Analysis of Film Openings

Today, I watched 3 film openings to analyse what all film openings had in common and how they built suspense. The three films I watched the openings of were Children of Men, Memento and A History of Violence. In this post, I shall put them in order in which film built up the most suspense and I would want to watch the most.

Children of Men

1. Children of Men - Children of Men started in a gloomy atmosphere in the year of 2027 in the future. It first showed a packed cafe that were all mourning the death of the 'youngest person in the world' suggesting that people had stopped having children as the boy was 18. This builds up a suspense in the atmosphere and has you asking questions about the film. The director uses a technique that is used by Hitchcock called the 'Red Herring' where you are drawn to the ordinary man before the bomb goes off which acts as a shock to the film.

2. Momento - I found Momento a good start to a film as it starts with a flashback of someone getting shot which immediately makes you think and ask questions to as why he shot Teddy. You eventually learn that he believes Teddy killed his wife but within the opening few minutes you learn he has short term memory loss which makes you think maybe Teddy didn't shoot his wife. The director of this film also uses and enigma where Lennie the guy with the short term memory loss is searching for his wifes killer. This makes you want to watch the rest of the film to see what happens next and to whether Teddy did actually kill his wife or not.



Memento



3. A History of Violence - A history violence is very different to the other two in the way it starts a film as where its starts with a very calm atmosphere and then eventually builds up the tension before the shock at the end. It starts with the man coming out of the house and ends with the shock when he shoots the little girl. The film starts with when he returns where there is a dead woman, he then tries to calm the girl down and when she fails to calm down, he shoots her. This makes you want to watch the rest of the film as you want to know who the dead woman was and what possessed him to shoot the little girl.

A History of Violence