The Dark knight Rises Opening Scene Review

'The Dark Knight Rises' is a superhero film directed by Christopher Nolan who co-wrote the screen play with his brother Jonathan Nolan and the story with David S. Goyer. This film stars Anne Hathaway who starred in 'Alice in Wonderland', Christian Bale who also starred in 'American Psycho', Michael Caine who starred in 'The Italian Job', Gary Oldman who also starred in 'Lawless', Tom Hardy who starred in 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy', Marion Cotillard who also starred in 'Inception', Joseph Gordon-Levitt who starred in 'Looper' and finally Morgan Freeman who also starred in 'The Bucket List'.
In the opening scene we can see a plane flying over/around a mountain in the middle of nowhere, this is a high angle shot but could be a birds eye view shot. The surroundings are beautiful as the grass is thick and green and you can see a big blue sparkling lake in the distance. As the surroundings are peaceful we're expecting the journey on the plane to be as well. We have all the indications of a quiet scene as the Non-Diagetic music is calm and relaxing also. However once inside the plane we see that it's not all it seems, we first see a man who doesn't look like your regular passenger. As the camera tilts to the left we see that this isn't an ordinary flight as there are two people at the back of the plane, on their knees with their hands tied behind their backs and with bags over their heads. The audience immediately recognise this as a hostage scene and so are anticipating what's going to happen next. The man who appears to be in charge of the hostage situation then tugs on one of the guys bags and then pulls out a handgun, this clearly shows that he is violent and that he's not one to be messed with. His stance also shows that he's merciless as he's leaning forward with confidence at what he's about to do and shouting asserting his dominance. One of his henchman then open the plane door, which we know the two hostages are going to end up flying through plummeting to their deaths. The same henchman that opened the door then grabs one of the hostages and holds him over the edge of the door, the 'villain' in this situation then walks over and points the gun at his head. The 'villain' then does something unexpected and fires the gun into the air, the henchman then drags the first hostage back into the plane. This looks like a sick game to scare the other hostage, as the same thing is happening to the second hostage. We then hear a loud firm voice addressing the 'villain' to which he turns around, the 'villains' facial expression is a massive give-away to how he might know this mysterious individual. We then realise that his facial expression turns from shock and fear to amusement, when he realises that this individual is actually kneeling on the floor with his hands tied behind his back and with a bag over his head. There is a bit of prologue that I picked up on as the man with the bag on his head says 'It doesn't matter who we are, what matters is our plan' this is now a massive indication to the audience that this was all planned and in fact the 'villain' has been set up.
When the 'villain' is removing the bag from over the hostages head, the music starts getting faster a drums kick in for tension. The camera is then getting closer to his face meaning that he's who we should be focusing on. When the bag is removed the audience will recognise that it's bane, bane's official image got released before the film was premièred and so the general public already know who he is. We get the indications that Bane is bigger and badder than the 'villain' guy, not just by his appearance which is stereotypically what a villain would look like. A villain stereotypically is built up and so is strong, they might wear a mask to hide their true identity and they show no mercy to anyone or anything in their path.
It's when we see the second plane come into the shot that we realise that an action scene may be on its way and that this plan was part of a bigger plan all along. Bane continues to talk to the 'villain' guy distracting him from the outside influence on his plan.
The second planes cargo area door then opens directly over the first plane, inside the plane the henchmen are looking confused as to what's happening. We then get a glimpse of the pilot and co pilot who are struggling to keep the plane under control.
A small group of men then jump out of the second plane from the cargo door landing beside the windows, these men then open fire and shoot all henchmen on-board the plane. The music at this point is loud and bold, we know now that this is where the fun begins.
We then get another shot of outside the plane and the first plane is being suspended from the second plane by using suspension cables, that the men had attached on their descent.
Violence breaks out inside the plane where Bane punches the 'villain' straight in the face.


The plane is then pulled upwards so the nose of the plane is pointing down which is caused by the suspension cables from the second bigger plane. The planes wings then fly off leaving just the main body frame hanging in the air. Bane is still inside the plane that's being destroyed but like most villains he manages to find his way out, while managing to do some tricky manoeuvres and complete his mission.
The opening two minutes is already full of action and so now the audience will be gasping for more.

