Opening Sequence Analysis

World War Z
Zombie-Horror Movie

As the opening credits are shown, there is a black screen whilst there is minor key, high-pitched background music playing through. It then cuts to waves crashing on the beach, clouds moving across the sky at an accelerated pace, and the sun rising over the city. This is a staple of the horror genre where it shows everything is calm beforehand. It then cuts to a large flock of birds flying, seemingly in a panic, which would indicate there is something disturbing them. It then cuts to a suburb, with an effect that disjoints the image, it also makes it look like a broken camera lens. As it cuts to a train station, there begins to be non-diegetic audio recordings of multiple newscasters talking at once. It then goes to show different locations such as airports and shopping centres. The intro then shows lots of news reports and talk shows on various topics. Just after, it shows predators eating their prey, which relates to the zombie mythology, and foreshadows what is to come. The cuts get progressively quicker as it zooms out to the title ‘World War Z’ with the clips running through the individual letters. The music plays throughout the clip.

Sucker Punch

Action-Fantasy Movie

As the movie starts, it opens showing a dark room of what looks to be a theatre of some description, with the narrator talking over it. The scene lights up slightly and shows some of the participating companies. After this, the curtains open to reveal a bedroom scene of a play, with a little girl sitting on her bed, with her back to the camera. Underneath the narration, you can hear lightning sound effects, which also add short burst of light into the scene. The camera then gradually zooms in and turns around to reveal the girls face. During this, a rendition of Marilyn Manson’s ‘Sweet Dreams’ is sung eerily, with a soft female singer. The camera then cuts to the side of the girl as she turns her head to face a butler, standing in the doorway. The shot changes to an over-the-shoulder shot to the little girl as she runs out of the room, the camera follows her. It then cuts to a close-up high angle of a body being covered by a plastic sheet, as the camera moves up slightly, you see the girl running towards the room. It then, for a few seconds, cuts to the windowpane as rain falls onto it. It then cuts to a mid shot from under the bed, as you see the girls knees fall to the floor, a cinematic impact sound can be heard. Minor key orchestral music can be heard throughout the scene. It then shows a close-up of the girl’s hand on the cover, and as she pulls it off, it cuts to a reveal of the deceased woman, with a medium close-up shot. It then cuts to a high-angle shot of a smiling man adjusting his tie as the lightning casts light on his face. It then cuts back to the girl, cradling the deceased woman in her arms, looking up towards the man, with tears in her eyes.

Resident Evil: Retribution

Horror-Action-Science Fiction Movie

As the movie begins, we see a body of a woman submersed in water from beneath as she floats towards the light source at the surface. During this sequence, there is some minor key orchestral music, combined with what sounds like an electric guitar. It then cuts to a side-on view of the woman floating, when lots of bubbles and spray hovers above her. She is then sucked out of the water to reveal the title of the movie. It then cuts to show the woman flying through the air among debris and flames. As it cuts to an establishing shot, it reveals that the sequence is played in reverse, and is a future scene in the movie. It shows the explosion on the ship as the debris re-attaches to its source of a helicopter, which would have been chasing her if played forward. She is turned around in reverse and proceeds to shoot at the helicopter (in reverse) and we see the bullets leave the pilots body and the glass repair itself. It then shows another woman firing guns (presumably at the first woman) we also see her execute combat rolls. It shows her being airlifted in from a helicopter and zip lining down. It also shows troopers zip lining down and shooting workers and crewmembers on the boat. It then shows the airstrike on the boat. This is all shown in reverse.