Film opening analysis
The film I've chosen is Black Hawk Down, made in 2001, based in Somalia. It is an American war film, adapted from the book by Mark Bowden. The film is set in 1993, based on true events.
In the opening sequence, the audience are introduced to the genre with the quote of Plato 'only the dead have seen the end of war', which tells us that this is going to be a war film. The font of the graphics are very military like, as in they use the font that is said to be used in government operations, which connotes the genre. The scene is established by showing a truck driving through the desert area, with the title: 'Somalia, 1992' It then shows us a dead body and people carrying dead bodies across the village, with titles explaining that conflict in Somalia has left famine, and that the main 'villain' uses people's hunger as his weapon to gain control. The progression of following the bodies and people as they tend to the bodies links to the telling of the story as it is showing the results of what has happened, the people who have died because of Aidid.
The titles explain about the US operations, while the helicopter sound links to that part of the story, as it is talking about the US deploying forces there.
Aidid is introduced by the use of graphics, explaining that he is one of the most powerful warlords and that he attacks the international food aid in order to gain control, so shows him as the villainous character. The US delta forces are also introduced with graphics, explaining that they have been deployed to stop Aidid, and are therefore our protagonists. The villagers are introduced in the footage, tending to the dead, malnourished, and it shows that they are suffering due to this conflict.
A lot of the story information is told to the audience, but it is all back-story. The details of what is currently happening in the operation are withheld, so intrigue the audience and leave them asking 'what is going on?' enough so that they want to continue watching.
At the start of a film, the audience needs some semblance of character and setting so that they can identify where they are and who they are following. This helps them to build an image of what is going on, and suspend their disbelief for long enough to get engaged with the story so that it becomes real.
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