Analyzing Film Openings

 Analyzing Film Openings

The genre I chose for my project was the coming-of-age genre. The coming-of-age genre represents a characters life from childhood to adulthood. Many times this genre includes an awakening or a loss of innocence in the character. For this post I will be analyzing different film openings that take part in the coming-of-age genre.

Waves - (2019)

In the beginning, it opens to a girl riding her bike through woods. The sun is up but the light is still dim. The title appears and then transitions to the next scene. 

Both main characters are seen in the car driving with windows down, and music blasting. It's a sunny day and the vibes are good near the beach. This quickly brings a bright, fun feeling to begin the opening. 

After the car ride it transitions to one of the protagonists, Tyler, wrestling. The tone turns more competitive, and rough. The lighting isn't as bright but isn't completely dim. The scene is shaky and the camera stays on Tyler throughout the scene.

Cutting to Tyler, his school and social life is previewed. He is serious about wrestling and shows commitment by keeping up with practice and workouts. He is also serious about his girlfriend, Emily, which is also viewed in the opening.

It leads to the end of the opening and to the next scene through Tyler walking in the locker room.

                                

The Perks of Being a Wildflower - (2012)

The opening starts with the main character, Charlie, writing a letter to someone else. The tone feels deep, heavy, and sad. Its night time and the only light is his lamp, which helps to create that feeling.

It cuts to Charlie in his living room talking about his family. The lighting is warm toned contributing to the same feeling earlier. Charlie's dialogue also really gets at the troubling vibe. Such as, "Please don't try to figure out who I am, I don't want you to do that." and "Tomorrow is my first day of high school ever. And I need to turn things around."

The vibe switches as Charlie talks about imagining his last day of senior year. This represents how uneager and excited he is for school to start, and how quickly he wants it to be over. The lighting is well-lit, and brighter colors are shown.  

Transitioning to his real first day at school, upperclassmen are trolling and making fun of the underclassmen. New characters are introduced and each one is seen t be embarrassed of Charlie by not saying hi back, or not letting him sit with them. Except this one senior who's goal was to make a class full of freshmen feel better. 

In Charlies advanced English class, his teacher asks a question that no one knows the answer to except, Charlie. Although he knew the answer he didn't say it out loud which would've prevented them from taking a pop quiz. This shows how Charlie is shy and would rather have taken a quiz then speak out loud. This happens again with another question. His teacher talks to him after class asking him why he didn't participate. They talk and the end of the opening occurs.

Incoming  - (2024)

 

The opening of Incoming includes Benji, the main character, saying romantic, meaningful words to, what is thought, someone else. With the camera close-up to his face, he leans in to "kiss someone". It then cuts to a long shot of him leaning in and practicing kissing his mirror. 

As he continues and gets really into kissing his mirror, Benji's sister barges in and he bangs his nose against the mirror. Benji's sister quickly realizes what he was doing and makes fun of him. This opening scene shows how chaotic and comedic the film will be.