The Illusionist Opening Sequence

In this opening the major of it is credits, which I feel is good because the images behind the credits help to set the scene and time period of the film. When the film actually begins then the shot is of the Illusionist/Magician on stage at one of his shows.

The opening doesn't really introduce the characters overly. You can see the police chief and the illusionist, but you don't get introduce to them as a character overly. This happens later in the opening because the film starts very close to the end of the plot and then goes back to the beginning.

I feel that the credits are really good because although they have images/clips behind them, it isn't of anything that is overly related to the storyline so you don't have to concentrate. Instead it allows you to take in the images and you begin to realise the time period and also the setting of the film. Then the film begins, meaning you don't then have to concentrate on time period, you can just concentrate on the character.

The camera work is quite varied to show the expression of the Illusionist and also the reaction and sheer size of the audience that have come to see him perform - although he doesn't appear to be performing much. Particularly in the way that it uses closeups to convey emotion and reactions. The angles and camera work is used to highlight important people (such as the policeman) and actions (such as the ghost of the woman appearing & the woman's outburst). When the police chief comes onto the stage to arrest the Illusionist, having the illusionist sitting down makes him look a lot smaller and fragile than the police chief.

The continuity editing is good and I like the lighting. It gives the auditorium a very sinister feeling which then comes true when the police come in and arrest the illusionist. The dark lighting adds to the tension and suspense. I;'ve noticed that with lighting it is normally quite hard to achieve the correct emotion/enigma within a scene.

I think that the sound is very effective. The music definately matches the time period of the film and the silence when the film actually starts gives tension and suspense to the scene immediately. Then when the woman bursts out in excitement the silence from before helps to emphasise her excitement.

Overall I think that this opening is very effective with the way that the credits help to set the scene, normally people don't utilise this unless they are already showing part of the film in the background.

As with the opening to Se7en I like the way that the credits themselves aren't boring, in the Illusionist they move and flicker about which just helps to make them a little interesting on screen.

I would like to use the idea of setting the scene behind the credits just via stills or small clips of movement in my thriller opening. However due to the limitations in length I wouldn't have time to fit this in and have an opening for the thriller, so I won't be able to do it.