Lily's Foundation blog: Opening sequence idea

Wednesday 17th November 2022

Opening sequence idea

The opening scene will take place in a school where children, around the age of 8, are learning what marriage is and the commitments. A mid shot would be used for this and the camera will be placed in the back of the classroom facing the whiteboard. The shot will then cut into a mid shot of the classroom from the front so you can see everyones faces. The shot will then slowly move into one of the girls faces (who has raised her hand) and into a close up shot. The girl will then ask her teacher "What happens if you don't want to get married." The scene will then transition into a master shot of a church and have a 8 years later sign. A tracking shot will move in through the doors of the church and up to the alter. At the alter you will see an elder man standing there looking at this watch and the camera will pan round to show the guests at the wedding yawning and looking bored. All the guests will be saying things such as "where is she", "she must be late" and "maybe she's nervous". A lady then walks up to the man at the alter and says "she's disappeared, she's made a run for it". A birds eye view shot is now used which shows a girl running through a path in a field. She is wearing a wedding dress and looks distressed. To show the distress the girl looks behind her shoulder often to make sure that no one is following her. At the end of the sequence the scene will go blank and the title of the film. The music in this would be calm at the start and slowly progress into a fast pace music when the wedding guests realise she has ran away. Church bells would be played when the master shot is shown.

Netflix documentary- Developing an idea

I looked through Netflix and found a documentary called the secrets of the Saqqara Tomb. I thought this would be a good foundation to build a good idea for an opening sequence. I had an idea that the sequence would be set in Egypt and be about a man who uncovered a tomb but when he was inside the tomb the entrance of it collapsed. The opening title sequence would start off with a birds eye view shot of a man lying on the sandy floor digging. The shot would cut to a POV shot of the man looking down at his hands. The non diegetic sound track would be synchronous to the timing of him digging into the ground. A master shot of the pyramids would establish the location to the audience and also would show the audience that the weather is very hot. Also a close up shot of the man wiping the sweat off his forehead would establish this. The shot would transition back to a POV shot and the audience can tell that the hole in the ground has progressively got bigger. The sound track will increase in speed which will build up the tension as the man starts using his hands to dig when he realises he is found something. An Ariel shot will then rise from the ground and into a birds eye view shot of the man. To show that he is tired he will turn onto his back and lie there for a few seconds. He will scream to show his happiness of finding something in the ground but doesn't know its a tomb yet. The scene will then cut to the rest of the film.