Saturday 26 September 2015

The Five Best Film Openings According to Me

1. Wild

Wild (2014) is about a women's 1,100 mile journey from the border of Mexico to Canada along the PCT trail to recover from an onslaught of personal tragedies. The film begins with Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl Strayed at one of her lowest points during the whole three month journey. Where she removes her hiking boot to reveal her sore feet. They're so sore, her toe nails are peeling off. She then proceeds to throw her boots off the cliff.






The Film opening is so memorable because it is full of suspense. Although, as an audience we have no clue what is going on, the scene still manages to capture us and keep us interested.

2. Stuck In Love

Stuck In Love (2012) starring Greg Kinnear and Jennifer Connelly and directed by Josh Boone is about a writer and his ex wife who come to terms with their complicated relationship, whilst their teenage children fall in and out of love for the first time. First we meet Rusty who begins the film with 'I remember that it hurt… Looking at her hurt.' As you delve deeper into the movie, his dad, Bill says that it would be a great first line of the book. And he was right. This line introduces us to Rusty's character and it really is a great first line! We next meet his sister, Samantha who uses her intelligence and poetry to get a guy into bed, and then we meet Bill, who is spying on his ex wife and her new Partner through a window in their house. The family then comes together for thanksgiving dinner with the song 'Home' by Edward Sharpe and The Magnetic stones blaring over the top. The film is written as a sort of book in a way, which makes sense as half the characters are writers.









3. Juno

The opening of Juno begins with the main character, Juno walking through her neighbourhood. It took over 900 coloured and printed images of Juno's Character to create the hand- animated title sequence. You can tell how much work when into it. Even though the outcome of the title sequence is slightly amateur and though the use of wide shots of the animated background it only adds to the charisma of the film as a whole and reflects Juno's childlike character.




4. Kick Ass 2

Kick Ass 2 (2013) begins with the characters Dave Lizewski (Aaron Taylor- Johnson) and Mindy Macready (Chloe Grace- Moretz) in a sort of wasteland where they experiment with a gun and bullet proof vests. I think this opening scene is kick ass because it's funny and it opens a window for us to see the relationship between the two characters. It begins an establishing shot of the city moves onto wide shots and several over the shoulder shots so that we can see both character's conversing. The scene uses shot- reverse- shot to show each character's response to what the other person says.





5) Forrest Gump

Love the beginning of Forrest Gump simply because it's so simple. The fact that the camera follows this feather is actually quite significant because the movie ends the same way, with a white feather. Even though there is no dialogue, the opening scene still manages to capture you. In a way the feather goes on a journey, just as we see Forrest Gump's life journey throughout the rest of the movie. I love the movie as a whole, but the opening scene sets the movie up for greatness.


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