Mrs Elliott, our media studies tutor, has informed us that our main task will be to create the opening/title sequence of a feature length film. Although we haven't been given a criteria for this task yet, I think it would better my odds of creating a decent film if i researched into the topic. In this post I will analyse the opening sequence of Narcos as well as
Narcos is an American crime thriller based around the life of Pablo Escobar, The show aired first on August 28, 2015 as a Netflix exclusive. I have chosen to analyse the opening of this particular show as it has a lot in common with what i am trying to achieve with my own opening sequence. Narcos is based on real events, it is about crime and shows both sides of the story (from the protagonist's view as well as the antagonists). the difference between my envision and Narcos is that I am trying to create a horror/thriller film while Narcos is a crime/political television show.
In the opening credits of Narcos, a spanish song is played from around the same era as the show is set. the images on screen are all either photographs or 2 second long film clips. All the photographs and film is real footage from the time depicting mostly Pablo Escobar and cocaine. There are also photographs of women, DEA agents and money. All of these things make up the show so having them in the opening informs the audience of what they're about to watch. the opening of Narcos shows both sides of the story, both from the the american DEA agents as well as Escobar and his cocaine smuggling army. This is important as it's what I want to do with my opening scene.
In my opening scene, I want to incorporate real photographs of the time period it's set in. I want these photographs to link directly to the film. Because my opening is for a horror/thriller, I want to use disturbing images such as victims bodies and bloodstained crime scenes. This will hopefully set the tone for the rest of the film. I don't want to use music in my opening scene as i feel silence would create tension and dramatic affect.
Mise-en-scene refers to the arrangement of props, costume, lighting, actors and decoration in the scene. It derives from the french term meaning placement on stage and can refer to plays as well as film. In short, mise-en-scene is the way the frame is set up in terms of how items and lighting are arranged. Mise-en-scene can have dramatic effects on the genre, style and general looks of the scene.
In the image above, the mise en scene is all used to focus in on the female on the sofa. She is in the centre of the screen surrounded by people. The props are all golden covered and the lighting is high key which again signifies wealth.
In our film, there will be low key lighting to highlight the dark intentions of the protagonist. He will also be wearing a long black greatcoat as the color black denotes mystery and the possibility of evil. The majority of camera shots will only show parts or none of the protagonists face to portray mystery and to some extent, put across a level of suspense and an enigma as the audience will have to wonder who the man is.
