Analysing an opening sequence: Sunset Boulevard.

Analysing an opening sequence: Sunset Boulevard.

Director: Billy Wilder

Writer: Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder and D. M. Marshman. Jr

Stars: William Holden, Gloria Swanson, Erich von Stroheim, Nancy Olson,  Fred Clark and Lloyd Gough. 

Institutions: Paramount Pictures

The film begins with the distribution company logo. This allows the audience to recognise the company and also allows them to identify the company in future films. This shot also indicates to the audience that the film is about to begin. 

The next image is of the film title. The font of the title creates a serious tone to the scene, this is because of the bold font and simple colours. The location for this scene is in the outdoors. We as an audience are able to identify this because of the street curb where the title is. 

The next image of the scene is of a selection of actors who star in the film. In the back of the scene there is music. The music that is playing behind the titles convey a sinister tone and makes the audience conclude that something terrible might have happened and a significant event has occurred. 

The next image of the scene, progresses to more credits. However in the back the music becomes increasingly more intense and therefore indicates to the audience that something may be happening or that it may be foreshadowing future events. 

Finally the camera pans up and we are able to observe some cars and motorbikes. As there is police sirens in the back this indicates to the audience that something scandalous has happened. Also the audio that is overt eh scene explains to the audience that it is five o'clock in the morning, this adds to the serious and shocking tone of the scene. This entices the audience to want to know more.

The narrator who is speaking over the scene, then reveals to the audience that the cars that are racing down the road are the 'homicide squad'. This now explains to the audience that someone's death has occurred and we are shortly about to find out who it is and how it happened. 

We as the audience then find out that 'a murder has been reported from one of those great big houses in the 10,000 block'. From the choice of words and how they are phrased, we from the audience's point of view gather that a murder is rare from the richer area. This therefore makes the incident more exciting and scandalous. 

The narrator then progresses to explain that the reason why the murder is so shocking is because an 'old time star' is involved and therefore many reporters and detectives will be there to create a juicy story line. This makes the opening sequence more exciting and therefore encourages the audience to want to watch more. 

Finally the audience is able to see who has been murdered and how. From the scene we can see that the person who was murdered was male and was either drowned or shot, hence why they are floating in a pool.  The narrator explains that the young male was shot with two bullets in his head and one in his back. However this isn't the star that's been shot, this

is because the narrator tells the audience that the male isn't important.

The narrator then tells the audience that the man who has been murdered is 'just a reporter' this therefore shows that the main event is how he was murdered and by who, not the person who was actually murdered. There is also sarcasm from the narrator about the reporter who was murdered. This contributes to the idea that the murder of the reporter isn't as important as the star that was involved.

The previous picture then begins to slowly fade and this therefore indicates to the audience that the opening sequence has ended and the full film is about to start.