Analysing and Comparing Three Opening Sequences

Mean Girls (comedy)

This low angle makes the parents look increasingly bigger, therefore more superior and powerful in status, confirming to the audience that they are the parents in this narrative. Due to the fact that they parents are looking down on the other character the audience also feels the same way so its intimidating as we feel singled out or the child in itself.

 In this close up of the mother we are able to see her facial expressions, which sets the mood as she is patronising her young daughter as well as the audience. There is also a tilt movement when the camera slowly moves at the exact time it cuts to lindsay Lohan where she also gets up to allow the comedy to emerge as she is not as small or as innocent as her parents were making her out to be. 

With an over the shoulder shot, it allowed the audience to see her characters emotions and to almost feel involved in the film as we are seeing what the parents are seeing through their exact view point, so therefore we gain an emotional attachment to her as much as the parents do.

This mid-shot shows the family's relationship and gives us a sense of location , this being her house, creating a connection , as we feel nervous for her first day at school.

House of wax (horror)

This tracking shot moves around objects within the location, because we can see certain bits that make up the narrative for instance the wax dripping down the table creates tension at the same time as it being to do with the plot of the film. Also because the audience doesn't see a long shot of the location we don't know where we are which makes it appear more dark, scary and that we are only shown what we are allowed to see, so there is a sense of ambiguity and that there is a person controlling us and what we see, which builds tension. 

This extreme close up shot of the saucepan is so close and dark that the camera has not revealed whats in the pot, therefore it leaves the audience guessing for themselves and it gets the audience more involved and hooked into the film already.

This birds eye view, again leaves out the person who is mixing the pot and pouring in the wax, therefore it makes us feel involved as we are literally feel higher then the character and more important but at the same time feel innocent and scared as we have no clue who is in the film with us.

When it skips to a birds eye view of a child eating breakfast in its high chair it juxtaposes the frame before this as it doesn't follow the stereotypical horror narrative, this misleads the audience as we associate stereotypical characters from the beginning of a film and if we can't figure out whats going on we feel uncomfortable. 

This mid shot enables you to see a full site of the kitchen, this makes you feel like you are there with them.

Skipping back to another birds eye view of the calm child to the aggressive child makes the audience confused with emotions but at the same time interested to see why both children have such opposite ways of behaviour. This also exaggerates the stereotypical characters of a horror as they are complete opposites. However we never see any of the characters faces, this usually means that the director has left a sense of  mystery to the plot so that we can't figure out the ending before the film shows it to us.

Lincoln Lawyer (drama,crime)

This close up of the car allows you to feel like you are apart of the journey. The reflection on the car shows the audience the location , this being Los Angeles, This allows the audience to know where the narrative takes place. The audience now know that the main character is going to be in the car because there is such a long focus on it , and because we know the state of the car, before the character has even been revealed we already get the sense that he or she is quite stylish.

This tracking shot gives us a view point from behind, meaning we are following the character but have not yet been invited to be involved in what he is doing.

This mid shot allows the audience to grasp a sense of the building he has just entered, this being a police station of some sort as there is security check when he enters the door.

This being a tracking shot as well as a close up allows us to see detail of their facial expressions. Also we are now in front of the character and looking back at them , this makes the audience feel like they are now invited and apart of their conversation , as because we are now in front of them it makes the audience feel like the characters are following them and that we are now important.

The over the shoulder shot shows emotions as well as the audience feeling as if they are viewing the characters facial expression from the point of view of the other character due to the fact that both audience and that character are looking at him from the same view point.

Conclusion

I think that the lincoln lawyer opening scene is more effective because I generally don't think that they miss used any movements or angles or forget any. For example in the house of wax opening scene, towards the end in the comparison between the children I think they could have used a handheld movement as then the kid that was misbehaving and moving around would have been exaggerated compared with the quiet one. This would have also made the scene feel more dangerous and the audience not only would have felt like they were looking through a distorted view but they also would have felt more hooked into it and it would have seemed more realistic. Where as lincoln Lawyer the audience was introduced into the film from a scenario that had already taken place but we weren't yet aware of what that was yet so it left us wanting to know more. This also became a factor in the mean girls opening sequence but it didn't leave you hooked or wanting to know more due to the fact that it didn't seem that important or tempting.