The opening sequence begins with a plain black frame and
swiftly tilts down to an aerial shot of a city. This is effective as it plunges
the audience straight into the setting, creating feelings of disorientation. A
series of fast changing shots are shown. These shots rotate gradually and also
zoom in and out, meanwhile going in and out of focus. These all create feelings
of disorientation for the audience. The unpredictable movements also suggest
that unpredictability will also be reflected in the storyline. To aid the
bewilderment of the audience, flashing lights appear of the screen. The
flashing lights appear to look like glare from lights reflecting on the camera
lens. This suggests that the lights are close to the camera, but in fact the
lights are from distant buildings and skyscrapers. This symbolises how the
audience may think they are close to deciphering the storyline but really are
not. This aids the unpredictability of the story line, also.
A skyscraper then comes into the centre of the frame and the
camera zooms in on it. The camera then rotates around the building to reveal
its sheer size in comparison to everything else. This symbolises something
great and fundamental which rises above everything else in the storyline. The
revealing camera angles also highlight the intricacy of the huge structure.
This not only suggests that themes of intricacy will be replicated within the
story line but also symbolises how things aren’t always as they seem. A great
and domineering building isn’t suspected to be as intricate and delicate as it
is. The skyscraper could also symbolise how something innocent and seemingly
harmless, in reality, can cause mass destruction. This is repeated further on
in the opening sequence. However, it is then with more buildings. Lights
continue to flare up on the lens which is effective. These both symbolise how
problems have one common source and how problems, for example crime, spread
like wildfire.
Shots skip to random places in the city or even to different
cities as it is unclear which city is being filmed. This highlights the scale
of a city and reminds the audience how is it could be to be ‘Taken’ from such a
greatly populated and busy area. This is also reinforced with the aerial shots
of busy city roads, filled with cars going in and out of the city. Feelings of disorientation
and confusion are heightened when two shots overlap one another, obstructing
the real whereabouts of what the audience is viewing. Considering the name of
the movie ‘Taken 3’ it can be assumed that this will be a continuous feature.
Toward the end of the opening sequence, camera editing
alters slightly. The angle is directly facing the ground like a bird eye view
shot. The camera pans in and out and the shot skips to different places in the
city and repeats this. This creates the impression that the camera is actually
the viewpoint from a helicopter. The continuous panning also suggests that they
are looking for someone, which subsequently links to the name, ‘Taken’.
However, it leaves the audience in mystery because you don’t know who is
looking for whom. Whether the antagonists are searching for the protagonists or
vice versa.
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