Initial idea

My initial idea for the film opening is some-thing akin to a '80s splatter comedy, albeit one crossed with the hyperactive editing that flourished in the '90s and some aspects of absurdism (mainly in the type of off topic jokes that are used in "the young ones"). The plot is essentially a mad-science twist on Faust, but this is only used a a jumping off point and is shown to us in the opening - this fits in with the task as this is all that needs filming.

In the opening we are introduced to the back story of most of the characters and to the events that are about to unfold on screen, this will be shown to the viewer through a combination of voice overs and flashbacks; by switching to and fro from the main story to flashbacks it will help in trying to increase the pace of the sequence, which when coupled with the editing will give the opening a disorientating effect for the audience, both dropping the viewer in the deep end and getting them up to speed.

Also, by increasing the pace of the opening it will have to build up to a pay-off, pulling the viewer in, hopefully making them want to carry on watching. Although, by attempting to try the hyper editing style and mixing in the flashbacks could go wrong, ending up confusing the audience.

The Plot
Offered the ability to expand his mind ten-fold by a cosmic imp, in return for aeons of servitude in a place worse than hell, a young scientist thought it would be a no-brainer, he would simply use his increased brain power to think his way out of it, that is until he gets double crossed by an ever changing small print. Meaning: he only has 27 days until he is sentenced to inter-dimensional purgatory. So, the scientist and his band of merry misfits (his assistant, a local journalist, a robot that thinks he's a human and an elder god in the form of a floating kitten) journey through time and space to weasel out of this contract.

Due to budgetary constraints and through the development process the initial idea will be bound to change, and having just re-read it I can already see some problems with it, for example: it's not that interesting and the story seems a little far fetched to be treated seriously by viewers, meaning that they will not care about the protagonists' plight. So, I will have to revise this and consider how to adjust the story before production starts (already I'm thinking of making it more Lovecraftian ).

A look a genre and sub-genres

http://text2mindmap.com/Dyy7iT

Above is a link to a mind map about genre I recently made, it looks at a few main genres and their sub-genres respectively, whilst also giving examples; this research will help me decide which genre I should do for the opening. Although logic dictates that it should conform to the sub-genre that I know the most about, there by it would be easier isolate the conventions of that genre and emulate them. So just by looking at the mind map the section with the largest amount of stems is the horror section, this then gives me quite a few sub-genres to play with, however for me personally I prefer films that mix genres this allows for unconventional plots that can still shock viewers well versed in the cliches and conventions of certain genres.

After stating this, it's pretty obvious that I will try to emulate this with my own opening.


Films that mix genres:

• Repo Man - A punk atomic age-esque sci-fi comedy based on the noir classic "DOA" with a twist; this all amounts to a strange viewing experience that has a fantastic ending.
• Southland Tales- Another sci-fi genre mix, whilst it follows the "end of the world" type satire very reminiscent of "Dr Strangelove", it also takes pot-shots at every aspect of the "LA lifestyle" circa 2008, it takes it's character roles from the Bible and has an out-of-the-blue musical number.

Information for the mind map came from wikipedia and http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SurrealHorror

Analysis of film openings: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

The film starts with a series of archival footage (from the 1960s mainly centring on youth led protests against the war in Vietnam) whilst the song "a few of my favourite things" plays over, this instantly places the film in the late 60s early 70s time period (the book was written in 1971) , this is further reinforced by the period appropriate music that blares out of the radio along with news broadcast reporting the number of American GI who are succumbing to a number of illegal drugs.

The film then cuts to the films title of "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" in blood red and in a deranged typography that is idiosyncratic of the book and of the spirit of the film as a whole; the colouration of this text (blood red) and the animation that follows (the dribbling off the screen) this connotes quite obviously to blood and given that it follows this archival footage could be trying to say that these are dangerous times. This statement could be seen as the preferred meaning, although the use of blood splatters between the pieces of archival footage (though it supports the "dangerous times" theory) it could lead to a opposing meaning that this is a horror movie (which isn't wholly untrue) as usually blood splashes are a stereotypical feature of horror films, particularly the slasher sub-genre.

Although, any misconceptions will be blown away as soon as the title sequence has finished, as the voice over starts and the "red shark" "drives" the quote off the screen with an extremely well executed wipe, an editing technique that is hardly used at all in professional films, this thus signifies to the audience that this will be a rather unusual experiance and a rather unusual film. You could also interpret it as showing the two protagonists emerging from the archival footage, from the 60s; this also fits in with the film's theme of the down fall of the American Dream and the end of the 60s.

The camerawork is also quite notable in the opening sequence as it tries to get you into the heads of the protagonists, so the camera work tries to reflect their moods. Which is why the film starts with steady camera moves, this reflects the optimism of the characters, whilst the shots (close-ups and long shots mostly) try to stimulate the effect of the undisclosed narcotics - the juxtaposing of long shots and close ups, which creates a disoriantating effect on the viewer. This gives the audience a taste for things to come (as the characters engage in the taking of more narotics and their mental states start to decrease, the camera work and the whole style of the film changes to reflect this, becoming more and more disoriantating for the viewer), this then makes this sequence more effective because of it, becoming an introduction to the film; but it should also be pointed out that techniques used also make it incredibly attention grabbing and and so pulls the audience in. In short, it's very effective.