Insidious Opening Two Minutes Review

The film 'Insidious' is an American supernatural horror film, the film was written by Leigh Whannell and directed by James Wan, the film features Patrick Wilson who also starred in 'The Conjuring' which is also an American supernatural horror film, Insidious also features Rose Byrne who also starred in 'Bridesmaids', and finally Barbara Hershey who also starred in 'Black Swan'.
This film has some normal clichés involved in a supernatural horror film. Such as a child being prone to being a victim of a supernatural life form (which is the oldest son Dalton) and of course, strange creatures that you've never seen before in your entire life such as the demon. Other clichés in this film include a bride dressed in black, doors creaking and hearing voices over a baby monitor. Doors creaking is a massive cliché from almost all horror films.
In the opening scene of insidious we can see a ceiling light. This light then turns to look as if it's turning upside down, when in actual fact it's turning the right way up. After the light has fully turned, the camera then moves down so you can see a dark bedroom of a young boy tucked up in bed. Who we do not know yet, is the antagonist. The camera then pans across his room to show the normal items you might see in a young boys room, a lava lamp and some toys. As we start to pan away from that section of the room, fast pace violin music kicks in without warning. This then throws the audience as there was no build up to it. The music really makes you tense and gets your heart going, we then start to see a flicker of light and a face, as we get closer we realise this isn't a human being. The way the light highlighted the face was the same way one might do with a torch when telling scary stories, and so we know that this is definitely going to be a scary ride. The music and the lack of lighting definitely set the scene up as a horror film scene.
When the titles come up onto the screen reading 'Insidious' the music is significantly louder as it's making a statement. As the titles continue we see scenes in black and white of a big house and the interior, during this 'tour' the red titles are still coming up on screen. The colour choice was good as the titles stick out, but not so much that we're distracted from what's happening in the background.
Music in this film is the biggest fear factor from using an arrangement of string instruments and piano, Joseph Bashara composed the entire score of 'Insidious' soundtracks Joseph also composed all of the film 'The Conjuring's' soundtracks which also starred Patrick Wilson. The official 'Insidious' soundtrack is otherwise known as "La Noche Del Demonio" which translates into 'The Night Of The Demon'.

The Vow Trailer Review

'The Vow' is a romantic drama film directed by Michael Sucsy. This film stars Channing Tatum who also starred in 'Magic Mike', Rachel McAdams who starred in 'The Time Traveler's Wife', Sam Neill who also starred in 'Jurassic Park', Scott Speedman who starred in 'The Moth Diaries', Jessica McNamee who also starred in 'The Loved Ones', Wendy Crewson who starred in 'The Santa Clause' and finally Jessica Lange who also starred in 'Blue Sky'.
In the opening two minutes we can see big bright LED lights in the shape of letters, these letter shaped lights immediately make the audience think of an american theatre/cinema and so the location is revealed. The music during this is very calming. As the camera is panning down the front of the theatre we get to see the date 'March 6', this could be a subtle way of informing the audience for future references in the film. We can then see a happy couple walk out of the front doors smiling and looking content with each others company, although we haven't been told we automatically know that they are a couple by their body language. We also get a short glimpse of the street which is thick with snow and so we know what their surroundings are going to be like, cold wet and windy. The couple then stop and admire the snow covered street in which the female character comments 'It's so beautiful', to which her boyfriend/fiancée/husband kisses her on the head.
After leaving the theatre Paige Collins (Rachel McAdams) and her husband Leo (Channing Tatum)  are then on their way home, at a stop sign, Paige unbuckles her seatbelt to lean over and kiss Leo. At that very moment, a truck rams their car from behind and Paige crashes through the windshield. Both of them are rushed to the hospital, and as Leo, in a voice-over talks about how "moments of impact help in finding who we are" the movie cuts to how Paige and Leo first met. The scenes of how they courted, proposed and married at the Art Institute of Chicago are interwoven with the present. The effect this has already given to the audience makes them feel involved as they have previewed important events of the couples lives together and so an audience would automatically sympathize with the couple.

