Research into the action "Mission: Impossible III" opening scene.

 

Mission: Impossible III was distributed by Paramount Pictures in 2006. The director of this film was J.J.Abrams. 

The total budget was about $ 150 million

The world gross was about $ 400 million.

The main cast was:

An interesting fact about the film: 

 The interior of one of the character's house was based upon J.J.Abrams (director's) family house.

There not much narrative is given to us in the opening scene. But from what is given we can assume that the main character's being purged for some reason. From the given narrative we can only understand who is the main protagonist and possibly the main antagonist. We can assume this is a non-linear opening scene because we do not understand what and why this is going on, so we can assume the plot will tell us about how the main character got to this point and what will happen after the opening sequence. 

From the actions from the opening scene, we can predict that the film most likely to be 18 + boys/men due to the high amount of abusive language, a lot of screams, purging, and blood. It is clear the genre is action, maybe even with some elements of mystery but it is definitely an action movie. We can see it through a big amount of purging, diegetic ambient sound of electro-shicker and gunfire and blood as a consequence of being bitten up. All of that is normally used in action films most of the time and what the audience tends to associate with action films. There also was a lack of a non-diegetic soundtrack or any sound at all, it also shows the fact that it is an action film because it tries to pay the audience's attention to dialogue and mise-en-scene.

I believe that in this opening scene we're introduced to two main characters. One of them is the main protagonist and the other one is the billion. We can get it through a mise-en-scene and camera work especially. Through camera work, we can see it by the fact that either of them is in the most tie of this sequence and also by the fact that the main villain is normally only shown through a slight low camera angle (a suggestion that he is bad) and that the main protagonist most of the time is shown through a high camera angle (to make him look smaller, unprotected). It was also shown through a mise-en-scene. The good guy was tied to a chair. However, the bad one was sort of dominating by stand up, being above everyone. 

Talking about the opening scene for this film I decided not to pick any parts of this scene, I have decided to talk about this scene as a whole. 

Throughout the opening scene the main good guy was shown only from a Close Up (CU) camera angle, even when his arm was shown, it was shown through a CU. It was all done to keep the intrigue and show what the main protagonist is feeling.

However, when the main villain is shown, he is shown either by using a CU camera angle or by using a Mid Shot (MS) all this is due to the fact that the director is trying to show us the villain is free, and that he has power over the good one, that the protagonist is dominating. 

The other interesting feature is the use of sound. Throughout all opening sequences, there was a lack of any sort of non-diegetic sound. There were only diegetic ambient dialogue and ambient sound of gunfire. It was made to pay the audience's attention to the dialogue and the main character's response to it. Mise-en-scene suggests that it is a purge going on during the opening sequence. The chair where the main character is sitting used to be a doctor's chair. From the Establishing Shot (ES) we can see the room and we can assume that it is a basement probably of the house of the main villain. Interestingly enough there were barely editing techniques used apart from a cut. It is all because in this opening scene there was shown an action that was main, so there was no need to show anything else. The audience's attention was meant to be concentrated only on this scene, probably because this scene is going to be crucial for the whole film.

Concluding, I believe that this opening scene was a good opening for the action film. It had some elements of a typical action movie. Although, like any good opening scene it didn't show anything. This opening scene differed a lot from the rest of the opening scenes, due to the fact that this opening was non-linear. We, as an audience was sent right to the end of the film, which made the audience intrigued and confused straight away.

Here is an actual opening scene of an action film "Mission: Impossible III" 2006.