Function of the opening of a film

Function of the opening of a film - London to Brighton


This film was produced in 2006, it is a Steel Mill pictures and Wellington pictures production. It has been made by Vertigo Films and UK Film Council.The director of this film is Paul Andrew Williams. The titles at the beginning of the film only last 36 seconds. The titles that are used are 'Vertigo Films', 'UK FILM|COUNCIL', 'UK film council presents', 'A Steel Mill pictures and Wellington films production', 'London 3:07am'. The last title sets the scene and it tells us what time and where the following scene is happening.  I found out that the opening of 'London to Brighton' makes the audience want to watch on and it catches their attention, they would want to watch on as they would want to know what happened to the mother and the child in the opening scene. They have done this by using a clip from further on in the film and they have placed it in the middle, the clip that is used is full of action. In the opening scene we see a mother and a child rushing into a cubicle, the child has makeup smudged all over her face and the mother looks like she has been beaten up. She is trying to comfort her daughter. You can see from the expressions on their faces that they are scared. She says that they aren't safe there, this makes us wonder what has happened to them that they are not safe where they are. The mother leaves again and proceeds to earn some money. In the next scene we then see them running through a train station and onto the train.

 Once the two characters are in the cubicle a medium shot is used of the little child to show how she is feeling, she is shaking and she looks really scared. An over the shoulder shot is used to see the woman looking at her self in the mirror. The same shot is also used when the mother is talking to the child. A long shot is used to show the mother in the fast food shop getting food for herself and the child. A shot reverse shot is used to show the conversation between the mother and the child talking about how they are going to get away from London.