Analyzing Film Openings

 I decided to go with apocalyptic for the genre of my film. I believe I would be more capable of creating an apocalyptic film than a dystopian one, more specifically I'm making it about a zombie apocalypse. I am a huge fan of zombie media so I am familiar with how they usually open. Usually, they begin either before the outbreak or during the outbreak.

The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead begins by giving us a bit of background behind the main character, Rick Grimes. We learn that he is a police officer and is refueling his police car. There are various abandoned cars at the gas station, as he is looking at the wrecked cars he sees a little girl. He asks her if she's okay, she turns around and it is revealed that she is missing part of her mouth and is a walker (the show's name for zombies).

 She walks closer to him and he has no choice but to shoot her. This opening begins after the outbreak but there isn't much action. There is a cut to a few months prior where we get the background of the characters and how Rick was before the outbreak, this is an interesting twist on traditional openings as we see the aftermath first. 

The Last of Us

Although it isn't technically a film, I want to analyze The Last of Us' opening scene from the game as it is an amazing opening. We are introduced to the protagonist, Joel, and his daughter, Sarah. It is the night of Joel's birthday, he and Sarah are watching a movie and Sarah falls asleep. Joel gets a call from his brother, Tommy saying that he needs to pick him up from jail. There is a cut to Sarah in bed, it is 3:05am on her clock and she is woken up by a phone call from Tommy asking where Joel is. There is a sense of panic and unease as the scene progresses. Sarah looks for her father and sees a news report on TV about a virus outbreak. An explosion goes off as Sarah searches for her Dad. She finally finds her Dad and a zombie runs into the door of her house, which startles the audience and brings the panic that Sarah is feeling, to the viewers. Sarah, Joel, and Tommy then flee the house. They try to escape burning streets full of infected individuals and screaming people. Ultimately, Sarah gets shot and dies, and there is a 20-year time cut. This is my favorite opening from the ones I've selected because I love the sheer panic that is evoked. This is the type of opening I would like to incorporate into my opening.

Zombieland

Zombieland is a comedy zombie apocalypse film so the opening is more exaggerated and unrealistic. It begins with a POV shot and a zombie viciously attacking. The opening scene is just a montage of different zombie attacks with the main character's voiceover describing his various "rules" to survive a zombie apocalypse. He describes each scenario and the rule that goes along with it, the zombie attacks are vicious and gory. Zombieland took the action approach, which best complimented the comedy aspect of the film having the opening be dramatic and funny. The credits roll with slow-motion scenes of zombie attacks. This opening starts off during the outbreak and after the credits, we are introduced to the main character who was doing a voiceover in the beginning.