Uncut Gems. Directed by Benny and Josh Safdie. In the first few minutes, the Safdies open on a mine in Ethiopia. The tone of the entire film is set up in this moment, with chaos erupting as a drone shot reveals the mine inside of a crater. The sounds of men screaming and shouting, paired with alarms blaring and a low droning, constant synth create an anxiety-evoking feeling in the viewer. This feeling is further emphasized when the smooth drone shot cuts to handheld close-ups. Using the techniques of sound and shots, I can create the tension and anxiousness that I want the viewer to feel.
Good Time. Also directed by the Safdies. This opening is a bit calmer and more controlled, which is very intentional. The film opens with two characters talking, the therapist and Nick. The first few minutes feature purely tight closeups of Nick and the therapist as they are speaking producing an underlying tension, but it is overall a normal and calm scene. However, as soon as Connie, the main character, enters, the room erupts and they all begin shouting and cursing at each other, establishing that the character of Connie is the catalyst for the conflict. The Safdies develop the chaos mainly through overlapping dialogue. The prior scenes that feature only the two characters having a calm conversation in a quiet room help to juxtapose the rapid change to a loud and uncontrolled environment Connie creates when he comes in. I should definitely use and focus on a combination of tight close-ups and overlapping sounds and dialogue in my own opening to create that tense atmosphere I'm going for. Check out the scene below:
First Man. Directed by Damien Chazelle. The opening follows an astronaut as he goes up into space and barely makes it back. It's nerve-racking and stressful, exactly what I want to convey. It uses a super shakey camera since the spaceship itself is shaking like crazy in the scene, which immediately puts you in a concerned and worrying mindset. The lighting is dark to obscure details. There are a bunch of inserts and point-of-view shots that portray the claustrophobic nature of the shuttle. And again, the sound is a big part of the anxiety that you get from this. It's loud and unnerving. I could definitely use certain aspects of First Man, I think the lighting could be an interesting thing I could play around with. I probably would want to stay away from point-of-view shots since I don't really like how they turn out, most of the time it's just cheesy. Below is the opening:
All of these films make the audience feel stress, anxiety, and concern mainly through SOUND. Sound is about to become a big part of my opening whether I like it or not. The best way I can do this is by overlapping conversations like in Good Time, especially if I focus on characters more since a situation like First Man, with the loud sound effects of a space shuttle, wouldn't really be possible. I can also take some inspiration from Uncut Gems and have a droning and constant sound effect in the background, like a synth. Another tool I could use would be juxtaposing and contrasting calmer scenes with really harsh and abrupt sequences. Good Time does this when Connie enters the room and First Man also achieves this when the astronaut leaves the atmosphere, bringing a sense of serenity, acting as the eye of the storm. I can have an event break into all hell when a trigger sets it off. My next step would be to set up a timeline of what I should do to keep myself organized.
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