Movie Opener Brainstorming & Research

1. Rise: This opening had the cast member names appear on the screen as it began, as well as the crew, the title sequence also flashed on screen for a split second, as the apparent main character walked into view, from a bird’s eye view. Essentially, the main character gets out of his car and begins walking as music in the background at a low volume plays. The boy eventually puts his headphones on and the background music’s volume increases. He throws down the things from his bag and there are close up shots of him tying his shoes tightly. There is then a montage of him scoring soccer goals. When he is done, he takes off his headphones, the music stops, and he packs away his stuff. Finally, as he is walking back to his car, he stops in his tracks as he sees another character, who was previously shown walking towards the soccer field, leaning up against the main character’s car. The character near the car is shown in an extreme close-up. 

2. Offline: This begins with a credit sequence displayed as if someone was typing on a typewriter, first showing the production company, the producer, and another production company. The first shot is of someone holding a phone screen in the dark, going on social media and finding someone’s location. Then, the cast member names start to roll in, as a shot of a girl in a cage appears, and switches to a close up of said girl with her mouth tied up. Next, there is a series of scenes of a girl on her phone, scrolling through various social media apps, practically everywhere she goes. Shots of the girl in the cage are cut into this. At the end, we are shown a wider shot of the girl in the cage. The title appears on the screen looking similar to the credits in the very beginning.

3. Dear Lover: This opening starts off with different scenes of a swampy area with soft, piano music playing in the background and the cast and crew members’ names appearing on the screen. The title is then displayed over a shot of a girl sitting on the side of the lake, and then there is a fade to black, as a narration begins. Next, there are several scenes of the girl by the lake, followed by a shot of a girl, the one who was narrating, sitting on a couch and talking to the camera, continuing the speech. Then, there is a flashback montage of another girl, the flashback girl comes up to the lakeside girl holding a letter, she sits down, and the two of them talk. We are again shown the girl on the couch, talking to the camera, and then a person writing a letter and putting it into a mailbox, the narration continuing. The person writes another letter and finally we see the girl from the couch again, ending with “Let’s start from the beginning”.

4. Dare to Thrill: This starts with a group of teenagers attempting a dare, which they would gain money from doing, as shown on the screen with text displaying the dare and the prize money amount. The group goes up a staircase and the cast members’ names begin to appear as intensely upbeat music plays. One person in the group finds a car key, which leads them to a car in the parking lot, that the group then runs towards, the camera following them. They get into the car, speeding off, leaving the parking lot, and they make it on the highway. Eventually, they are in a plaza/parking lot and pull over. The group surrounds the trunk and opens it, their reaction is both surprised and disgusted by something unknown in there. The director’s name and the title then pop up on the screen.

5. Always Watching: The film opening begins with the title displayed in the center of the screen, followed by the production company name, and the director/editor’s name. The scene fades from black to a two shot as the cast members’ names appear on the screen. Almost immediately there is a close up shot of the boy who was on the left. Subsequently, there is a shot of the same boy and his friend, a different boy with glasses, walking in the street, towards the camera. Then, there is a close up shot of the original boy, which eventually goes back to the shot of him sitting on the couch from the first scene. Very shortly after that, there is an over-the-shoulder shot from the boy’s point of view and we are shown the boy with glasses walking away from him. Next, there is a  sequence where the main boy is walking in the dark, looking around him, while suspenseful music plays in the background, and this sequence is intermittently interrupted by the same boy talking angrily to someone on the other side of the room. The scene then goes back to the original two shot, and then to a shot of the boy with glasses and the other boy. There is then a shot of the boy cutting off a piece of tape and putting it on the boy with glasses’ (has now had them taken off) mouth, which switches back to the two shot, and then back to the kidnapping scene where the glasses boy is struggling. The boy is shown in a close up again, talking to the girl on the other chair. The next shot is of the original boy, wearing glasses in front of a mirror, edited between shots of the boy with glasses in front of a mirror. Finally, the camera is focused on the girl who tries to calm down the original boy and tells him to start the story over again.

