The opening sequence introduces the audience to the two main protagonists of the film. Through a series of shots including long shots, medium shots, close-ups, and zooms, the audience learns about the characters' personalities and surroundings. The music and sounds help set the mood and pace of the sequence to engage the audience early in the film.

1. Microelements in film
openings
Cherry bomb
(coming-of-age drama)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_D3mTuerYU

2. Mise on scene
The man in the high visibility jacket and the tools surrounding the ground, proves
to the audience that there is an attempt of respire to this scene but obviously not
very fast as there is only one worker and most of the building equipment has
been abandoned.
Setting: dull, messy,
looks abandoned.
Boring and grim. The
billboard ‘another
exciting development
here soon’ suggests
to the audience that
there is an attempt to At this early stage of the film, the audience
improve the place, has been introduced to the 2 main
however the protagonists. The character in this shot is
audience stills sees one of them. His costume is quite basic and
this place as gray lifeless, which contrasts well with the décor
and lifeless of the shot.

3. LONG SHOT
Camera Shots
The long shot gives away
the setting of the scene and
clues about the films
narrative at such an early
point of the film. We see that
the scene is in a gymnasium
and the character in the shot
is central. Even though this
is a long shot and shows the
surroundings of the scene,
The sub heading ‘FRIDAY: three days earlier’ is the audience focus on the
effective in a long shot because, even though the boy as he is centred in the
audiences primary focus is the centred character, shot and at this stage in the
they take in the textual information because of the film, is the first character the
wide shot and area surrounding the primary audience has been
focus. This text shows that the scene is a introduced to, so is
flashback so informs the audience that the film is portrayed as being a
non-liner. protagonist.

4. Camera Shots
MEDIUM SHOT The medium shot is similar
to the long shot, however
more tight fitted, so the
audience is given more of
a specific section to focus
on. In this shot it is the boy
in the centre, rather than
the surroundings like with
the long shot, however the
audience still appreciates
the location and the 2
gymnasts in the
background.

5. Camera Shots
The close up shot presents
the character as important
CLOSE UP to the story and
emphasizes his feelings.
As the audience and not
knowing much about him
or the story at this point of
the film, we guess that he
is adolescent, troubled but
smart. The close up shot of
him smoking gives us as
the audience an in sight
into his characteristics, but
also makes us feel close to
the character and at such
an early stage of the film, a
connection to him as a
main protagonist.

6. Camera Shots
EXTREME CLOSE UP The extreme close up
shot of the shoe, tells
the audience that this is
a key point to focus on
in this shot. The
audience is viewing the
scene from the
characters point of
view, the boy is ‘spying’
on what's happing in
the room through the
blinds and we as the
audience are viewing
the scene the same

7. Camera movements
ZOOM
The camera zooms in on the action in
the shot. It zoom in on one boy who is
portrayed as a protagonist, which is
what the audience's primary focus
because he is centred in the shot.

8. Non-diegetic sound
Throughout the opening sequence there is one track
playing, however the speed and tone changes to contrast
with the mood that the scene is trying to create. At the
beginning of the sequence, the first thing the audience
sees is the gymnast. The mise on scene in the shot, like
her outfit, creates an unsure mood, so the music is quite
airy. This also helps the audience understand how the
character (Rupert Grint) is feeling. The same track
continues playing as the scene changes to introducing the
other character (Robert Sheehan), however, the music
gets louder. For the audience this suggests that the
character in the shot has a louder personality to the other
character we have been introduced to previously.

9. Diegetic sound
There is not much diegetic sound present in this opening
sequence because the sound is mainly the non-
diegetic track. There are a few examples of diegetic
sound, like when the second protagonist (Robert
Sheehan) is introduced, he is stashing drugs in his
blazer pocket. We hear the rustling of the packets and
him opening and closing the lid of a box where the
drugs are in, which makes this action seem more
realistic to the audience. The next scene the audience
doesn’t see the two characters having sex but the
sound of it implies to the audience that they are having
sex which makes this more believable for the audience.
We only see zoomed in shots like the shoe, that
strengthens this implication.

10. Performance
In the opening sequence, the audience is introduced to
two main protagonists. The first is the boy (Rupert Grint)
watching the 2 gymnasts, his expressions and
movements give away a lot about his character to the
audience. He looks fascinated over the girls and
overwhelmed about his surroundings. The other
protagonist (Robert Sheehan) who we first see laying
down, topless and smoking. This shot is a close up of the
character and again gives the audience a main idea of his
characteristics as being quite anti social in his own world.

11. Editing
The sequence starts by introducing the film title. This is
edited in a way that creates the illusion that the text is
floating on water, this is effective for the audience
because it is right at the start of the film, they feel a
sense of flow and water which goes well with the next
scene of the gymnast, wearing a blue costume. The
next scene where we see Robert Sheehan for the first
time, the previous scene is faded out so the two
protagonists are seen briefly on screen together. The
rest of the sequence is just fast edited which sets a
good pace for the audience to understand the film’s
genre and become engaed in the narrative.

12. Pace
This opening sequence has quite a fast pace, being only
3:10, the audience is introduced to the films two main
protagonists, different location shots and obvious
conventions of the genre (sex, drugs, teenagers). The
change between scenes is fast but effective because it
gives the audience a lot of information to absorb, but
ensures that we keep in mind the two main
protagonists and their connections to each shot. The
non diegetic sound also helps set the pace and mood
for the audience at such an early but crucial part of the
film.