The opening sequence of Memento establishes tension by showing blood and violence. Shots of blood on a photograph and running down a wall set the scene of a murder. The main character is then shown with blood on his face, looking scared after a fight. A man points a gun at his victim, giving the audience a glimpse at the killer but still leaving questions unanswered. The sequence is played in reverse, making the audience concentrate closely to piece together what occurred and work out the mystery.

1. Real Media Research
By Thomas Gray

2. Shaun of the dead
Opening Sequence Conventions:
The opening scene shows the main character with a close-up Shot of his face as though he is shocked.

3. Then the scene leads to a black screen showing that an event is about to happen, this then creates
suspense for the audience.

4. This dolly pan is then used for advertising purposes after getting the audience prepared for something
scary to occur.

5. This shot stereotypes women as working like robots, having no expression on their face also they are all
working in unison to boost the fact that all women are the same.

6. This is depicting men as workers, as they are all waiting for a bus in a formally like manner. The coloured
man is singled out, this may be a representation of his ethnicity because he looks more uninformed in
comparison to the working men.

7. This is establishing the movies main theme which is ‘the walking dead/zombies’.

8. This is creating a sense of risk and fear, it builds hostility to get the audience feel more nervy.

9. This shot is establishing the two main characters, it is stereotyping them as work-shy, dirty slobs. It also
sets the laughable theme of the movie.

10. This scene furthers the stereotypes of men. Mise en scene is used to express this stereotype as the clothes
that he is wearing are dirty and un-washed.

11. Warm Bodies
Opening Sequence Conventions:
This establishes the main Character and sets the movies theme of zombies by the paleness of the
characters skin.

12. This scene sets the audience to prepare for an Apocalypse movie, the dialogue is setting up the comical
conventions for the movie. The saturated tone adds a darker tone to this scene.

13. This scene shows a flashback. They have used old themed colours for the frames and a sepia tone to
create the flashback. The sepia tone adds a time of origin horror theme to the scene.

14. The lady in this scene sprints towards the glass panel, it causes the audience to be scared and too jump.
This makes a fear filled atmosphere for the audience to witness. The mise on scene used makes this scene
more convincing and scary.

15. This scene is showing the characters thought process, it gives a short summary of what could have
happened to cause the apocalypse. This process also makes it clear that they are surviving in a post-
apocalyptic world.

16. This scene shows the location of the scene, it implies to the audience what to expect from the movie. To
back this up, the main character is wearing the red jumper, this symbolises danger and it causing him to
stand out in the mainly grey dominated colour scheme showing that they are zombies.

17. This is another Flashback showing the audience what has happened to the Airport. The brighter colours
used continue to establish the post apocalyptic world the movie is set in. His red jumper could also signify
danger. Even in this scene it is still dominated by the colours blacks and greys; this is because they are all
looking down at their phones acting like zombies already, whilst the main character in red is looking up.

18. The man rips his face off to put the audience in a feel fear and disgust. This builds up tension to lead the
audience onto believing something scary or frightening is about to happen. The characters make up
instantly establishes him as a zombie, which continues to introduce the narrative in a visual way. The low
frequency sound and the flickering noise of a light makes the audience to feel fear.

19. This shot reverse shots makes the audience see a more human side to the zombies, this helps the
audience to calm down and take a break from the slightly gory and zombie infested scene. It also
foreshadows the fact that zombies have the ability to keep human qualities. It also sets the comical theme
for the movie.

20. This shows the absent-mindedness of the zombies thought process. It could also be a counter-typical
example of how men are shown in movies as they are usually seen as well dressed, clean and quick at
thinking.

21. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Opening Sequence Conventions:
The sequence opens with a simple black and white text, the music in the background is heavy and bassy.

22. The dark colours and low key lighting already causes the audience to feel tension. The music starts to pick
up, making the audience start to feel excitement.

23. The cold grey sharp blocked writing and the mac black background establishes that the movie will be dark
and gritty. The sharp edges of the text look like blades which con notate danger.

24. This shows the main theory of the plot, which is technology and hacking
The black liquid is also of blood like consistency, which con notates death and murder in the film ahead.

25. The black blood that is flowing of the lips shows that the blood is going to be about a romantic thriller,
because a close-up of a women's lips is usually used in a sexual way but fits in with the film perfectly.

26. This starts to create a contrast in colour, it causes the audience to feel a sense of excitement and fear! It
also makes the opening more interesting and complex.

27. A bird is often associated with freedom and peace, this could have some meaning into the storyline,
perhaps the freedom of the protagonist or even the antagonist.

28. This shows vines growing round the bodies, this could show imprisonment and fear. It also makes the
bodies look weak because they are being wrapped up and trapped.

29. This dark and gloomy colours seem to be the main colour scheme for this movie. The glowing light of the
hands could show new life being created.

30. This is a two person shot which shows two people kissing, the black could be used to show that their
relationship is powerful as that is what black could represent.

31. The colours used are very low-slung and sleek. The writing that is used shows a sense of danger; even
though the writing is white (meaning peaceful) the font is done with the edges of the letters being sharp
and daring.

32. Memento
Opening Sequence Conventions:
The man is looking at a picture which looks like it has blood on it. This could represent what the film is
going to be about in the later stages.

33. This shot shows an old fashion styled camera, this could represent that this film has not been set it the
present day.

34. There is flowing blood, this could represent that a murder has taken place before, this would make the
audience question, who did it? Why did they do it? And who’s blood is it?

35. This shows blood running down the wall next to the glasses that have fallen onto the floor, this could be
the follow up on the blood that was shown on the shot before hand. The glasses on the floor could
represent that because the audience does not know about who the murderer is that they are blind just
like the person that has been killed.

36. This shot shows the potential main character. This also shows blood on his face and that he looks worried
and scared. The blood on his has shows that he has been in a fight, this would cause tension for the
audience.

37. In this scene it shows this man pointing the gun at his victim. At this point the audience have now found a
little bit about this killer. But still builds tension. The broken wall in the back ground represents that the
guy that is shown is broken inside that is why he is shooting the man.

38. The sequence is played backwards for the audience to workout what has happened and to look closer and
concentrate on it. The man is taken a picture of the guy that has just died, this would be scene as not
normal and un human like and would also create disgust in the audience.