The Outline

Today I finally came up with the basic outline for the film opening. I gave myself time to visualize how I wanted the sequencing of the piece to flow and looked back on my previous research on film openings. I would trace my main influence of the opening to Taxi Driver (1976, dir. Martin Scorsese) since more than half of the opening is a montage that heavily illustrates a dramatic tone. The other part of the opening is a very quick, yet ideally captivating scene that introduces the protagonist of the film. With that information in mind, here is my outline:

Beginning:

The opening begins with a scene that takes place during the moments before an interview with the protagonist, who is a very popular actor. The crew on the set are rapidly speaking and moving around to make last minute preparations as the show is about to go live. The lights, noise, and movement are extremely overbearing, which is hectic to incite a feeling of discomfort and anxiousness. These are the same emotions the actor radiates when he sits down in his seat waiting for the interview to start. The interviewer sits nexts to him and asks him how he’s feeling, and the actor responds by making a quick remark about feeling terrible. The interviewer responds by laughing as he takes it as a joke, which makes the actor more uncomfortable and jittery. When the show goes live, the interviewer welcomes the audiences then proceeds to question the actor about how his life of stardom is. The actor responds by forcing a smile and stating that he feels great.

Middle:
The middle of the opening is the start of the montage. Here the title card would appear, and production credits will begin to pop up throughout. This half of the montage is more based on the expected lifestyle of a celebrity: the fame, glamour, and being a celebrity. I plan on using dark music in this montage to create a juxtaposition to the “perfect” life shown. Possible shot examples are the actor being followed by paparazzi, expensive material objects such as a watch or car, and fake newspaper clippings of the celebrity expressing joy under headlines that indicated a once successful career.

End:
The end of the opening continues the montage, except the content becomes darker. This is a true glimpse into the lifestyle of the protagonist, one that is rampant of pressure, drug and alcohol abuse, and depression. Here the dark music would start to become cohesive with what is happening on screen, which I hope will create a cool “ah-ha” moment in the audience’s mind. This part serves to shatter the idea of the celebrity lifestyle set up earlier and introduces their actual grim lifestyle as the subject matter of the film.


What I hope this opening will accomplish is to create a dark atmosphere, indicate the genre, and establish both the narrative and conflict of the film. The purpose of the quick scene is for the audience to understand the character’s mindset in the simplest way possible, which are the words directly coming out of his mouth about feeling awful. The montage is of course there to show the title and production credits, but is also meant to guide the audience from the way of life they might expect from a celebrity to the harsh reality the film would present. With these elements set in place, I believe this will make for an excellent film opening.

Tomorrow, I’ll finally get the chance to sit down with my group and discuss what we have all researched in full these past couple of days. I am especially content with this outline in particular and hope they will like it too.