1. How does the title sequence establish genre, character and narrative?
The scene is shot in Mexico. The beginning show two American males setting fire to a small building and taking a girl hostage. It portrays action and therefore establishes that the film is an action/thriller. The rest of the scene shows the two men driving in a car down a long deserted road with a girl in the trunk. We assume the main characters of the film are the two men.
2. How does the title sequence attract an audience’s interest?
It contains a lot of action, which entertains the audience. It also uses a dramatic soundtrack. These help to draw the audience in. It also starts to establish the storyline and causes you to want to know why they blow up the building and kidnap the girl.
3. What do you consider to be the target audience of the film and why?
The target audience of the film is 18 and above as it is rated R. This is because it contains sexual content, coarse language and violence.
4. Describe what you think is happening in the clip. What seems to be significant about what you can see?
The beginning of the clip starts with two men leaving what seems to be an old gas station. As they walk towards their car it blows up. This is significant because it is very dramatic. It is also a lot of action to take place in the first scene of a film. This gives the audiences the sense that the film will have a lot of action throughout. The rest of the clip is the two men driving down an empty road. One man has been shot through his hand and is bandaging it up. The other is driving. In the boot of the car we see a woman who has been kidnapped.
5. Describe the characters, their actions in the sequence and their relationships to one another.
It is clear through the way the two men react with each other that they have none each other for a while and might be close friends or work colleagues. They are shown arguing in the scene in none aggressive way.
6. How do setting, location, props and costume choices contribute to your interpretation of the sequence? Consider what information these convey.
The scene is set in the desert in Mexico. This gives it a rural and dirty feeling. The use of costumes is not all typical to what you would expect. The two men are in full suits. You would not expect to see this type of attire on dusty desert roads. Props used in the scene include alcohol and duck tape among others. They are typical everyday items that you would expect to see.
7. How does the sound shape your responses to the sequence?
The scene has both diegetic and non-diegetic sound. The diegetic sound is things such as talking and the car engine. The non-diegetic sounds in the clip include possibly some of the explosion sound, any sound effects and the soundtrack. The dialogue between the characters seems realistic and represents that you might hear between two men arguing. The soundtrack to the clip is in a very western style with a lot of guitar. It is something you might expect to here in that setting.
8. How do lighting and colour affect tone and atmosphere? Explore lighting choices, including noticeable use of light and shadow, as well as considering choice of colour.
The scene uses a lot of natural lighting in order to make it more realistic. This would have been easy to do, as in the desert there would have been a lot of sunlight. The tone is slightly orange. This is partly due to the amount of dust and dirt. This would also have been added in postproduction.
9. Consider the ways in which the editing affects our interpretation of what we see in this sequence. How important are pace and cowell as what you see?
In the opening sequence the pace of the editing is rather slow. This helps to establish the characters and the setting. The pace only slightly speeds up when the two main characters are in the car however very few shot angles are used so shots still tend to be long.
10. What questions would you want to ask about the rest of the film? Based on what you have seen, what predictions might you make about narrative events that have already occurred and developments follow?
The sequence makes you question who the main two characters might be, what they are doing and where they are going. Based on what happens in the scene you might predict that the two main characters will continue to get into lots of action.
11. How are titles integrated into the sequence and how important are they to understanding?
Titles start to be integrated once the two main characters have driven away. When they first come in they are centred in the middle of the shot and take up a large portion of it. The shot then fades to black and the film title scrolls up into the shot in big red letters. The colour red can be associated with action and blood and sub-consciously has an affect on the audience. The rest of the titles then appear in different areas of the shots in smaller letters and all in white
