Film openings

Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now starts with the sound of a helicopter, the screen the fades in and there is a tropical forest. Then the helicopter drifts in and out of shot and music starts and explosions of napalm fill the forest. The helicopter blades then turn into a ceiling fan and Martin Sheen's face fills the left side of the screen. The Diagetic sounds within the film after the opening give a surreal feel, like he is still in a dream. The part where his head is upsidedown and on one side of the screen while the images of war and destruction are on the other half of the screen gives a feel that he is always thinking of war and it's always on his mind.

Blade Runner

Blade runner opens with a cityscape. It is dark and there are bursts of fire coming from some of the buildings. The camera then cut to a close up of a pupil with the reflection of the cityscape in it. The camera then slowly zooms throught city, with flying cars whizzing past, and finally come to a building where it looks through the window and the first scene begins. The emphasis on eyes in the opening scenes show that the film has a stron theme of eyes within the theme, however, you have to watch on to find out why. The titles before the cityscape appears are slow, simple and ordinary, which creates tension within the audience.

28 Days Later

The opening scene with the escaping monkey's creates lots of enigmas, these include; what is rage? Why is the doctor scared? Why are these monkeys in captivity? Why are the monkeys being forced to watch violent activity? This first scene also creates panic and tension within the audience, this is done by using loud noises, quick cuts and a shaking camera style.

The scene then changes to a man in a hospital and the mood is very calm as there is no sound what so ever, however there are more enigmas in the audiences mind, where has everyone gone? Why is he the only person that seems to be there? All of these techniques that have been used attract the audience's attention from the start and make them want to keep watching so there questions are answered.