Opening sequences

Recently in my media studies lessons I have been learning about opening sequences and the significance of them. Admittedly, some of my favourite films are Pixar; some of the Pixar opening sequences have incredible story telling. One of my favourites is definitely Up’s opening sequence. The entirety of the cartoon montage contains no dialogue yet tells the story of Ellie and Carl’s friendship, marriage, adventurous dreams and ends with Ellie’s death. The bittersweet prologue exhibits the capability of visual story telling and the effect it has on an audience of all ages.

The opening of toy story 3 is also very worthy of mentioning, despite the 5 minute long sequence being rather irrelevant to the plot, the fast passed action sets the tone of the rest of the film preparing the audience of what to expect.

On a more sinister note, I recently wrote a review on the opening sequence of the shining contrasting completely with the previous two films. The utter sequence is made up of continuous aerial shots of this car, for the majority of this the camera is behind the car following it. In a sense the camera is imitating stalking the car presenting a perspective of who could be in it as well as setting the eerie mood for the rest of the film. Also, the unwavering aerial shots are rather inhumane and hold sort of mystical qualities detaching the audience yet gaining intrigue.