The Hunger Games Trailer Review

'The Hunger Games' is a Science-Fiction novel (now a science-fiction adventure film) by American writer Suzanne Collins and it was written in the voice of 16 year old Katniss Everdeen who lives in the post-apocalyptic nation of Panem in North America. The Capitol, a highly advanced metropolis, manipulates political control over the rest of the nation. The Hunger Games are an annual event in which one boy and one girl aged from 12 to 18 are selected from each of the twelve districts surrounding the Capitol, they are then selected by lottery to compete in a televised battle to the death. The novel then got adapted into the film we all know today directed by Gary Ross and co-written and co-produced by Suzanne Collins herself alongside Nina Jacobson and Jon Kilik. The film includes some well known actors and actresses, Jennifer Lawrence who starred in Silver Linings, X-Men: First Class, The Hunger Games, The Poker House and The House on the Left. Josh Hutcherson who starred in Little Manhattan, Zathura, Firehouse Dog, Bridge to Terabithia, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant and The Hunger Games. Liam Hemsworth who starred in The Last Song, The Expendables 2, Love and Honor and The Hunger Games. Elizabeth Banks who starred in Spider-man, Catch Me If You Can, Seabiscuit, Spider-man 2, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Spider-man 3, Fred Claus, Role Models, The Uninvited, The Hunger Games, What To Expect When You're Expecting, People Like Us, Pitch Perfect and Movie 43. These actors and actresses are well known to mostly the younger generation but could be known amongst the older generations.

In the trailer we first see two late teens talking about escaping from where they are, which we do not know yet. We then see what looks like a airship fly over them and them hiding, signalling to the audience that the teens are either somewhere where they shouldn't be or they don't want to be seen by whoever is present on the airship. The next clip on the trailer is showing boys and girls from roughly 12 years old to 18 years old all file out and assemble outside, the environment reminds me of a concentration camp. There are evident dirty floors as they are outside and all the people present are wearing similar outfits suited to gender and age range. The older girls wear a blue dress with some frills on and the younger girls wear a pinafore type dress. The boys however are more or less wearing the same, a light blue shirt with brown trousers. This trailer has quite a lot of action packed into it. In the trailer when Katniss' younger sister got picked by the lottery to compete in the dangerous Hunger Games, Katniss volunteered herself to ensure her sisters safety. This specific moment is the fundamental moment where Katniss is defined as she volunteered herself. This scene would reach a vast majority of the audience who have siblings, it reaches out to older siblings as it makes you realise you would do anything for them. I personally didn't see this film when it was first released as it didn't appeal to me however, the more times I watch the trailer the more I get compelled to watch this film. It is a decision I do not regret as this film is phenomenal, it has been created to really make the audience think 'What if this was really happening?'.  The main themes are visible from the trailer itself, they are: Love, War, Winning, Freedom, Severe Poverty, Starvation, Oppression and the effects of war among others.
The budget for this film was $88,000,000, one of Lionsgates' biggest budgets for a film. The music in this film was mainly dramatic but at the emotional moments like where Rue dies, Katniss sings to her and there is faint music in the background. The music in these moments was soft and faint, however when all of the tributes were running for the survival backpacks the music was deafening at first. The deafening effect could have been portraying just how it would be if you were there and experiencing it yourself, which is really effective. Once everyone has left their podiums and they're all fighting each other, the music speeds up as Katniss runs indicating desperation.

