An impactful film opening, regardless of whether it is set in the real world or not, reflects reality in one way or another, bringing together sounds and images to create a heightened version of the world around us. Hence, to eventually be able to make our own film opening for the Media Studies Portfolio, it’s essential to understand the conventions that it constitutes and how they are employed to make films which become an extension of their remarkable beginnings.
Since I, like any other ‘gifted’-kid-turned-academically-burnt-out-puddle-of-emotions, am plagued with the idea of the existential struggle which accompanies the arduous task of becoming an adult someday, I’ve chosen the opening of Lady Bird (2017)—Greta Gerwig’s take on a coming-of-age comedy-drama—to illustrate the importance and purpose of film openings. (And I can only hope that neither making incredible film openings nor adulthood are as laborious as accidentally writing a seemingly endless sentence like the one above and struggling to figure out if it makes grammatical sense.)
This opening, starting with a moment of togertherness and warm sunlight, and ending with a divisive fight, establishes the following:
the protagonist’s characterization — Ladybird wants to be a writer, despises California, aspires to move to the East Coast, and is rebellious and impulsive.
the setting — 2002, Sacramento.
the central conflict — the opening dialogue exchange captures Marion and Ladybird’s mother-daughter dynamic that is brimming with conflict.
a sense of intrigue — the scene efficiently entices the audience with the poignant use of drama and comedy.
themes that may be explored in the narrative — the uncertainty of the future, claustrophobic suburban life, growing up, parenting, escapism, etc.
Along with this, film openings often create a 'before' (which could be based on character(s), setting, mood, themes, etc.) that contrasts with the 'after' (i.e. perhaps the end of the film or a sub-plot). This highlights how things in the narrative have changed, illustrating the film's purpose and deepening the audience's understanding of it. This technique is employed immaculately in Lady Bird; the opening shows that the protagonist has called herself Ladybird but Marion refuses to call her by this name, providing a stark contrast with the ending, in which she addresses herself as ‘Christine’, insinuating that she has begun to accept herself as is rather than trying to become someone that isn’t a reflection of her true self.
The beginning of Lady Bird (2017) serves as a mirror for the ending of the film.
Even though this may not necessarily be relevant to our Foundation Portfolio—since the task merely consists of creating a film opening—it is still important to note that the beginning of a well-executed film determines recurring themes and conventions that the rest of the film either cements or transforms, increasing the audience's interest in how the narrative will unfurl.
The Joan Didion quote the movie starts off with also contributes to giving meaning to its opening.
In an interview, Gerwig said, "When Lady Bird throws herself out of the car, Hand In My Pocket is on the sountrack." Not only were the song and Morrisette from the era of the narative, but Morissette is personally important to Gerwig. "I think the Alanis Morrisette song, I’ve always loved that song. For me, I think that was the first cassette tape I bought. I listened to it over and over again. She was my Patti Smith. She was my lady who wrote and performed herself, she was my rockstar.” Therefore, the music (only present in the clip for a second because YouTube seems to be our enemy) is selected deliberately and adds depth to the themes since they are so personal to the director. This illustrates the importance of soundtracks in relation to film openings.
Thus, we can conclude that the purpose of a remarkable film opening is to check all these boxes with the suitable use of visuals and sound in order to create an experience that gets the audience greatly invested in the movie, regardless of whether they are watching it merely for entertainment or from the eyes of a film critic. If it fails to do so, it is safe to assume that the average film-watcher will have no choice but to be deeply bored by the film and quickly decide to rewatch an old favourite instead.
Overall, abandoning Netflix two minutes into yet another careless exploration of a cluster of shallow themes and choosing to sob while watching Dead Poets Society for the hundredth time instead is an enjoyable experience for me but certainly not for whoever was responsible for making said careless exploration of a cluster of shallow themes. Keeping in mind that I could absolutely end up being this person when the time arrives to work on the film opening task, stay tuned for the upcoming blog posts which could either be the epitome of a breeze or a suffering-ridden monologue about my not-so-breezy attempts at film-making.
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