film opening analysis of a sci-fi film: Riddick (2013)

1. RIDDICK (2013)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOJIAXEY6X0
FILM OPENING RESEARCH - AS MEDIA

2. Opening Sequence

3. EDITING
The film starts with the Universal Pictures and the ONE films
indents which indicates that they distributed the film and may
have/have not produced it, with a transition of fade into black.
The company studios’ names appeared again in a “fade in” and
“fade out” effects along with the another institution, Radar
Pictures. Only institution names of studio companies are credited
in the opening sequence from 0.48 – 1.07 showing that they
collaborated to produce and distribute the film. . There were no
credits for the cast and the director yet.

4. CAMERA
•
•
The camera stops panning as
soon as the dinosaur begins biting
a person’s hand deliberately
creating a focal point for the
viewers to focus on. This opening
scene of immediately shows that
the film’s scene genre is sci-fi due
to the fact that it s set somewhere
in the past during the dinosaur’s
A long shot of a bird dinosaur,
landing onto the rock surface. A
pan (to the left) is used as the
camera moves along with the
dinosaur. Credits to who made the
film is seen in a fade in/fade out
effect in the lower left corner of the
screen suggesting that he is the
film’s director.

5. MISE- EN- SCENE
• As I’ve said, the film is set in
the dinosaur’s era where
there are only rocky surfaces
with rocky mountains in the
background. The light
coming from the sun in the
background creates a warm
atmosphere giving of a
sense of hot and scorching
weather.
• The hand protruding above the ground
looks like as if it is wearing a kind of
robotic suit emphasising the fact that it is
a sci-fi movie.

6. SOUND
• The film starts with the Universal studio indent music. As soon as
the next indent comes in, a deep low epic orchestra instrumental
connoting danger. A loud sound, like a big trucks beep, comes in
during the transition between the institutions’ credits and the first
actual scene.
• The instrumental stops and a dinosaur’s cry along with it’s
flapping of wings come up. A man’s deep voice does a voice over.
A shocking sound comes up when the hand suddenly grabs the
dinosaur.

7. • The loud sound of a big truck comes up again as the scene cuts into a black
screen. The epic instrumental with fast drum beats joins in as Vin Diesel’s
name (the main actor) appears in a zoom in and fade in/fade out effect. This
connotes danger as tension builds up and a high pitched violin joins in.

8. MAIN CHARACTER
• There are no appearance of the
main character in the opening
sequence. We can only hear a
man’s deep voice which,
possibly, must be the main
character’s voice. The hand
seen in the scene is also
assumed to be the main
character’s.

9. Opening scene end when the title, “Riddick” appeared. The title reveal shows a
sleek font style of the title with only a single horizontal light streak cutting the
middle of the shot as if it’s someone’s eye partly closed or the time of daybreak.
This creates a sense of severity and danger.