Fantasy opening scenes

Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship Of The Rings 

Directed by Peter Jackson
Produced by Peter Jackson, Barrie M Osborne, and Fran Walsh
Music by Howard Shore 
Distributed by New Line Cinema

Titles and indents; Like many fantasy films the tile is used to create suspense and in this case narrative enigma, before the film has begun. The title fades in from darkness, before fading back out, this, paired with the narrator and soundtrack, creates suspense. The title is in a gold medieval font, the gold foreshadowing the main prop: a gold ring. Through areas of light and shadow this title is made to look 3D, reflecting medieval weaponry, (chunks of copper/other metals). 

Sound; Lord of the Rings opens with a female character narration playing over non-diegetic music. The soundtrack (which is in a minor key) starts with eirey chords, their relatively high pitch suggesting a sense of urgency.  

Mise-en-scene; A shot of the rings getting created with lava is shown, and is given to the Main races of middle earth, the elves, the dwarfs and the humans. The mix of fantasy characters shown in the first scene signifies genre. 

Lord Of The Rings - The Two Towers 

Directed by Peter Jackson
Produced by Peter Jackson, Barrie M Osborne, and Fran Walsh
Music by Howard Shore
Distributed by New Line Cinema

Titles and indents; The title "The Lord Of The Rings", is in a medieval font with rustic colouring. This is similar to the cover of an old story book.

Sound; The non-diegetic music is orchestral in a minor key reflecting the dramatic landscape. Sound effects are non-simultaneous to the scene, gives insight to the following settings. 

Mise-en-scene; Starts off with an areal view of the mountains. The peaceful yet dramatic sight of the mountains contrasts the following scene of the fight between Gandalf and Balrog. The scene holds the attention of the audience well, as the action changes and the movie starts with a plot twist; the 'good guy' (Gandalf) falling into the abyss, a tracking shot can be seen to follow them. Special effects, include fire and parts of the character. 

Lords Of The Rings - The Return Of The King

Directed by Peter Jackson
Produced by Peter Jackson, Barrie M Osborne, and Fran Walsh
Music by Howard Shore
Distributed by New Line Cinema

Titles and idents; The title fades on to the screen in a medieval style font, which adds to the feel of the film. 

Sound; The music playing from the beginning gives triumphant connotations of a world unlike one set in modern day. 

Mise-en-scene; The camera pans from a shot of the country side to reveal a vista of land and mountains, genre signifiers are seen here as well as when the viewer notices broken down walls and a large fantasy-esk tower. Although short the opening scene sets the scenery for the world the film is set is. There is a narrative being spoken over the shot with language and an accent typically from this genre.

Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey

Directed by Peter Jackson

Produced by Peter Jackson, Zane Weiner, Carolynne Cunningham, and Fran Walsh

Music by Howard Shore

Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures

Titles and indents; 

Sound;  A soundtrack is audible from the start, and to suit the cheery nature of the over voice the music is in a major key. 

Mise-en-scene; Mirroring the opening of Lord of the rings, the Hobbit starts with an over voice. The Hobbit also opens in darkness, forcing the audience to focus on the voice. A close-up shot shows a match lit in the darkness revealing a hand and a candle. 

Alike many other fantasy film opening, fences here follow an orange and blue colour scheme. The overriding tones of yellow and orange in this opening creates a sense of warmth and reassurance, compliment with the script and soundtrack. 

After the figure has lit the candle, a tracking-shot follows him at a medium to long shot length as he walks through a decorated tunnel to open a chest. In this scene are many genre signifiers, the Hobbit character himself is a fantasy creature, the house through which he walks is decorated a built to accommodate a feature his size, and the chest he opens contains objects associated with the fantasy genre, e.g. the sword. 

Hobbit - The Desolation Of Smaug

Directed by Peter Jackson

Produced by Peter Jackson, Zane Weiner, Carolynne Cunningham, and Fran Walsh

Music by Howard Shore

Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures

Sound; The first genre signifier is the music which is the first thing the audience is introduced to, it follows a similar grand feel to the other films in the trilogy.

Mise-en-scene; The next signifier is the panning shot of the surroundings - much like the other openings. It shows a village stating the name/context in text at the bottom. The shots carry on showing people walking around in cloaks and other unique clothing, the shots are dark and lit by candle/lantern light giving a mysterious connotations and gives narrative enigma. The following shots may be seen as tracking shots because it slowly follows the characters down the path, the slowness further ads mystery. 

