Opening Sequence Analysis

Mission impossible: Ghost Protocol is an action film, premiered in 2011, that opens with an establishing shot of a prison in Moscow where our protagonist, Ethan Hunt is being held. This shot helps inform the audience where the action is taking place and gives an insight as to what the prison is like. The fact that the opening sequence is set in a Russian

prison rather than a prison in another country such as America where our protagonist is from, suggests that the character is undercover and or in danger. The shot also establishes how securer the prison is suggesting that the type of criminals our protagonist is with are very dangerous and also gives the audience an insight as to the scale of his crime. 

 Another shot used was an over the shoulder shot of the ‘Captain’ of the guards. The camera looks over his shoulder, onto a computer screen where we see that nearly all the

cell doors are being opened without authority and the prisoners are escaping. This shot would make the audience feel a lot more immersed in the action as they are seeing it from a perspective much like the character is as well as seeing their emotions which also gives them an insight as to how much damage is being caused. 


A close up is used when establishing the emotions of one of our protagonist’s overly cautious friends. Bogdan as Ethan tries to convince him to leave. These close ups provide quite a comedic moment in-between all the chaos that is going on around them. It also allows us to see that Ethan is trustworthy as Bogdan agrees to follow him through the mayhem and to their freedom. 

Towards the end of the sequence, a tracking shot is used as our protagonist is trying to run through the prison whilst struggling to avoid the fights going on around him and dragging a friend through with him. This shot exposes the audience to the amount of chaos being caused by all the fighting going on. The shot also suggests that there has been a bad relationship growing between the guards and the prisoners as there is a lot of tension and violence shared between them. It is almost like the status has been reversed and because there are so many more prisoners than guards.

Django is a Western film, produced in 2012, that opens with a long shot. This shot establishes the hot, desert location that the opening sequence is set. This shot suggests that the anyone we see in the next few shots will have been travelling for a long time in excruciating temperatures. This shots soon pans to the right and turns into a mid long shot

where we see a line of black men with scars across their backs, likely inflicted by a whip, led by someone on a horse. This could suggest that the men whom we see walking are either in trouble or, due to the era and location it's set in, they're being put for sale as slaves by the man on the horse who's likely in charge. The shot also allows us to see that the men are stumbling suggesting that they have been walking for a long time and that the man on the horse shares not pity for them.
Another shot used was a close up tracking shot of our main character, Django that starts with a deep depth of field and eventually changes to have a shallow depth of field. When in a deep depth of field, we can see Django but our main focus is on the rocks to his left, establishing location and time frame because we can see that the light has dimmed since the opening long shot. When the depth of field changes, we see the detail in Django's face

giving the audience an insight as to what he's thinking and feeling. By using this shot the audience can already being piecing together the story and anticipating the outcome.

A panning long shot is then used to establish how time has passed as the lighting has dimmed significantly since the close up. After panning, the camera zooms through a parting between some rocks to create an extra long shot of the men. In this shot, we see a lot more greenery which suggests that they're nearing the edge of the desert suggesting they are near their destination. The extra long shot presents the characters to be very small compared to their surroundings again suggesting that they've been walking for a very long time.
Towards the end of the sequence, there is a point of view shot from Dr Shultz as he approaches the slave traders and the slaves. This shot establishes that Dr Shultz is either the protagonist or at least a character whom the audience will find appealing mainly because you don't usually have a point of view shot from the antagonist because audience members don't want to associate themselves with them. 

Barefoot In The Park is 1967 American romantic comedy. The opening sequence is very different to Django or Mission Impossible because they have a variety of shots throughout whereas in 'Barefoot In The Park', the opening sequence is made of a couple of close ups and five mid long tracking shots, all of which follow a horse and carriage with a young couple kissing in the convertible carriage. These shots allow the occurring events to seem like they're  continuous and go uninterrupted, similarly to how the young lovers were probably feeling. These shots do establish a location of a park within a city but it is not

clear where exactly where. I believe this is because in 1967 they didn't have as advanced technology as we do and would have had limited options making some shots next to impossible for them.