Research and Blog  - Film Openings

Anthony Suarez

Blog #1

3 Favorite Films

1. IT.

2. The Lion King

3. Beauty & The Beast

IT

Summarize the film in a paragraph: 

So basically the IT is mainly about a killer clown named "Pennywise". So basically what Pennywise does it haunt people and kill them. Pennywise is located in the sewers area where no one can find him. But also Pennywise, like to haunt these seven kids, which one of them is actually the brother of the little kid who got ate by Pennywise.

Document the time for the opening scene.

The opening scene should take like approximately like 2 minutes to have a small understanding of what the movie is going to be about, which is Pennywise murdering & haunting people.

Summarize the opening scene and explain how it connects to the overall plot of the film.

The opening scene is basically a little kid named "Georgie", who went outside in the rain to play with his older brothers paper boat. So basically what happened is that when he was playing with the paper boat, the boat slipped off the road and fell into the sewer place where Pennywise is located. Pennywise receives the boat and then offers Georgie to get the boat back, but in reality Pennywise just wanted to eat Georgie. Georgie is a little kid so obviously he would fall for the trick as he did, but when he grabbed the boat that's when Pennywise killed Georgie. This connects to the overall plot of the film because the others feel like Georgie has gone missing, but in the truth is that Pennywise killed him. The rest of the film is basically just Pennywise trying to kill/haunt others which is why the opening scene connects with the overall plot of the film.

The Lion King 

Summarize the film in a paragraph:

The Lion King is about all of the animals that are in Africa. But the main character is Simba, who is Mufasa's son which is the current king. But Simba turns king after his father dies, because of his brother "Scar" who pushed him of a rock. The movie continues after that and Simba gets older, and becomes king at some point. Towards the end of the movie he starts  a big fight with Scar and his hyenas end up killing Scar.

Document the time for the opening scene.

I feel like if you want to understand the opening scene, you must watch the entire film until the very end to understand why Simba is getting praised as a little cub to be next king. 

Summarize the opening scene and explain how it connects to the overall plot of the film.

So basically what the opening scene is Simba getting praised. The reason to why there praising Simba is so that he can become next king when Mufasa dies. The thing is that Simba has to be a certain age to become king and he was still a little kid when his father (Mufasa) died, which is when Mufasa's evil brother took king. But once Simba got older he became the king and removed Scars position for murdering Mufasa. This is  the way how this opening scene connects to the overall plot of the film.

Beauty and the Beast

Summarize the film in a paragraph:

Beauty and the Beast is a love and almost death movie. So basically what happens is that the person who is considered "Beast" used to be a prince but he did something wrong to someone he wasn't supposed to and he got a wish put on him that made him turn into a Beast. However, throughout the film he was the Beast, and there was this girl named "Belle". Belle had a father that always wanted to visit Beast's castle which he ended up visiting it one day. But Belle's dad was caught, which is when Belle went looking for her dad, and found him in the castle. But the Beast caught Belle as well but he was in love with her. They ended up being lovers and the Beast ends up being a prince again and that's the end.

Document the opening scene.

The opening scene could be understandable once you see it because it's really just him turning from a prince to a beast.

Summarize the opening scene and explain how it connects to the overall plot of the film.

The opening scene is basically a rich prince who owns a castle and was having a party. So what happens is that an elder woman comes to the door and gives him a rose. The prince declines the offer to the elder lady in a rude way, so she gets mad and casts a spell on him that was supposed to make him a beast for a really long time, which is what did happen. This connects with the overall plot of the film because, after a ton of years of the beast being stuck in his castle with his items that talk, here comes along a women called Belle which he falls in love with. After he meets belle he turns into a prince again because he finally has a princess.

The purpose for all these films openings -

IT 

The purpose of the IT opening scene was to open up and tell the viewers from the start that Pennywise is a killer clown and that he murders and haunts people, especially the 7 kids in that group who are all getting targeted.

The Lion King

The purpose of The Lion King opening scene was to show all the viewers that Simba/Mufasa's son was going to become king soon, no matter what happens. Which Simba actually did become a king and he got revenge for his father.

Beauty and the Beast

The purpose of Beauty and the Beast opening scene was to begin with what he did to become a beast, but it makes people want to know what happens next, which is the continue of the entire Beauty and the Beast film.

Compare and Contrast the following for each films -

Visual Elements

IT is more like a dark theme film with a lot of shots of gore.

The Lion King is more like a bright film with a lot of shots of animals / cartoon.

Beauty and the Beast is more like a bright and dark film with a lot of shots of romance.

Auditory Elements 

IT is more like a tempting/scary sounds movie with a lot of screaming.

The Lion King is more like a bright/cultural sound/songs movie with a lot of jungle noises.

Beauty and the Beast is more like a romance sound movie with a lot of quiet sound scenes.

Character

IT's main character is a killer clown who murders/haunts people.

The Lion Kings main character is Simba who is a lion which takes rule of his land after his dad Mufasa.

Beauty and the Beast's main character is the Beast who came from being a really stubborn person, to a loving/romantic person after meeting Belle.

Stereotype

IT's stereotype is murder scenes/ scare scenes/ generally horror.

The Lion Kings stereotype is like a kid movie so it's a friendly movie knowing that Mufasa died.

Beauty and the Beasts stereotype is a stubborn beast who meets a really nice women named Belle, and then they both become lovers.