3 Film Opening Sequences Analysis

Lucky Number Slevin

Lucky Number Slevin Poster

In the opening sequence to 'Lucky Number Slevin' the shots are all connected by either characters or actions of the characters and in each individual shot the main focus at that moment will be on the character which connects us to the next part of the sequence, all the time using a medium to close up shot. When it comes to the connecting actors they are all parallel to the centre of the camera, and the previous important character becomes either out of focus or, slightly out of frame.

(Fig 1)

In terms of connections through movement, one good example through a bartender on the phone to his nephew, telling him about a doped 'drugged' horse. The uncle picks up his drink and in the next shot his nephew (fig 1) puts his drink t his lips. The sequence goes through several characters, from the 'Doc' who doped the horse, until the Nephew (fig 1) a few characters later who is passed the information by word of mouth.

The sequence itself was specifically written so that the Nephew seemed distant from the knowledge of who did the doping, later in the early stages of the film this is used as an echo for the circumstances he finds himself in ( no spoilers ).



The Battle of Britain

Battle Of Britain Poster 

The First Shot in the film is of a Hawker Hurricane Fighter plane (pictured on the poster) doing a fly by and sloppy barrel roll over some refugees in the north of France, who are being lead by a British tank. The shot begins with the camera on a low angle filming the plane, it then pans down to a slight low angle onto the British tank with two soldiers on the top looking up at the fly by, one of them passes comment "who does he think he is fooling", the camera then pans left of the tank and onto the long line of refugees behind them, combining a high angle and extreme long shot to symbolise the hopelessness of a nation. A powerful image.


 Fly Boys

Fly Boys Poster

After some not so bad but hardily believable CGI fly through footage of some sky and clouds during the title sequence and some facts about the First World War Death count and some stuff about the background to the film.

The first (actual) shot begins with a slow pan from the sky ( from up to down ), onto a long shot of a rider from a medium distance coming towards a wooden entrance with the sign RR engraved on the top, the rider and entrance way being central to the camera, he then slows and the shot moves onto a close up, mixed in with a slight low angle, and of the rider looking mildly frustrated on reading a flyer that was stamped to the post of the entrance, the shot keeps in focus the actors face and the Bold writing on the flyer, which bares bad news for the owners of a specific ranch , pointing fingers at the horseback character for being the owner, explaining his frustration. 

He then throws to the flyer floor and then the scene reverts to the original long shot of the rider and the entrance. as the flyer falls to the floor and the rider hurries off. The flyer remaining parallel to the centre of the shot. signifying its importance.


( sorry about the lack of pictures Mike, YouTube didn't seem to be working at house, and the pictures above were the only ones that had any sort of relevance to the topics I was writing about, my apologies )