Blog 6- Opening Research
- lozhou
- Oct 8, 2023
- 5 min read
Every good movie cannot do without a wonderful and captivating opening. In these clips, there are often clues that run through the entire movie or have unique meanings.
THE TRUMAN SHOW
1998 by PeterWill
Main cast: Jim Carry
The following will analyze the construction of its first 10 paragraphs in conjunction with the film "Truman's World".
First paragraph: 25 seconds
Long shot close-up
The director of The True Show, Christopher, introduced the program and repeatedly emphasized its authenticity, which is also the highlight of the program that he is proud of. Finally, he reiterated the statement 'it's a life'. This opens the door and tells us the dramatic premise of this film, which is a reality show program. At the same time, in his introduction, we also learned about the protagonist of the program - "Truman".
Section 2: 1 minute and 27 seconds
The opening song of The Truman Show: The background music is a typical TV program opening song, with scenes including Truman's monologue, interviews with the main creators, and subtitles. In the subtitles, we can see that except for Truman, other actors have their own real names besides the names in the play, but Truman plays himself, implying that he is unaware of the program.
And these three interviewed main creators are the director, Truman's wife, and friends. Their relationship with Truman is also the main task relationship of this drama, especially the relationship between Truman and the director. The words used in each of their interviews carry some weight:
The director's words suggest that the program's ratings are hot, and Truman is a well-known star;
My wife's words - explain that the format of the program is a "public private" life, a pure "reality show";
Friend's words - emphasizing the authenticity of the program's content, the only thing designed is "regulation".
And from Truman's monologue, we see more hints about the tone of the film's content. Truman appeared in the form of close-up and self talk, and when the camera was pulled out, we could see that the program was playing on a LCD TV on a wall, with the prominent word "LIVE" in the bottom right corner of the screen.
On the dark wall, Truman was imprisoned in a small television screen, and his first sentence was: "I can't make it anymore.
Various designs suggest that this is a story about "resistance, breaking through", and what Truman wants to break through is the kind of "regulation" that his friends talked about during interviews.
Paragraph 3: 28 seconds
Truman was nervously talking to himself in front of the mirror in the restroom, and we learned from the circular masks at the four corners that this was a shot taken by a camera.
From this, the director led us to truly enter the program 'The True Show'. The subtitle "Day10909" tells us that this program has been broadcasted for nearly 30 years, which means Truman's entire life has been under camera surveillance.
Paragraph 4: 1 minute
Truman met his neighbors at his doorstep and greeted them with the unique smile of an "insurance salesperson" (taking a sneak shot). This iconic smile laid the groundwork for his profession.
It is worth mentioning that in this paragraph, in addition to using mask marks at the four corners of the screen to represent the camera, there are also new ways of expression - low angles, exaggerated perspective relationships, and a foreground of grass, which makes it easy to associate it with a camera placed in the grass.
Paragraph 5: 1 minute and 40 seconds
Photography lights fell from the sky. Truman was greatly surprised and cautiously approached to take a look. In this paragraph, there is no use of sneak shots, and the storyteller has changed from TV program director Christopher to the true director of the film. This change tells us that this plot is not part of the program's design, and an "unexpected event" occurred. Truman's confusion has also brought us suspense.
Paragraph 6: 3 minutes and 10 seconds
Three things happened on Truman's way to work:
The broadcast of "Aircraft Parts Falling Incident" on the car radio helped to smooth over the photography light incident;
Truman bought a magazine at the newspaper booth, and the actor who played the role of a newspaper seller skillfully talked to him;
The twin brothers pushed Truman to the poster for a painless conversation, which was actually advertising.
The content in this paragraph fully constructs the dramatic scene of this film - Truman lives in a fictional big studio like "Taoyuan Island", surrounded by cameras, and the various characters around him are just actors.
Paragraph 7: 2 minutes and 11 seconds
In this paragraph, three unfamiliar names appear: place name - Fiji, person name Roland, and Sofia. Who are they? Why did Truman go to Fiji? What is the relationship between them and Fiji? What is the relationship between Truman and them? Why did Truman tear off the eyes of a model from a magazine?
A short paragraph raised several powerful questions, forcing us to search for the relationship between the eyes, the girl, and Fiji Island with Truman. This also achieves the function of "focusing contradictions on the protagonist" as mentioned in Teacher Xi's book.
Paragraph 8: 1 minute and 29 seconds
Truman on the dock felt uncomfortable when he saw the abandoned ship submerged in the water and turned his head. This paragraph focuses on Truman's fear of water. At the same time, it buried suspense when explaining the relationship between Truman and his father in the future.
Paragraph 9: 2 minutes and 7 seconds
Truman's wife returned from work and, upon seeing him, introduced the kitchen multi-purpose shovel with skilled lines. At the same time, she used typical film and television advertising visuals to make it clear to the audience that it was a "soft advertisement". After reciting all her lines, she reminded Truman that she had missed a piece of grass.
This small design tells us that the wife is just a fictional character, and she only considers herself an actress. Marriage is just her job, not her true love for Truman. This paragraph briefly explains the relationship between Truman and his wife.
Paragraph 10: 3 minutes and 54 seconds
On the pier at night, Truman and his friend Malone were playing golf. Ma Long, like Chu's wife, also appeared in a beer advertisement. Truman told him about his plan to go to Fiji Island, but he just casually agreed. And what he focused on was asking Truman again after he had narrated his big plan, "Do you drink?" This indicates that this fictional friend identity is just as cold as his wife. Truman stood on the long plank bridge, surrounded by vast darkness, with only the faint light of a street lamp in the distance, just like his current situation.
In the first ten minutes or so of the film, the author cleverly explains the premise of the drama, the main characters, the relationships between several pairs of characters, and the drama situation, successfully focusing on Truman and using the plot node of "Truman wants to travel far" to smoothly advance the plot to the "middle (confrontation)" section.
Upon closer examination, we will discover the absurdity of it: how could there be such a large studio that could cover the entire island without a single pillar? How could technology reach a level where local winds and waves can be controlled? How could a television station have the strength to run such a large film and television project? How could so many people be interested in the life of an ordinary person, and even constantly pay attention to it?
You should know that even playing a star's day 24 hours a day is tiring. Is the story structure of this script based on absurdity? Of course not, the screenwriter is using this absurd plot to carry something else, and not just pursuing freedom as simple.
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