Final Cut Comparison Post Part 1

Pick out two opening sequences from films in your genre. Then you will compare your final product to this professional product. Write 7-10 sentences in each post about how your product is similar to this one and how it differs. Explain the differences and discuss the reasoning for the differences (time, budget, quality, etc.).

Opening Sequence | Rear Window (1954)

In this Opening Sequence to the mystery thriller film, Rear Window (1954), the context in the films setting is revealed through mise-en-scene with background details of objects, actors/persons living in this setting, and soundtrack music that adds ambience. Unlike my opening sequence, there seems to be no immediate mystery revealed in this clip, as it is more focused and grounded on revealing context as an expositional introduction to the film. There are similarities in the use of background music to add ambience to the scene, where the lack of such music could remove a sense of meaning from the action occurring onscreen. It should be noted the intended use of soundtrack music in my film is to build suspense as a possible mystery has been revealed from the onset, while this opening sequence uses music for calmness and to put the audience at ease as they sink into the film's settings. This reveals the different approaches and intentions to opening sequences in films where my opening sequence has to immediately set a tone (or at least how I approached it) for a mystery film only having two minutes of content to get this across, while Rear Window has nearly two hours of runtime as a complete film where the film can afford to spend some time on expositional content before it dives into the mystery, and possibly inferring what could be the mystery as a cast of characters wake up and go about their day in the midst of a heatwave. It is arguable that my opening sequence and Rear Window stick to the genre in mystery films that aims to be more grounded and realistic, and avoids the whodunnit subgenre films like Knives Out use as a framework. It is noticeable how the opening sequence in Rear Window is over two minutes of continuous footage as the film camera revolves around the setting giving context to the characters and setting, while I interpreted and intended my opening sequence to start off with a slow tempo but build into something slightly faster as the opening sequence progresses as the character enters the mailroom and searches for suspicious documents. Being that this film was made and released in the mid-1950s, the image quality is not the same compared to modern technologies of the 2020s, where this film was made on physical strips and rolls of film that had to be processed and physically handled, while my opening sequence used digital technologies for filming and editing. Because Rear Window was produced and made by filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock (considered one of the most influential and greatest filmmakers), his artistic vision and experiences far surpassed mine as a high school student, given he had made many films up to this point in his career, which explains the difference in overall artistic vision and expression, and it is also important to note how each individual may have a different artistic vision and approach to how they want to create something. The film was produced professionally, giving it the ability to hire/acquire more assets (persons and objects) for filming to create more meaning in a scene, whereas my opening sequence was made at no cost and sourced assets in my surroundings.