In the opening scene we see two thugs, Leland Jones (Stephen McHattie) and William Orser (Greg Bryke), who are on the road hiding out from the law. Their boredom with their fate of having to stay away from any large city or town where they could be recognized, is usually relieved by some violent act. As we see them casually checking out from a run down motel, it is revealed that they have murdered the owners. When Orser goes back into the motel office to fill their water bottle, he reveals his sociopathic character by cold-bloodedly shooting the dazed five-year-old daughter of the motel owners when she wanders into the office looking for her parents. At this point there is a blackout and we hear a scream.
It begins with a very long shot. It tracks them all the way through, probably with the help of a crane. The dialogue is very slow, relaxed and calm, matching the pace of the opening. The first cut only comes 4 minutes in, creating suspense and tension towards the audience. Now after that cut, we go back to a tracking shot, following his movements, when we suddenly see blood on the counter, and then the camera swings down and we see two body covered in blood. Jones killed them. Orser practically doesn't even recognize them and carries on doing what hes doing, filling the water bottle, when a girl comes out. By now there are more cuts, and the tension builds as it cuts to him pulling out a gun, then cutting to a close up of the gun shooting the girl...No Country for Old Men
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The film starts with a slideshow of long shots of a rural, desolate landscape, all with a narrator giving some back story to the scene. Straight away, connotations of a Western film have been shown, despite no characters have yet appeared on screen. This is immediately questioned in the next low angle shot of the two men with the police car; and with the conventions of Westerns being laid out, it is obvious to the audience within the scene that one of the men will take the archetype “villain” character.The use of the wide shots of the landscape gives the audience a moment to reflect on the narrator, which implies what he is saying is important. The non-digetic music also adds to this, with the wind blowing softly to emphasise the isolation of the setting, which just makes the placement of the characters all the more bizarre.There is almost a match dissolve between the villain sat in the darkness in the back of the car and when he's in darkness at the back of the prison wall. This gives me the impression that this process is one he is used to and has experience with, as he is very calm up until he kills the policeman.He policeman is the first character we hear talk, which builds audience empathy for him as he is killed as we can see the killer walking up behind him, and through dramatic irony we feel somewhat sorry for him. The lack of any non-digetic sound at this point increases the tension as he walks up behind him as if you could physically feel him getting closer.Again, the lack of a soundtrack when the killer chokes the policeman shows the lack of perceived importance the film shows for the character's death, as it doesn't warrant the need for one, which mirrors the lack of empathy the killer shows for killing the policeman. The lack of emotion he shows when killing his first two victims (the policeman and the man whose car he steals) builds up a reputation in the audience's mind of him being heartless and has no empathy for his actions. The scuff marks on the floor and a slow pan up, stopping before it shows any gore, gives the viewer a moment to think about the brutal way this man has just been killed, which is more effective that if the killer had just shot him. The oxygen tank that the policeman talked about is used immediately following this scene, which tells the audience that the killer had used before killing the man in the car at least once before.
Zodiac
We see a mid-shot of the couple turning and looking towards the car. We then see a view from the back of the couple’s car of them both turning around. This shot is effective as we notice the fear the couple are experiencing and we are almost put in the view of the Zodiac Murderer. Artificial lighting of a torch is then used to shine through the couple’s car and is used effectively to not allow the audience to see the Zodiac killer. This creates a mysteric atmosphere hiding the Zodiac’s identity. The Zodiac then moves around the car still holding the torch blocking lighting from his face. The Zodiac killer then simply pulls out a gun and shoots the girl, still blocking light from himself. As we see blood splatter across the girl’s body the Hurdy Gurdy Man song, as previously heard in the opening credits, kicks back in. We see the girl struggle as she is repeatedly shot. I really like the use of music being added in here as it makes the deaths seem incredibly easy for the killer to commit and shows the audience it’s going to be quite a casual thing for him to do. Once the girl is shot we then see a mid-shot from the front of the car of the killer moving away he then comes back and we see a high angled long shot of the boyfriend struggling and attempting to get away but being casually shot by the killer. After that the Zodiac killer walks away, still shadowed out, and walks back to his car. As he does so the screen fades into darkness. This is effective because the killers identity hasn't been exposed, leaving the audience anxious to find out who it is...
Brick
At the start of the opening sequence of Brick there is incidental music playing this sets a mysterious tone to the film it also gives a sense of loneliness and the actual music sounds like the noise of dripping water; this could be a connotation to what the film is about. The first shot we see is of the protagonist, the shot it’s a close up of his shoes/feet. His shoes are quite old fashioned and nerdy this gives us a sense of the protagonist’s character. When the camera reveals the protagonist’s face there is a shallow depth of field, we learn from the character by his face that he is a teenager. His face also tells us he is in distress. We see a variety of shots of the girl; the first shot we see is of her feet, her hair and her blue bracelets. The enigma codes/ question this makes us ask is how did she die? Why is he there? Did he do it? The blue bracelets are significant as they are shown on the girl again when but when she is alive. This is the shortest of all the openings.
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