Analysing opening scene-Pacific rim

Analysing opening scene-Pacific rim

The first thing we see in the opening scene for pacific rim is the two main companies who created the movie, Warner bro's studio's and Legendary. These two studios are both very well known and so when audiences see that the movie is made by them they will expect it to be a good film because both studios have a high expectation of creating great movies which everyone can watch. We then get a plain black screen with two definitions on it, this is curious to an audience member because they know that if these definitions are right at the start of the movie then they must have massive significance in the overall plot of the film and so they would try to remember the two words shown. The first shot we get is a zooming shot of the sky with many stars in it, this makes the audience think about the many possibility's the world has to offer with the many different life forms and landscapes for us people to explore. The next shot  is a long shot of some sort of electricity field deep in the depths of our own oceans, this makes us think of the term "down in the depths" because for the moment we no very little about what's down there and we only have 5% of the undersea area actually explored. The first major shot we get of the type of film this is going to be (action) is first person camera view showing the monster attacking the bridge. The camera shot is filmed like it is through the eyes of someone panicking and trying to run away, it is however also filmed as a low angle shot which shows the supreme power of the monster shown. We then get a long shot which the director uses to show us the massive size of the monster and how compared to our worlds architectural masterpieces its unstoppable. We then get a tracking shot of a few jet fighters trying to make an assault on the beast, the camera angle is like one of another pilot looking backwards watching the plane fly. The director then shows a series of pictures in a row to show the true effect of the destruction to every single class possible. We then get loads of different images showing us how these monsters are a world wide problem and therefore the world needs to unite against them. This shows the audience that in times of hardship we can put aside our differences and work together, this helps the audience to relate to the characters because it shows a wide variety of different people all of which come from different classes so that everyone in the audience can relate in some way.

Sound is used very effectively in the opening scene both diegetically and non-diegetically. The constant narration is used to a very high standard to fill in members of the audience into the basic idea of the story and how they got to where they are now. The narration also helps us to realize that this is indeed a horror film because it mentions things like jets, tanks, monsters and fighting back. All of this is over the top of the already shocking imagery they have managed to create to show the world in utter chaos with monsters everywhere attacking everything. Diegetic sound is used very sparingly to only get across the extent of damage and chaos these monsters are causing, they also use the monsters screams along with war sirens louder to prove more quickly the tragedy which has happened. It doesn't have a set theme tune for the movie but does have a slow paced theme music in the background to help add more of an atmosphere to the film.

An enigma code is used at the end of the opening sequence to leave people in the audience with unanswered questions involving the story line, that last line "things were about to change" leaves the audience on a cliffhanger because it makes us think about what exactly could of changed to put the tides out of their favour and how this change will affect the entire outcome of this movie.

The main characters are partly introduced in the opening scene, this is because from what the audience can figure the narrator saying all this stuff is going to be the main character, they can recognize this because throughout the entire scene there is not one other person talking or any camera shots focusing on any one person, so we can figure out that the narrator must be the main character of the film because he is the only one which our focus is bought to.