The next shot flows into a pub full of people, the pub is vibrant and full of lively people. After the mise-en-scene of the pub has been set, the audience is introduced to another character, the lighting is dark and the characters body language is closed, which conveys mysterious and dark connotations, contrasting the feel of the pub. The characters exchange a few glances an the tension rises and a few characters stand up. The main genre signifiers are the music, costume and lighting.

Hobbit - Battle Of The Five Armies

Directed by Peter Jackson

Produced by Peter Jackson, Zane Weiner, Carolynne Cunningham, and Fran Walsh

Music by Howard Shore

Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures

Titles and indents;

Sound; The soundtrack starts slow, but gains volume and speed a the scene becomes more chaotic, this creates tension. In this instance the minor key connotes danger. This is solidified by the constant voice/s crying out, the sound of bells also suggests urgency. 

Mise-en-scene and editing; The first shot is an establishing shot of 'Laketown'. The crane shot of this village is the first genre signifier, as colour in this shot clearly follows a blue an orange theme. The lighting is dark in the village and connotes mystery and danger.
Props and costumes in this scene are great singnifiers of genre; medieval like costumes signify a fantasy world. This is echoed in the architecture;  the buildings, golden goose, and glass bottles filled with liquid (which can be seen in the second setting).

Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Askaban 

Directed by Alfonso Cuaron

Produced by Chris Columbus 
Music by John Williams
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures

Titles and idents; The film starts off with the Warner Bros Pictures ident. 

Sound; The first genre signifier is the soundtrack. 

Mise-en-scene and editing; The first shot is shown through the gap in the ident, the audience is introduced to a house at night as the camera zooms into a window with the light on in the room, as the scene continues the settings seem ordinary, up until Harry is seen with a magic want casting like to a fantasyesk map.

The first words also heard are made up words acting as spells, this also gives indication to the genre. When the spell finally works a large flash of light, from this beam of light the camera zooms out as if its being pushed by it, the shot continues past the Harry Potter ident, stops and displays it in the shot fully. The way the camera moves signifies genre because it 'floats' through the air as if it is a fantasy character its self. The camera once again zooms back into the room faster this time showing harry under the covers and the rest of the scene of Harry pretending to be asleep. 

Harry Potter and the Goblet Of Fire

Directed by Mike Newell

Produced by David Heyman

Music by Patric Doyle
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures

Titles and idents; The camera zooms through the ident just like in the previous Harry Potter film. 

Sound; The first genre signifier of the opening is the music, that can be heard before the scene starts creating a sound bridge.

Mise-en-scene and editing; The next signifier is the mise-en-scene of the opening, the viewer is first introduced to settings as a snake moves from behind a wall made from skulls, this connotes darkness. The fantasy aspect is seen from the mise-en-scene because of the overgrown graveyard and the mysterious skeleton figure. The camera pans up the figure making it look more intimidating. As the shot continues up it shows the Harry potter ident, the shot then moves down to show the audience the location. The fantasy genre can be seen with the old large building in the background as well as the small cottage in the foreground. A light is turned on in the cottage which could be interpreted as home in a dark scene.

Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince 

Directed by David Yates

Produced by David Barran

Music by Nicholas Hooper
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures

Titles and indents; The Warner Bros logo appears in dark clouds with lightning, suggesting danger. 

Sound; The soundtrack begins to create tension. 

Mise-en-scene and editing; A shot of an office building is shown, this poses the fantasy genre as it opens to an unusual fantasy setting. However this is typical of Harry Potter, as the plot is spread across two worlds - ours and a fantasy world.

Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows

Directed by David Yates

Produced by David Barran, and J.K Rowling

Music by Alexander Desplat
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures

Titles and idents; The Warner Bros logo is displayed in a clouded night sky, after which an establishing shot sets the scene of a Fantasy castle (Hogwarts schools is a black chill-out against the blue toned sky).


Sound; The soundtrack creates tension (it is slow and low pitched) and a sombre tone (as a result of the minor key).

Mise-en-scene; Like many other fantasy film openings this films opens to darkness, with rising tension created in the soundtrack. 

Blues are used to create a sombre mood, and a few scenes are shown before the Warner Bros logo to provoke narrative enigma. In these scenes a inhuman character (Voldemort) is identified with a close-up shot of his face and upper body, although recognisable, most of his character is mask by shadow. 

A cut in shot shows his hand holding a wand, this then forms a looking-up shot at the character  suggesting power. He  strikes a wand in the air to create a flash of light, and the camera looks down on Voldemort. Magical props such as the wand in this scene are a signifies of genre. 

The castle is shown surrounded by fantasy-esk dark floating characters, at a first close-up, the medium and long shot length from the camera. Suspension is created with the use of black and blue tones.