Step Brothers Opening Scene Review

'Step Brothers' is an american buddy slapstick comedy film. This film was directed by Adam McKay, produced by Jimmy Miller and Judd Apatow, the screenplay was written by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. This film stars Will Ferrell who also starred in 'Blades Of Glory', John C. Reilly who starred in 'Chicago', Richard Jenkins who also starred in 'The Cabin in the Woods', Mary Steenburgen who starred in 'Back to the Future Part III', Adam Scott who also starred in 'Friends With Kids' and finally Kathryn Hahn who starred in 'How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days'. 
In the opening two minutes of this film a quote fades onto the screen reading 'Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream. actual quote from George W. Bush' This mere sentence would make the audience think of their family and how much they mean to them, however the fact that they have written underneath the quote 'actual quote from George W. Bush'  would automatically create a connection to the audience as he was a famous american president and it would possibly create a patriarchal atmosphere.
The titles in the opening scene aren't as 'professional looking' or 'sleek' as most other films, these titles are made to look as if a child has written them. This connects instantly with what the audience are about to watch. We first see a man placing cheese onto a plate of tortilla chips, the angle of the camera is a close-up but could also be a low angle shot. We're quite close to the floor but we're not a high angle shot, as you need  to be about five to six feet above ground to be a high angle shot and we aren't that high off the ground. The music starts as he presses the 'Go' button on the microwave and it's a happy song that would make the audience want to bop along with it, this indicates that this film is going to be a more upbeat film than a morbid one and that it's going to be fun to watch. The shot of the food in the microwave is another close-up shot, and as the character bends down to look at the food we're at eye level with him also so this shot is an Eye Level shot. As for sound in this opening scene the sound would be a Diagetic sound as the character could hear himself preparing the food, however when he does press the 'Go' button the sound within half a second goes from a Diagetic sound to a Non-Diagetic sound when the music starts. This music then continues to the next scene where the camera is at a high angle but also showing us a close-up of the contents inside another characters draw. We then see this character pick up an item of clothing and sniff it hinting to the audience that he's lazy and unhygienic. The shot then quickly returns back to the first character who has a big plate of melted cheese on tortilla chips, a big bowl of chocolate cereal and a bright blue drink. The contents of food in front of us prove to the audience that this character is just like the other one, as he clearly doesn't care about his health and is too lazy to make an actual healthy meal.
This character then proceeds to sit on his sofa and watch TV in his pyjamas eating all the junk food he just made, the audience will be observing his age, his attitude and his actions. The characters mother then walks into the room informing him that she's going to work to which he rudely responds, with a mouth full of food that he's trying to watch TV. When she does leave all he does is turn up the TV and watch an exercise video without doing any exercise, stereotypes of spoiled adult children.
After this scene we're then shown the other character playing Guitar Hero in his bedroom which is made for teens, just proving even further that these men act as if they're kids still. His father then comes into the shot also informing him that he has work and telling his son that he's left money for pizza while he's gone, the fact that a grown man is being left money by his dad for pizza instead of cooking it himself, shows the parent lacks trust in his son. The character then turns around and has a tantrum claiming that it's not enough for chicken wings, an immature petty argument that children would pull off instead of a grown adult.
This film has romance involved as well as the single parents of the two characters end up in the same convention and 'fall in love'. The audience can see where this entire scenario is going, as well as the title of the film being Step Brothers, it doesn't take much to figure it out.
There are major clichés in just the opening two minutes, the spoiled adult children who are set in their ways and the single older parents who are sick of their adult children acting the way they are and who are looking for love. The opening two minutes don't do this film justice.

Pitch Perfect Trailer Review

The film 'Pitch Perfect' is an American musical comedy film directed by Jason Moore and the screen play was written by Kay Cannon. This film stars Anna Kendrick who also starred in 'Twilight', this film also stars Rebel Wilson who has starred in 'Bridesmaids', Brittany Snow who starred in 'Hairspray' and finally Elizabeth banks who starred in 'The Hunger Games'. In the trailer we are shown some funny snippets from the film without showing the best parts. The trailer shows most, if not all the cast singing at some point to tease the audience into what type of film this is. The trailer also shows the 'Riff Off' which happens to be a fundamental part of the film. Music in this film are from all different types of genres and decades and so really reaches all areas of the audience.
The trailer also shows stereotypes of teens in college except without the usual jocks, the jocks would be the male singing group.

The main theme in 'pitch perfect' is music and so in the trailer we would be shown both recent popular songs and older popular songs. This film also shows teens just being themselves and conforming to the normal stereotypes of that age, drinking and letting boys/girls get into their heads distracting them from other important matters at hand. 

The trailer has been put together to make the audience laugh and want to go see it, i saw this film a long while after it came out and i was pleasantly surprised with the storyline and the cast line up. 

