Analysing and comparing three opening sequences

The first film I have chosen to analyse and compare the opening sequence is 'Remember Me'. As sad and suspense filled music quietly starts to play and gradually build up, dark flashing colours such as blues and blacks  begin to reveal a blurred film title 'Remember Me'.Within  the first 30 seconds the audience are lured in to a creepy atmosphere and gripped for what comes next.
(photo of blurred title on dark colours).
Following this the audience realises that the title is moving from left to right and the picture clears to reveal a train moving very fast. There is a close up of two blurred shadows that are revealed to be a middle aged woman and an innocent looking girl. The angle then zooms out to a mid long shot where we see both there bodys in full length.
(Photo of woman and daughter full body image standing on platform)
 It is dark and the mother protectively wraps her arm around her daughter looking around in anxt. The audience are then intrigued as anything could happen. It then shows us the location and the year which sets the scene.As they look out for the train there is a mid shot of there backs which immediately creates suspense as we can not see what is behind them. The camera then shows a long shot at an angle which is very important to see there whole body as we see two men stereotypically dressed in all black with there hoodies up.
(long shot of men in black)
There hands are in there pockets and although they look confident there is an unnerving atmosphere oozing out from the way they are standing. There is huge contrast between the two sets of character an innocent mother and daughter and two intimidating men. The camera turns in to another long shot but this time shows the mother and daughter dancing, unaware of the men whatching them. A close up shows the mothers happiness but again as she is looking over her shoulder we can not see what she is looking at and her face begins to change in to complete shock and worry
(photo of mother worried face)
And while the audience are on edge a mid long shot reveals the men staring. As one of the men crosses behind the woman and her daughter the camera zooms in briefly on the man and then a close up of the mothers face as she tries to protect her daughter. Suddenly both men come up to mother with the daughter standing directly behind and mug her the camera zooms in and does a close up of all three faces briefly passing behind the mother and the daughters head so you can just see the mens faces and this suggests authority to the audience.
(Photo of mens two faces and backs of girls heads contrast between characters)
It then shows a close up of the womans face as they step on to the train with her hand bag that flashes to the mans face behind the train window
(photo of mans face behind window showing the horror of the womans face in the reflection)
The camera does a close up and flashes from face to face to show the recognition of whats happened and then there is a  close up of the men as the doors open
(photos of men holding gun)
and an immediate close up of a gun
(immediate close up of gun ) as the mother is shot.

My next opening sequence is My sisters keeper. Here is a side profile close up of what is assumed to be the main character, a young girl, with aspects of a beach background visible. This still image is framed while the media institutions and production companies are introduced.

My next opening sequence is My sisters keeper. Here is a side profile close up of what is assumed to be the main character, a young girl, with aspects of a beach background visible. This still image is framed while the media institutions and production companies are introduced.

It then changes to  a mid shot of a what looks like an animated picture of a kite floating through the blue sky as the main actors are introduced.

About 20 seconds later there is an immediate close up of eggs duplicating on a sped up film that flashes other images related to science. I think i can compare these angles that are filmed in close ups to 'Remember Me' because in both sequences they don't just use close ups like most sequences would but they flash from image to image very quickly that looks like moving picture. This suggest to the audience that there is lots of images to be seen briefly to be able to absorb what is going on and feel emotionally attached to each storyline.

In the same way that 'Rememeber Me' blurs a lot of images and then reveals them, this fragmented close up of memories flashing on an old film projected on books and on photo frames holds the suspense of what the images are going to reveal.

Following on from the biological images this immediate close up at the end of the first sequence of 'My Sisters Keeper' shows two particular features the little girls eyes and the womans teeth. This suggests to the audience how different genes can relate to each other and how they will have an important role to play in the film. I see similarities between this image and 'Remember me' as the close up of the mother and daughters similar features are outlined when revealed but i think that these close ups in 'My sisters keeper' are better because it outlines what features are what more clearly

This also shows an immediate close up of a baby's eyes nose and mouth and this again is in relation to scientific genes and how a family connects.

My third and final opening sequence is from 'Moonrise Kingdom'.

This close up of a painting instantly grips me as a member of the audience because this shot is the first shot we ever see in this film which means that the house in the painting and the painting itself are going to have some relevance even though we don't know anything about it. This is why i am gripped i want to know more and the clues are not easy. The first ever shot in both 'Remember me' and 'My sisters keeper' is not as clear and poignant it does not grip me as easily.

This mid shot grips me even more then the last image as at first it seems just like a plain landing in a typical family home and then we realise a very important connotation that is even more suspense filled as we are desperate to know what the clues will resolve.The same red house in the painting is a toy red house on the landing floor. Again none of the other two films give clues to resolving information and i think this way it involves the audience and is far more gripping.










In 'Moonrise Kingdom' the director has cleverly stopped the clues in this long shot so we can not quite see weather what the boy is doing has any relevance to anything which makes the audience want to see what will happen next and so on. The transition between shots is very sharp and obvious and that is very different to 'My sisters keeper' and 'Remember Me' as theres seem to be longer and less fluid.

In this close up suspense is built as we can not see the side behind the binoculars but then it quickly fades in to a mid long shot where we can now see that the house in the painting is the house the young girl with the binoculars is in. I like the way the first sequence is because it gives enough information but not to much for the audience to be gripped. What i like about this one that is different to the other films is that it is very clear and very precise rather then giving to much detail away to quickly.
Each film is different but my favourite would be Moonrise kingdom because of the clear angular shots, the well hinted connotations and the gripping features that make each transition flow from one shot to another.