Film Openings

Using this blogpost http://whatculture.com/film/the-importance-of-film-openings.php I have analysed the film openings to Saturday Night Fever (1977) and Adventures of Babysitting (1987).

These are the clips I analysed:






In Saturday Night Fever, the film starts with a panning shot of of Brooklyn, America and then jumps to a close shot of a train passing on the tracks. According to the blogpost written about film openings, this train represents John Travolta's emotional journey throughout the film. Travolta's character wishes to succeed in life and become well known, the only way he thinks he can do this is by winning a disco dance competition. By the end of the film he won first prize in the dance competition and has achieved his dream. The train symbolises his need to escape his dead-end life.

In the Adventures of Babysitting opening, it shows a young girl dancing in a stereotypical teenage girls bedroom (pink and floral) and lip syncing to a an upbeat song. The song used is called 'Then he kissed me' by the Crystals the lyrics of the song go well with the film and with her getting ready for her date.

The idea of the train has inspired my own chick flick film opening. I had the idea of having a girl in her early twenties, waiting at the train station for her usual commute into London to work at the 'Vogue Magazine' offices. I would have her holding lots of important folders and papers and dressed in smart fashionable clothing, to give off the impression that she has a very important job role. As she is sitting and waiting for her train I would use a point of  view shot (POV) of her flicking through a portfolio full of modelling shots. When she gets to London, I would film her walking into a modern office with lots of people around measuring models, clothes rails scattered around the room and Vogue magazine covers on the walls. I want to pan across the office so the viewer gets a feel of the ambience and I would also use a tracking shot to follow her walking over to the sofa with her papers. I would then have her strut through in a confident manner to make herself look important. However the twist would be that she is of no importance to the company, she is just an unpaid intern who runs around after the boss. But her dream is to be the boss of this company, a bit like John Travolta . Throughout this opening scene I would use a tune of an upbeat  catchy tune and then have it come to an abrupt end when the boss shouts something like "Where's my coffee?" The use of an upbeat piece of music was inspired by the opening scene of Adventures to Babysitting.