How to Deconstruct a Film Opening:

·      Organise your notes

Before you even start watching the opening, split up your page into sections so you don’t get too overloaded with information and examples. A good idea is to split it into

• Camera Angles (including movement and framing)
• Editing (including titles and effects)
• Sound (non diegetic and diegetic)
• Mise-en-scene (this is quite broad, it refers to props, lighting, costumes, locations and characters actions)

Watch it as many times as you need, taking each section at a time, if you try to do everything at once, you will miss important details!

·      Take evidence!

If you are using a computer, make sure you take print screen/screenshots of particular moments to document your evidence, for example a high camera that shows one character to be more inferior than the other. Always back up your points with evidence, otherwise what you state is almost meaningless.

·      Terminology

Always include lots of fancy sounding words to impress the marker as it shows that you know your stuff, however if you do include it make sure that it is correct. This includes, specific camera angles such as ‘tracking shot’ or editing techniques such as ‘jump cut’ or lighting, which can be ‘high key’ or ‘low key’.

·      Conventional film opening

When deconstructing and analysing a film opening, always remember to refer back to the idea that it is the first couple of scenes and needs to generally follow the conventions of a film opening. It might chose to contradict that and do something unusual, but if so, you need to mention that to show that you know it is different from usual film openings.

·      Affect on the audience

Remember that films are made to be watched, so it is important to always consider the audience position during the film. Are they supposed to feel scared or is it meant to make them laugh? What techniques have been used that support the purpose and genre of the film?

Tips:

Make sure you don’t get confused between diegetic and non-diegetic sounds.

Diegetic sounds are sounds that are presented within the “film world” such as a dog barking or a doorbell ringing. These can further be described as off-screen or on-screen depending whether the source of the sound is visible in the frame.
Non-diegetic sounds are sounds that the characters would not be able to hear as there are added for the audiences benefit. Examples would be a voiceover, music added to increase the atmosphere or sound effects, which are added for dramatic effect.

Don’t be vague or waffly, try to be as specific as possible, including all and only relevant information, particulary if you are deconstructing it for a certain aspect like the genre. Don’t mention something which is completely unrelated as it will just waste time. Try to stay focused to the things you need to be looking at.

If you are writing out your deconstruction, make sure you analyse some of the points you made as just describing all the way through is not what the marker is looking for, you need to be analysing to show them that you understand what is happening and know what you are talking about.

If you find something that inspires you, take a note of it as it could give you a good idea of what you want to do. Remember not to copy whole chunks of a sequence but if an editing technique or a camera angle is really impressive, you might want to use it.

If you are writing it out, remember it doesn’t do any harm to include your own personal opinion and what you thought was good/bad. If a horror film opening didn’t make you feel scared when it was supposed to – why was that? It’s similar to constructive criticisms so again take inspiration of what not do for your own opening.