Opening Shots

The opening shot of a film is carefully chosen by the director as it holds a lot of importance. In the one shot the genre, feel and narrative can be shown.

The Skeleton Twins 

The skeleton twins is a comedy drama directed by Craig Johnson. This shot starts with the camera tilted up as if someone is looking up. This suggests there is a shorter/younger person looking up at the man. This along with his grey hair and shirt implies that he is a father. The background is blurred out and focus is completely on him, this could be a hint that he is essential to the plot. His actual face is hidden by a mask from which we could suggest that his character is concealed in the film. This also could symbolise the film plot relates to masking something about yourself and having hidden secrets. The mask itself is clearly a skull which has death symbolism. However it is painted with bright colours which relates to sugar skulls and the Mexican holiday dias los muertos. The colour palette of this shot is very dull. It is accompanied with soft piano music and voice over. The voice over is of a woman speaking gently. From these elements we can infer that it is a drama.

Birdman 

Birdman is a comedy drama directed by Alejandor Gonzalez Inarritu. This opening shot shows the back of a man floating in mid air. This suggests the film is a fantasy and the audience may think he is the 'birdman'. His in a messy room that looks rundown. This shows he is not very wealthy. The colour palette is very bleak which hints that it is a drama. In this scene the camera is panning in whilst there is a voice over. The voice is very deep and appears to be talking to the man in the shot. This leaves the audience confused yet intrigued. The scene is very dream-like with both what is being shown and the voice over which could show the film has a sense of magic realism. Also he is in just underwear which is what he might sleep in - this reinforces the idea that he is dreaming.

I origins 

I origins is a drama directed by Mike Cahill. It starts with an extreme close up of an eye. The audience can immediately relate this to the title and can infer that the film centres around eyes. This also suggests a scientific element to the film. The scene carries on to show a montage of different eyes. There is also a voice over from a man. There is a lot of symbolism that comes with the use of an eye, one of which is the awe and wonder humans have which is a theme carried on through the film. Also the idea of illusion and being watched comes to mind with this shot. Eyes also bring the idea of being able to see, so this image could suggest there is something about perception or even blindness, in a literal and metaphorical way.