This Is The End Opening Two Minutes Review

'This Is The End' is an American apocalyptic comedy film, written and directed by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. This film stars many, many celebrities such as: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Jonah Hill, Rihanna, Emma Watson, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson and Michael Cera. All of these celebrities have been in previous films such as: Pineapple Express, Knocked Up, Oz the Great and Powerful, 21 Jump Street, Land of the Lost, Hot Tub Time Machine, Superbad and Harry Potter.
This film has a lot of clichés involved such as, name calling, this film has a lot of name calling involved from the start just like what a group of friends might call each other. Slapstick violence occurs in nearly all comedies and people falling either off ridiculous places or just generally falling over.
In the first two minutes you see Seth Rogen waiting at the airport for his friend Jay Baruchel, on the way to see his friend. During his wait you can hear someone say to Seth 'hey Seth Rogen, whaddup dude?' to which Seth replies with a half-hearted smile implying that he gets that a lot. As this film is also an apocalyptic film the writers would have had to find a good middle ground to where the comedy didn't ruin the apocalyptic ethos to it. The music in this film is a mixture of old well known music and current well known music, to try and create a 'hook' where the audience will want to watch as the music is familiar. The jumpy sound effects such as explosions and cars crashing does help the film with it's apocalyptic theme. The opening two minutes for this film is quiet and slow compared to the rest of the film as it's a fast paced, loud film. The title of this film 'This Is The End' makes you think of death, apocalypse, zombies, explosions or even a deadly flu virus, the reason for this is that there are a lot of apocalyptic films out and so these are the first things we would think of.

You're Next Trailer Review

'You're Next' is an American horror film directed and edited by Adam Wingard and written by Simon Barrett, who also plays one of the masked killers in the film. The films stars Sharni Vinson who also starred in the dance film 'Step Up 3D', Wendy Glenn who also starred in the US crime drama 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation' and finally A.J. Bowen who also starred in 'A Horrible Way To Die'.
In the trailer we can see a car driving through a countryside with a rustic/vintage filter possibly to create a calm ethos, the song 'Looking For The magic' by Dwight Twilley. This song is calm and slow which I think creates the whole trailer. The trailer clearly depicts that a family have met up after a while and that it's been organised for a long time, the family all look happy and are taking pictures, having a big family meal and bonding when the music all of a sudden stops. This indicates to us the audience that not everything as it seems, with the happy music gone we are now expecting the horror to kick in. The mother is standing in the kitchen and we can see her through the window pouring herself a drink, when in the reflection we see a masked animal face appear at the window just as a creepy sound effect crashes into our eardrums. This is a good way of slowly but eerily letting the audience know who the killer is already. In the trailer we actually see the first murder, this isn't giving away the real twist however as they're just teasing us. After witnessing the first murder the whole house breaks out into chaos and the music really creates the tension that's needed. The typical cliches that are included in the trailer are the creaking noises in the house and the whispering to each other, not to be discovered. The best feature of this trailer is that the calm music returns and has the sound effects and the carnage in the background still.

Sinister Opening Two Minutes Review

The film 'Sinister' is a supernatural horror film directed and written by Scott Derrickson also co-written by C. Robert Cargill. This film stars Ethan Hawke who also starred in 'White Fang'. This film completely shocked me, it had some of the cliches in a typical supernatural horror, the creepy ghoul who likes to murder people for some sort of ritual, the ghoul in this film is called 'Bughuul' and he likes to get the children to kill their entire family so that he can take them into his realm and consume their souls. Another cliche in this film is creepy murderous little girls in nighties, this type of murderous child is similar to 'The Ring's' own creepy child and also 'The Grudge's' creepy child, the only difference however is that she's human and not a ghost/curse. Moving to a new house is also a massive cliche and normally where the problems start in these films, other than these, there's not many cliches as the film is completely different from the other horrors i've seen, this horror did have a lot of unsettling images and videos involved which do stick in your mind long after you've seen it, this could be a clever tactic used by the writers and producers to make sure their film is memorable.
The opening scene is a family standing next to tree with their hands tied behind their backs and a bag over each of their heads also with a noose around each of their necks, immediately you feel uncomfortable as you know what is going to happen within seconds, the branch leading into the bushes is then cut by somebody out of the shot, to hide their identity, the family is then raised into the air by their necks, the family start kicking their legs as they're being strangled, within a minute or two everyone is dead, the audience know that somebody has done this to them but they also videoed it, the audience would now be feeling uncomfortable and possibly frightened as that was just the opening scene.
The way this film has been created however is incredible as all the deaths involved do look gruesomely real and so makes the audience possibly believe for a few minutes that it could be real before trying to convince themselves that it's not, this is a great effect that all films try to achieve.
The soundtracks at first can sound calm and relaxing but the imagery is of a family being brutally murdered, this really plays with your mind because where you're hearing calm and relaxing music you're then tricked into watching a grisly murder. Other soundtracks have voices on as if they're possibly struggling with breathing and so keeps that eerie ambience about it.
In this film we're informed about an occult where it's a ritual when children's souls are consumed by 'Bughuul' but to accomplish this feat, he must get the child to murder everybody in their family first, while video taping it. The father (the antagonist) of the family we're watching finds the tapes in the loft of their new house, the tapes are named innocent names such as 'Family Hanging Out' the video tape will show the family running around outside playing but then cross cut to the scene of them hanging from the tree in their own garden, missing one child.
There's not much to go by on the opening two minutes except the fact that the film will include murders, and the murder has been filmed on an old video tape system.

