3 • Comparing Three Opening Scenes And Use Of Camera Work

Hello and welcome back to my media studies blog. Today I will be examining three different opening scenes and comparing the different themes connotations and techniques used in the making of these scenes.  

The three movies I have decided to focus on are, 'Moonrise Kingdom' directed by Wes Anderson, produced by Indian Paintbrush and American Empirical Pictures. 'It Follows' directed by David Robert Mitchell, produced by Northern Lights Films and Animal Kingdom, and finally 'A Clockwork Orange' directed by Stanley Kubrick, produced by Warner Bros and Hawk Films.

Three amazing films that have great opening sequences. I have chosen these three films because the have both similar but yet contrasting themes and ideas.

I will first be talking about the romantic, adventure, comedy. 'Moonrise Kingdom'.

I love the tracking shot. Wes Anderson loves the tracking shot. The opening to 'Moonrise Kingdom' is one hundred percent filled with the lateral tracking shot. For example...

Now in this shot we see a family divided, literally by solid walls. We see a great use of parallax in the different rooms. And the camera moves from left to right so screen direction is respected. But when you break it down the lateral tracking shot is kinda wired. It is one of the least subjective shots in cinema. It is actually one of the most objective because it does not suggest any characters point of view. It suggests you are an omniscient god and are just watching. It is very literal, what you see is what you get. And this is how Wes Anderson uses the shot in this scene. We see very clearly the mother and father separated, and looking inwards, while Susie is always looking out towards the viewer. It really successfully sets the scene, and gives Susie a motive to want to run away from the broken family she is currently part of.

Wes Anderson uses this kind of shot loads, I think because it conveys the dollhouse, flat storybook look he loves. But he does not use it unmotivated every time we see this shot it is to give us information about the characters current situation.

But one thing I rarely see the lateral tracking shot used for is intimacy. It just really is not an intimate shot, no matter what you always seem to be at a distance from the characters. Great film makers know this, which leads us into the next movie, 'A Clockwork Orange' the opening scene to this Kubrick classic is a mix between a zoom and a tracking shot...

Malcolm McDowell is near perfect as this movies “protagonist” and everything from his crazy intense stare, his childlike and sinister way of speaking here at the start of the movie, where he is sat drinking milk (a metaphor for innocence- an important theme of the movie) at a Milk bar sends shivers down my spine. Mainly again because of the tracking. This shot surprises me because at the beginning of the sequence we see a close up of Malcolm and we feel very intimate to him and uncomfortable. But then the tracking shot is used to break away at that intimacy. And very much like a Wes Anderson tracking shot we see the details and the surroundings of our character.

And we track away from the character, its weird because it is unmotivated and is full of contrasts. Does it want us to side with the character or be at a distance with him. The close up would suggest intimacy but the track suggests detachment.

Coming back to Wes Anderson for a second, I found a tracking shot in Moonrise kingdom that I see as having the same connotations as this scene in A Clockwork Orange, but reversed...

In both of these shots we feel emptiness, loneliness and sadness. By removing the characters slowly from your field of view we can either see this as a detached family, or someone who has become detached from humanity in the case of A Clockwork Orange.

But only one character in both shots is looking directly towards the camera, this provides a sense of uneasiness, and In both films provides different yet similar meanings. With Kubrick it gives us the connotations of the character being a psychopath he is constantly staring directly towards us as if we are being influenced by his insanity. And with Anderson, it gives us the similar connotations that something is wrong with this family and that Susie is always looking for something different and better. Again both of these shots use the same camera movement and angle, but the two movies are completely different in genre's. Granted Moonrise Kingdoms camera movement is faster and has more energy, the connotations are similar yet contrasting. Each of these opening scenes the camera movement is un-human, and un-natural it is very omniscient. 

The next opening scene from the 2014 film 'It Follows' is very different...

With 'It Follows' the camera is motivated by the movement of the girl, we get a sense of a POV shot, but the camera is very smooth and slow. This gives us the connotations that something is repetitively slowly coming after her. We feel a sense of dread the camera moves so slow you feel like we are egging on the stalker. It feels very tense. Even though we have no idea why the girl is running, who is following her or why he is following her, the scene has the connotations a mood of this constant following, a very suitable mood for a film called 'it Follows'.

Again though this is a tracking shot, The camera rolls around the street panning and tracking around giving us a sense of the area. The street has people on it and they don't react the girl seems out of place disheveled. The sound track is amazing. We hear the pulsing base, followed by the screeching strings that all adds to the tension and thrills of the scene. It puts you on edge, without showing you anything. 

We have no clue what is happening. Its is almost discombobulating. We lose sense of our direction, there is now only one, following the girl.

'It Follows' is in the same genre as 'A Clockwork Orange' But have two completely different opening scenes that some how create similar connotations, both show us the idea of psychopathic behaviour, both scenes put us on edge. The whole concept just connects. Put the opening scene of 'It follows' In front of 'A Clockwork Orange' and the movie would work just as well.  We may not be established into the characters, but if we say Malcolm is the guy chasing the girl, it creates the same connotations of his character in the film. Two different directors with two completely different scripts have come up with two scenes that are very similar. Is that the genre talking or is it the skill behind the camera. The opening scene to every movie is arguably the most important part for the director, it sets the scene creates the atmosphere. And I personally believe that these three movies do exactly that they present a world, one that is fascinating in the mystery it creates. But how do you do this, how do you excite people, get people curious to watch on. Just using an opening scene. Well thats for the masters to know and for us to find out.

Created By Henry Russell

Edited By Henry Russell

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23rd September 2015

Hurtwood House