Daily Blog 5/21/18

     Today's class began with Mr. Rivers explaining how to fill out our individual slide on the Film Narratives PowerPoint on Google Classroom. Then, we talked a little about film openings and were shown two examples of them, one good one and one bad one. We were first shown the opening for the film, Dune, and talked about what made it so bad. The opening was mostly poor because it was boring and lengthy. The entire first scene had a girl blankly spouting exposition, with space in the background. There were some strange directorial and script choices, such as having the girl's face fading in and out for no reason. The dialogue was also presented in an uninteresting way that often restated things that were already established. After looking at Dune's opening, we looked at the opening for the 1997 film, Boogie Nights. This opening was superior because it managed to be visually interesting, while giving the bit of narrative information. The entire scene was made up of one shot that was able to set the tone of the movie through dialogue and music. Within the first few seconds of the scene, the audience is shown some interesting camera angles and an environment that really stands out with its bright colors. The tone of the movie is expressed in the opening by having it set to an upbeat song that's appropriate for the time period and setting, and showing characters happy and dancing. A lot of details about the characters were also shown, not told, like the character stepping out of the car. We can tell that he's probably rich and well-known because he got out of an expensive looking car, dressed in fancy clothes, and was greeted and interacted with others in a friendly manner. Overall, Boogie Nights had a better opening than Dune because it made better use of a visual medium, and set the tone through music and atmosphere. Once we finished looking over the two film openings and discussing them, we continued to work on our screenplays.
     Watching the two clips from Dune and Boogie Nights, reminded me of another opening that I really enjoyed from the film,  The Adventures of Tintin. The movie was a 2011 film directed by Steven Spielberg, and was an adaptation of the famous comic book series by the same name, written by Hergé. The film tells the journey of Tintin, a young reporter, his dog, and Captain Haddock, and their adventure to discover the mystery behind The Unicorn, on old pirate ship. As a longtime fan of the original series, I loved the movie and really felt that it did a great job integrating multiple books into a single, cohesive film that was able to reboot the series for a younger generation. One of the scenes that really stood out to me was the opening because I felt that it perfectly introduced and summarized the main character, while capturing the spirit of the original work. While the entire opening is just the movie's opening credits, it was done in an engaging way that was able to tell a short story at the same time. Throughout the credits, there is a quirky tune playing the the background, that sounds very reminiscent of the television series and fitting for the story's universe, that shifts and changes tone depending on what's happening on screen. The sequence opens and comes full circle, ending in the same place in front of a typewriter with the stolen sphere being returned to it's rightful position, completing the letter, 'i', in Spielberg for the director's name. For the majority of the opening credits a silhouette of Tintin is seen investigating the crime scene and chasing after the villain, which he eventually catches and sends to jail. Without having any previous knowledge about the series or it's titular main character, the audience can understand his personality and what he stands for, justice and adventure. In the scene, there are also various camera angles used to transition each section of the story in an interesting way that flows smoothly. Another thing I thought the opening did well was to foreshadow certain parts of the film through details that the audience might assume was from the short story in the opening credits. I think the opening sequence of this film is great because it handles a sometimes boring job in a creative way that entertain the audience.