Film Opening = Introducing Scene Research

The Fault in Our Stars 

During the introductory scene of the film, the '20th Century Fox' sign is shown; from this shot, the camera pans up towards the night sky showing dim stars in the background, making a reference to the film title. This lighting creates a calm, soft and gentle mood feel for the start of the film. When the

narrative voice starts talking, it shows Hazel and this tells the audience that it is her voice speaking over the shots. The first shot shown of Hazel is of her eyes, a close-up shot, used purely to show emotion in the emotion in the character on the screen, hence why it is used in this scene. Whilst watching this part of the scene, I decided that I wanted to replicate this use of a close-up shot in my opening. The camera then flashes to the stars, again creating that calming mood, and then flashes back to Hazel however this time from a shot which is further away. This shows the audience that she is lying on the grass, this High Angel Shot gives the viewers a sense of power over, in this case Hazel, whoever/whatever is on the screen during the shot, and it can also show the audience more of the scenery around the main focus.

It then shows flashes of scenes from later on in the film. All the scenes shown are happy and this is juxtaposing what Hazel is saying in the voice over, as she is talking about how there is never a

'perfect girl' to 'perfect relationship'. The lighting in this scene is shown as bright which enforces the theme of happiness. However, in one scene, when Hazel and her boyfriend, Gus, are in a doorway,

the lighting is dim but the open doorway allows light to shine through and lights up the two of them

in the shot. This shows the audience that they are the two main focuses of the shot. When Hazel says 'not the typical girl' it flashes back to her lying on the grass. This shows the audience that Hazel isn't a 'typical girl' and hints at the plot for the rest of the film.

At the end of the opening scene the title appears in stars. It looks like it is written in chalk, this may be because chalk can be daily removed, like the 'fault' in the stars. It is also written in blue and white writing, both of the colours are associated with hospitals and this plays a main part in the film.

After watching this opening I was more familiar with different shots and techniques I could use in my own opening with Millie. It also gave us inspiration to recreate certain lighting points and to use some shots which caught our interest, in particular the close up shot.