The Ring Opening Two Minutes Review

The film 'The Ring' is a mainstream physchological horror film, directed by Gore Verbinski, starring Naomi Watts who also starred in 'Children of the Corn IV: The Gathering', Daveigh Chase who also starred in 'Haunted Lighthouse', and Martin Henderson who also starred in 'Torque'.
This film includes many clichés such as: Watching a Video or a DVD with your friends or by yourself that is eerie or scary in some way, having the phone ring after watching the scary movie as the main character at that point of the film would be clearly shaken and prone to jumping at the slightest noise, the phone call after they answer it could go down two paths-the first being that it was a false alarm and that it was either their parents, boyfriend or best friend calling, or that it's the villain of the film warning them, which is when the music would normally start to go towards either bass/treble increasing or a violin giving us that suspense feel to up the anticipation. In the opening two minutes i believe that it does tease the audience a bit in the beginning by the two girls having the conversation about the video which then one admits to watching the week prior, as this film is so largely well known we all know the '7 Days' call- when the girl calls the house of the victim and informs them that they have seven days to live then on the seventh, they die. This situation however is different as we don't know the girl and we're not sure what's going to happen yet in the film, what we do know however is that she had watched the tape and that she had had a phonecall on the same day, a week ago. The audience is now paying specific attention to the girls facial expressions as it gives away a lot, her fear is the main thing the audience picks up and so tension is building already without any sort of music in the background, this is a clever technique used in many films. There's always a twist in films and we've encountered the first, the fact that one of the girls was talking about the 'tape' and then her friend had watched the 'tape' a week prior to that day, this short clip shows how teens are stereotyped as being stupid, vunerable and sneaky.
There is however a moment of relief for the audience once the house phone is answered, the friend of the girl who watched the tape answers and tricks her friend that it's the girl, but in actual fact it's her mum, typical teen playing pranks on their friends. What happens afterwards however is when tension starts to build as the girl who our focus is on, is left in the kitchen by herself on the phone, the camera angles cut off half the room when she's moving around so the audience is expecting to see the girl once the camera angle changes back to view the whole room, you now as an audience member start to think 'what's going to happen next?' the anticipated feeling and tension is now on small and slight cliffhangers, the tension builds for a bit and then the audience is relieved by having what the audience expected, gone.
Sounds in the kitchen scene are over exaggerated so the audience is paying close attention to the surroundings, so then when the TV turns on by itself the audience automatically wants the main character at that point to investigate as they're intrigued.

Audience and Genre Research

This table shows the two genders with a mixture of ages and the various genres of film. This table will help us in researching different genres as it gives us a good feel for what the general public of all ages like to watch in the cinema, and to see if we can make a film aimed at everybody. This table has got all of the genres listed:
-Action/Adventure
-Animation
-Classic
-Comedy
-Comic Book
-Documentary
-Drama
-Family
-Fantasy
-Horror
-Musicals
-Romance
-Romantic Comedy
-Science Fiction
-Suspense/Thriller
-Foreign
-Art
-Other
-None

Mindmap of Drama

Mindmap of Teen

Mindmap of Romance

Mindmap of Action

Mindmap of Comedy

Mindmap of Horror

Typical Horror Conventions