The film opening I have chosen to look at is the James Bond film, "Quantum of Solace." In this opening, their are a number of features used which have numerous functions but with the aim of engaging the audience to watch the film.
The opening scenes of the film are very effective in setting the tone of the film and creating tension. This helps to engage the audience to want to see what happens. The tense scene also shows straight away what genre the film is, action. The music in this sequence is also very effective in creating tension as there is an underlying score that adds more emphasis of the tension of the scenes. Music is viewed as being equally important as the scenes themselves because without the music, the scenes would create less tension. The lighting of the opening scenes are also very effective as the objects shown are through gaps of light created by the tunnel. This is effective because the audience are only given a small glimpse of different objects that help the audience to understand what the film is about. For example, through little gaps of light in the tunnel, you can see the Aston Martin, the cars behind which are clearly chasing the Aston and bullets. These scenes are clever because they are effectively showing the audience the key ingredients of the film through short shots of the objects. As the music is building up the tension, the audience see a short glimpse of the main character, Bond, before suddenly changing into the sound of the car chase. There are also the sound effects of the bullets being fired and the shattering of glass.
Another main function of the opening scene of a film is to introduce the main character of the film. This can be achieved in many ways. In this scene the audience, if they don't already know the main character, can see that Bond is the main character as he is the focus throughout the scene and the thugs are trying to kill him. This not only allows the audience to see who the main character is but also, it reinforces the genre of action with the tense shooting scene. Another way the main order can be differentiated is that Bond is always the car in front and the villains are behind him so it is almost like he is setting the pace and leading the way throughout the opening sequence.
After the car chase scene has ended, Bond then drives through the small village. The scene then shows the title of "Sienna, Italy" which once again establishes the scene and gives a sense of time and place. Also, the reference to location, which later on in the film continues to state where the location is, also shows what the main character is about. Bond is all about the exotic locations which can be seen in other Bond films, so it helps the audience to understand a little more about the personality of Bond. The audience also understand more about the identity of Bond when at the end of the opening sequence, another villain is shown to be tied up in the back of the car. When Bond says "It's time to get out," this creates some humour in that he is very calm and casual about the whole situation which also engages the audience not just with the film but also the main character.
The classic hallmark of Bond films is the introduction of the main actors. In most films, this would occur during the opening sequence, perhaps with the names under the action. However, in this Bond film as in the others, there is a special sequence with computer graphics of Bond and a hint of what the film is about. Also, the fact that this sequence is after the opening scenes is effective because at the start, the audience can enjoy the tense scenes and introduction of the character so that they are hooked before the names of the actors appear. Also, with the names of the actors and not appearing in the opening action scenes draws the audience's attention the the actual storyline rather than who is in the film. Once they are intrigued to watch the rest of the film, they can see who the actors and other above the line talent are during the separate sequence. The sequence of what actors are shown when seem to focus on the above line talent so the audience might be more interested if they have a favourite actor of like other films by the same director. This sequence also shows the above line talent of the opening song, "David Arnold, Jack White and Alicia Keys" which allows the audience to see what talent is within the film.
Therefore, this opening sequence is effective in many ways in creating tension, introducing the main actor, introducing the scene, showing the above the line talent and showing the genre, all effective in engaging the attention of the audience.
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