The opening sequence of Divergent uses various camera techniques to introduce the futuristic, isolated setting of Chicago. A long shot shows an empty wasteland at sunrise, then pans to an abandoned ship, suggesting the land was flooded in the past. The camera pans to a fence surrounding the city, making the audience question if it is meant to keep threats out or contain what's inside. Establishing shots of destroyed skyscrapers confirm this is a future version of Chicago. Various angles are used to emphasize the damage to the city. A high angle shot then introduces the divided population groups dressed in distinct colors.

1. Close analysis for the opening of
Divergent.

2. A long shot is used to
introduce an empty wasteland.
The lighting throughout the opening is
quite bright as it begins with a
sunrise. This is significant as the
audience is being introduced to a new
place on a ‘new day.’
The camera then pans to show
an abandoned ship which
suggests to the audience the
land must have been like this
for a long time, as water must
have been there at some
point.

3. From the very beginning to the view of
the fence is one cut.
The camera continues to pan to show a fence around
a city. This suggests isolation and already makes the
audience question why there needs to be a fence. Is it
there for protection from the outside? If so, what’s out
there? Or is it there to contain what’s on the inside?

4. The camera then zooms into the fence and
shows what is behind it. The opening
sequence mostly uses traditional continuity
editing apart from when the camera goes
over the fence, it cuts suddenly to a closer
shot of the city. This is the only place the
film sped up slightly.
An establishing shot is
used to confirm the
location and a title is
added to show that it is
Chicago. The audience
then become aware that
it is se in the future as
that is not what Chicago
looks like today.

5. It continues to zoom in on the
city and the audience can then
see destroyed and abandoned
skyscrapers. Again, this makes
them wonder what happened
and what caused it.

6. A low angle shot is used to emphasise the damage of the city
and cuts increase throughout the opening between the
different angles of the buildings.

7. A high angle shot is used to
introduce the population of the
city. The use of costume
contributes to the viewer’s
understanding that it is futuristic
as there appears to be different
groups in society and that the
population seems to be very
divided as groups of people are
wearing similar things.
For example, a
group of people
dressed all in
yellow.
And here
there is a
group of
people
dressed in
black and
white.

8. The shot of the tram makes it appear to be realistic (even though it’s
set in the future) because the trams are used in Chicago today, which
again confirms the location for the audience. The use of this close up
shot is significant as they become an important part of the story for
the main character later in the film. The only diagetic sound used is
when the tram goes past on the track.