6. The Blue Boar: There is a girl dressed in colonial/17th century garb and a narration begins immediately as cast member names roll in on the screen and classical music is played in the background. The same girl looks off into the distance. The camera shows off the surroundings and then cuts to the same girl, there’s a shot of a butterfly on a flower, close up of a woman’s mouth and a close up of the girl looking up with a shocked face. The camera goes back to the woman and then to the girl. There is a shot of the girl’s back in another location and then the camera swivels around to her side and then to her face close-up. The woman’s voice is still heard as the girl goes through some bush. The scene cuts back to the woman and the girl with her head down. In another scene, the girl paces in front of the bushes and then finally decides to go through them. She is shown to have taken off her shoes and is walking over some tree roots. She smiles and then closes her eyes and we hear her start to sing. Accompanying this song is a montage of the girl discovering new things in the forest and taking down her hair. She also sings in this sequence, walking through nature and picking up plants. The girl creates a shape with the sticks she finds and then the movie’s logo comes over that in the same shape on the screen, followed by the title which appears in the shape itself.

7. White Coat: The clip starts off with a sequence showing the writer’s name over a light shining in a dark room. We are shown what seems to be someone pouring a liquid into a glass as the cast names begin to appear and grim music is being played. The next scene displays a boy wound up in a chair in a dark room and the director’s name on the left. A thud is heard as the boy is struggling to get out of captivity and there's a shot from behind him showing his hands tied up and him trying to get out. For a brief second a man with a face mask and glasses/goggles is shown. Then, the boy finally breaks free and gets out of the chair and the man with the glasses is pouring a liquid into another glass. The boy is seen picking up a tool from a pile of them. It switches to a shot of a beaker with some kind of orange dye being dropped into it on a table. The man with the mask is now pouring this orange liquid into another beaker filled with blue liquid. Some smoke or gas in the air is shown and is followed by an image of the boy who was in the chair with text reading “Patient #0534”. The boy is now seen pouring some dye into water and the man is creating this substance that may overflow the container it is in. The boy opens this case that is glowing green from the inside and as the camera moves closer to him, he stares straight back. The title of the movie appears and then fades away.

8. Stalker: This begins with a girl in her bed and has just woken up, turning off her alarm and getting out of bed, the crew names start to show up. The girl opens her blinds and goes in the mirror to get ready for the day, the cast members’ names now appearing. As she is combing her hair, the girl hears something strange and ominous music starts to play, her head turning around. She looks toward her window and dismisses the sound. There is a fade to black and then the title is displayed. Next, we see the girl at school, sitting on the floor with some work. She finds a crumpled piece of paper in her things and opens it. Seemingly scared she gets up right away and walks as fast as she can, intense scary music now playing. She runs to her car but struggles to open it. When she does get inside she cannot start the car. We then see her with a frightened face as someone apparently comes up to her car.

9. Nostalgia: The movie’s production company is shown and then a shot of a tree and the sky, the camera tilting up and up more towards the sky until the title appears, followed by the writer/director’s name. A painting of some kind of European village, is in view and then we see an older lady. The painting is shown again and then we are given an extreme close-up of the woman’s face. Another image, perhaps of the same location, is displayed, showing a large body of water with ships sailing by and some houses on the right. Now, the top of the woman’s head is shown and she is wearing a headband. Then, we see the lady grabbing something from a plant, and then her walking with her hand over her torso. A shot is shown of the woman’s belongings, including pictures and a bell. She picks up the box that has a picture of her and some jewelry in it. There is a shot of some flowers and an old picture of a man and woman are shown. The older lady is seen facing the camera and then facing the side. A younger girl is now seen, posing in the same way as the older woman and then the camera pans to the sky.

For my group’s film opening, I think we will use something from the 3rd video, particularly the part where the girl on the couch says, “Let’s start from the beginning”. I think that line or a modified version of it would be perfect for ours because we are doing a bit of a long story for our idea, but since it’s just the opening we are making, I think we’re going to tell our story backwards, the ending being at the beginning. The last video also reminded me that our group could also do a similar title reveal, a sort of tilt up to the sky to display the title of the movie at the end of it. The first video helped me realize we can minimize the dialogue if we need to, especially if we run out of time doing other things in the film opening.