Rush Hour 3- Opening Sequence

Year 12 Production- Opening Sequence of A Film

Rush Hour 3- Opening Scene – Action/Comedy Genre

TThe opening sequence of this film uses the conventions I would expect from this genre. This is because it starts with the main protagonist as a traffic warden singing and dancing to a diagetic sound playing through his headphones. You can also hear diagetic sounds in the background of the cars braking. The music we and the character hear is parallel with the characters actions because it matches with the situation making the scene more comical. The location of the opening scene is set in an urban city with mass crowd. This location is parallel with the genre of the film. During the opening scene there is an off-screen situation where we the audience can hear the sound but can not see the scene. E.g. of this is when I heard the sound of the cars braking but could not see where the source was coming from. This effect is used for continuity and verisimilitude.

Because this film is an action-comedy it starts with a comical and humorous start because it what we the audience expect from the film which uses the conventions very well. The director has also portrayed the main protagonist as a careless, funny and laid-back character so we the audience can feel interested to watch the rest of the film.

3.      The key ideas which interest me the most is the way the opening sequence am portrayed e.g. starting with the main protagonist in an awkward situation, giving a sense of mystery of why he is portrayed like this.

TThe appearance of the titles in the opening scene is very subtle and plain. There is no major effects e.g. fade. The titles are on the right side highlighted in white. They might have been used like this to show the simplicity of the film or maybe to show the opening scene is what we should be focused on instead of the titles.

5.      This opening scene shows that people who are traffic wardens can be seen as interesting, instead of being stereotyped as boring and known to be strict and serious, which the total opposite is shown in the opening scene played by the Chris Tucker (Protagonist)

6.      The production company behind this film is called ‘New Line Cinema’ which is also the distributor of the film. The production company is important because they control the budget, gross and distribution.

T TThe audience for this opening sequence would be for someone who enjoys watching comedy or is into comical films. The audience for this opening sequence could be for someone who loves this genre of film or someone who like Chris Tucker.

8.      This opening scene keeps the audience interested because it starts with an interesting opening story line  which makes the audience feel at the edge of their seat. It also starts with the funniest protagonist of the two which instantly grabs the audience’s attention and makes them want to watch even more. The opening sequence also has Chris tucker dancing and singing in a comical way to show express and remind us of the genre of the film which will interest us to keep watching.

During this opening scene the only special effect used was CGI (Compute Generated Imagery) example was when near the end of the opening scene when the cars start to crash against each other because Chris Tucker is not paying attention. The special effect is when the cars crash.