dangerous person and that he targets innocent people to make them surrender. The use of these colours has enabled the auience to generate their own opinion of what they think Rambo is like. There are multiple ways in which codes can be percieved and this helps the audience to make their own idea of the film. 

Both the filming and the music together in the opening give nothing away about the film. For someone who has not watched or knows anything about Rambo, the story would be a surprise.

(The permission for the video does not allow me to embed to the blog so i have posted a link to the video) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur-dWpyb7ww
 

Codes And Conventions Of 5 Film Openings

Title sequence work sheet from Chloe1312

Analysis Of 'Se7en' Opening Sequence

In the opening sequence of ‘Se7en’ it is clear that there are several codes and conventions present. There are three different types of code. These are: technical, verbal and symbolic. Within the title sequence, there is a lot of jumpy editing. This is a technical code. The jumpy editing represents a fast paced film which also adds to the tension building process. The sequence is also very grainy. This connotes that the story is complex and it is difficult to understand as the audience cannot ‘see’ it clearly. It could also connote how we see the situations or events through a particular characters eye. It could show that a character has difficulty making sense of what is going on before them and that is how the audience must experience it too. The use of grainy image also hints to the audience that the film is sent in a generation older than the present and it may not have modernised aspects to it. The use of overlapping and duplicated scenes is almost like a visual message to the audience to pay attention to those particular scenes. Moving on to verbal codes, one of the most prominent ones is the scream that can be heard. The scream connotes fear, or even torture given the content of the clip. The scream is also a typical convention of a thriller film. The sound of scream could also be seen as a type of ambient sound as it makes the scene seem more real for the audience. Within the sequence there is also text that appears to be highlighted by an unknown person. The words highlighted are pregnant and transsexual. The highlighting of these words connotes sexuality and gender. It could also be an anecdote within itself. It could make the audience believe that the film is based around a person that has made mistakes. Pregnancy could be a mistake and wanting to be a transsexual could connote a mistake that was in the makeup of your body. It could also hint towards femininity. Only a woman can become pregnant and a transsexual may want to become a woman. The final codes are symbolic. In the sequence, an image of a woman is presented with a red like going over her face. The colour red connotes blood, death and danger. The fact that it is passing through the woman’s face could connote that she is in danger. It may be that she could get severely hurt or that she might die. It may also connote that she herself is dangerous and the person that marked her face needs to be careful of her. Another symbolic code is the use of a razor blade to scrape skin off of a person’s fingers. The use of this connotes identity and that who you are in the film is an issue. It could also connote that people are afraid that their identity will be exploited so they are trying to remove it from themselves in any way possible. A convention from the sequence is that there is no sight of a protagonist; the audience do not know who the main character is. Another is that the camera uses filters to change the appearance of the sequence. Instead of normal colour being used, a red filter is used again connoting danger, death and blood. The use of shadows and dark lighting suggests a mystery in the film. It also connotes a lack of trust and that people have dark sides that not everyone is necessarily aware of.

180 Degree Rule

Evaluation Of Preliminary Task

I feel that my preliminary task was succesful. I was able to use a range of camera angles to express the content of the task and how the characters were feeling.

In the beginning of the clip there was a match on action shot where the character turns a corner on the stairs. I think that the shot was matched very well as there was a very little gap between each shot which made it look accurate. The shot in my opinion was difficult to edit as it was such a small section that needed to be cut however, I think that the final piece looked good.

In the sequence, the dialogue scene was made up of over the shoulder shots. This therefore links to the 180 degree rule. Although there wasnt a clearly defined establishing shot, the 180 degree rules was still used appropraitely and I feel that the shots were used effectively. However, there was one minor issue with the shots. When the camera was focal on the person on the right, she wasn't always central to the camera which they led the audience to focus on the background. In my future tasks i would make sure that my characters are in the centre of the camera shot so that the audience don't get ditracted my unecessary objects.

In the video, we used music to help explain the character of the student. I thinkt that the music went well with the video. I have pleased with the use of fading in the video both in the beginning with the fade out and the ending with the fade in. The music was also synchronous with the knocking on the door. This was a good affect as it showed that we considered how the music would fit with the action in the scene.

One other issue with the video was that in the very beginning, one of the characters could be seen standing. This was not intentional and did not look professional. In my future videos I would ensure that all characters are behind the camera and that they cannot be seen unless they are meant to be in a shot.

Overall i feel that the preliminary task went well. I think that the shots were taken accurately and that the characters expressions were easily recognised. I also feel that the music was used effectively and the use of synchronous sound was a good way to prove that we thought of technical editing. In my future taks I will ensure that characters are used appropriately in my filming and that they are the focus of the shot and not unnecessary background objects. I will ensure that i adhere to the 180 degree rule and use various shot types to express my scenes.

Preliminary Task

For our preliminary task we made a short film consisting of a person entering a room via a door, having a conversation with someone and once again leaving. Within the short clip i used various shot types including: shot reverse shot, over the shoulder shot and close ups. I also ensured that stuck to the 180 degree rule.

The idea for my task was a student having to see the principal for getting into a fight. She is a very rude student and doesn't take an interest in what the principal is saying.She simply gives attitude and leaves the room, slamming the door behind her.

Introduction To The Brief

Today we were introduced to the main task for our media coursework. The task itself is to produce a title and an opening of a new fiction film to last for a maximum of 2 minutes. I think that the task sounds exciting and i think it will be a great experience. I think it will allow me to gain a lot of knowledge about filming and has really inspired me to want to do this task well.