Sunday, 13 October 2013

Inception Opening Analysis

Inception (2010)
Inception Poster
The opening for Inception uses a lot of diegetic sound such as the waves crashing against the rocks, the effect this has on the audience is that it makes it seem more realistic and more of something they have experienced themselves. The first character we see is Cobb, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who wakes up on a beach where children are playing. The idea of children playing on this beach begs the question; are they his children? What are they doing there? Is he dreaming that the children are there? Something that is not found out in the first few minutes of the film, which builds the suspicion and effects the audience by forcing themselves to ask questions. Having children play on a beach that is crawling with soldiers; who wake Cobb and take him away, seems a bit odd and acts as a binary opposite.

Close Up Shot
One of the first camera shots used, is a close up of Cobb's face as he wakes on the beach. This goes into detail on who he is and shows the audience the sort of 'state' he is in. In this case, he is very cold and looks very worn out and near death; which asks the audience more questions about how he got there in the first place. Why is he unconscious? Is he asleep? Why is he on a beach in the first place?

Next the audience sees a jump cut from when Cobb has woken up to being in a posh, classy room which is the complete opposite to where he once was; another binary opposite. As the camera moves into the room, an over the shoulder shot of what seems to be an elderly man is used, this could be used to cover his face and hide his appearance and make the mood even more suspicious and eary. It gives the audience the feeling of creeping up on the man, to see if he is up to no good. Both characters; the elderly man and Cobb in the opening scene are kept very hidden to the audience and their identities are not fully revealed for a good two or three minutes, which adds to the suspense of the mood and gives the idea of a concealed image; making it even more secretive and mysterious.


The opposite location to the beach
Thirdly, the use of a mysterious prop, gives the idea that it is somehow significant but because it is not fully explained, builds an even more mysterious atmosphere. To the audience this prop seems somehow important as the close up shot of it reveals that it is the main focus and must mean something but the tension comes in when it is not explained what it actually is.

For the first few minutes, there is very limited dialogue which makes the film itself seem very secretive as the lack of communication with the audience is confusing and the audience will be left wondering why they are being kept out of something that is shown as being so important.

Next, another jump cut is used to go to another location or time. The audience do not know what had just happened, which confuses them further, so does the idea that Cobb has been in all scenes; and in all of them; a different type of person, in one scene a wealthy man, in another a poor man. This will cause more suspense and again leave the audience questioning themselves as to whether they have missed something.

Lastly, there is use of more dialogue in the third scene, where Cobb is a wealthy man and talking to two other men. However the dialogue used makes no sense whatsoever to the audience and is a completely random topic of conversation. This will again puzzle audiences and allow them to ask more questions about what they are watching and try to guess what the film may be based around and try and suggest what will happen next. But, with all the jump-cuts that have already been used, the audience will find it hard to try and guess what will happen next; which will have them on the edge of their seat and waiting to see what confusion will be caused next.

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