Constantine

“Hell wants him. Heaven won't take him. Earth needs him.” Constantine (Francis Lawrence 2005), a supernatural thriller is a story of a supernatural detective named John Constantine (Keanu Reeves). John Constantine has been to hell and back. He then teams up with a policewoman named Angela Dodson (Rachel Weisz) in order to solve a mysterious suicidal death of her twin sister. The mystery takes them through the world of demons and angels that exist in the modern-day city of Los Angeles.

At the beginning of the sequence, a quotation is shown in white with a black background. “He who possesses the Spear of Destiny holds the fate of the world in his hands.” This is then followed by a phrase. “The Spear of Destiny has been missing since the end of World War II.”. The director had chosen to present this in the opening sequence so the audience will gain a brief idea of what the plot of Constantine is. The quotation connotes a sense of history. The phrase that also follows tells us of a mystery that is come into concern. Having presenting this in the opening sequence will ready the audience for a thrill that is yet to come.

An establishing shot is shown of a building that looks like it has been destroyed that is surrounded by rubble in a desert.  The audience could distinguish that the building is a church as there is a cross on top of the building. The audience could also distinguish that the church could have been destroyed by a fire as we see smoke flowing into the frame of the shot from the sides. Also, the building consists of many dark smudges over its structure that looks like it’s been burnt. This set design emits a sense of evil as it shows a church that has been burnt. It backs up the concept of demons in the film allowing the audience to acknowledge that there is evil in the plot that takes it to an extent to burning churches. There are a couple of long shots that follow the establishing to further more present the destruction of the church. A dog is shown sniffing through the rubble that then cuts to two Mexican looking men also searching through the rubble. A car passes by with Mexican music playing from the stereo to re-enforce the location of the shot.

One of the Mexican men then crashes his foot through some wood flooring as he searches through the rubble. This again suggests the extent of havoc that has been caused to the building. The scene then cuts into a point of view shot below the hole that has been put as the Mexican man takes his foot out. This shows some significance of what lies beneath the flooring as it causes the audience to wonder. A sense of thrill starts to also build up when a ‘spooky’ ambient sound is heard. The thrill then furthermore builds up as there is an oblique shot of the hole that has been made creating a sense of mystery. The Mexican man reaches his arm in and takes out a Nazi flag that looks like it has been wrapped around an object. The Mexican man un-wraps the flag and grasps tightly a blade tip of a spear that he finds in the flag. This is shown with a low angle. The director had chosen to do this so the audience will refer back to the quotation in the beginning of the sequence and will wonder of what the power of the spear’s blade tip is to hold. The scene then cuts into a high angle of the man crouching whilst the ambience halts. This suggests that there is something with a greater power looking over the man.

The Mexican man that holds the spear’s tip then walks away from the rubble as the other Mexican man calls for him alarmingly. The man holding the spear’s tip continues to walk ignoring the other as the camera follows him with a pan. Suddenly, a car crashes into the man holding the spear’s tip. The other Mexican man quickly runs towards the camera with a long shot suggesting that he is going for the man holding the spear’s tip. Another ‘spooky’ ambience comes in as the camera zooms out of the Mexican man that has just been hit with a car. This suggests that there is a paranormal event that is about to take place. We then see a close up of the man holding the spear’s tip’s wrist. It has been edited with CGI so a cross appears on his wrist whilst the ‘spooky’ ambience’s sound is heard louder. This en-forces the paranormal activity that is about to happen with the spear’s tip. The man that had just been hit with a car gets up unharmed and runs away from the car towards the camera with a low angle long shot that expresses the spear’s power which then cuts to black displaying the film’s title ‘Constantine’.

A few conventions that can be named from the events that have occurred with the opening sequence are:  Mexico, Church, Mystery, Paranormal Activity and World War II.

From this analysis I have produced I have learnt that I should introduce some of the main conventions of our film in the opening sequence. This will help the audience get a grasp of our plot as they acknowledge the conventions  portrayed. The use of pace will also be essential. I have also learnt this from my analysis. Pace can be created to create immediacy and highlight significant moments.

Ghost Rider - Hyder Salem

Ghost Rider’s introduction starts a brief and short voice over “This is the legend of the Ghost Rider” with a black screen to capture the audiences’ attention. The next shot presents a long shot with a man dressed as a cowboy on a horse with a dark sky which then cross fades to an animation of a dark horse with a paper looking background. The director had these shots cut to their consecutive order to make the ‘cowboy’ appear to be a legend as it had followed the voice over. The animation created with CGI had also been used to make the legend appear ancient and supernatural. Within these two shots in the intro, the audience will immediately sense that Ghost Rider is a supernatural movie. Another long shot follows of the ‘legend’ riding his horse through dark woods with trees with no leaves and a misty floor. The mise en scene with this shot is used to re-enforces the supernatural and mystic theme of the introduction. The audience will also have a sense of fear from the ‘legend’ as he is riding across casually.

The ‘legend’ is then seen with a wide shot riding his horse into a church. We see this from the mise en scene as there are holy crosses placed around the walls and lit candles used to make it appear as it is used for lighting. This is utilized to make the ‘legend’ appear as a holy character. The audience will sense that this ‘legend’ is good and will want to be on his side. A close up also follows of lit candles to re-enforce the time setting making it appear that this has happened in the past. The shot then cross fades into a close up of a scroll being rolled out then into a close up of an old looking man with flames in the background. A voice over is heard while these shots take place saying that the devil is after the scroll. The old man is shown as soon as the devil is mentioned to make it look like as the old man is the devil himself. It is re-enforced to make it look like he is as the background is edited to appear as flames. This is used to introduce the devil to appear as the nemesis of the ‘legend’. We have already seen that the ‘legend’ is holy and the devil to differ with having flames edited in the background.

A long shot of both the devil and the legend is then seen facing each other in the dark whilst the legend is holding the scroll. This is used to show the tension and conflict between the two. It is then cut to a close up of the devil extending his. This is used to show that the scroll is wanted by the devil. A reaction shot is then followed of the legend tilting his head up. He then rides his horse away from the devil with an extreme long shot leaving tracks that are lit with fire to show the speed of the horse. As this happens, the camera cranes upwards whilst tilting to a high angle over the devil making him appear powerless. The shot then fades to black and is followed by another voice over “The thing about legends is sometimes they’re true.” This is used to tell the audience that this introduction had actually taken place in the film and prepares the audience for a thrill of the new ‘Ghost Rider’.

What I have learnt from this opening sequence is that voice over’s can be extremely effective into setting the foundations of a story for an introduction. Also, introductions don’t have to be necessarily long. They could be short and effective displaying key characters in the beginning. The use of CGI can also be very effective to create supernatural themes.