Film Language Tag: opening sequence
The opening [sequence] provides a basis for what is to come and initiates us into the narrative. It raises our expectations by setting up a specific range of possible causes for what we see.
A Friendship, Jules and Jim
Jules (Oskar Werner), an Austrian, and Jim (Henri Serre), a Frenchman, become fast friends in Paris.
A Robot That Can Love, A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Cybertronics presents the idea of a robot child that will have the capacity for love and dreaming.
A Well Paid Job (Opening Sequence), Taste of Cherry
Mr. Badii (Homayoun Ershadi) drives around Tehran looking for someone to do a job for him for a large amount of money.
Accessory to Murder, Menace II Society
Caine (Tyrin Turner) and O-Dog (Larenz Tate) shop at a liquor store, but tensions rise when they're followed by the employees
Are You Watching Closely?, The Prestige
John Cutter outlines the three stages of a magic trick to a young girl while Angier drowns in a water tank in front of Borden.
Daily Preparation, Gattaca
Vincent prepares to go to work.
Dawn, 2001: A Space Odyssey
The sun rises over the earth and the moon.
Deserted Rome, Il Sorpasso
Bruno searches for a payphone in Rome, which has been emptied of inhabitants by the Ferragosto holiday.
Dinner Party, Schindler's List
Oskar Schindler demonstrates his social prowess.
Discovering Acrophobia , Vertigo
Chasing a criminal over San Franciscan rooftops, detective Scottie Ferguson (James Stewart) slips and, hanging from a gutter, watches as his fellow policeman dies trying to save him.
Good Morning, City Lights
After speeches commemorating a new monument to "Peace and Prosperity," the veil reveals the Little Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) asleep.
I Know What It Is To Forget, Hiroshima Mon Amour
A woman (Emmanuelle Riva) and a man (Eiji Okada) discuss modern Hiroshima.
Initial Spread, Contagion
Several people around the world develop serious symptoms from an unknown illness, including Beth Emhoff.
Legionnaires, Beau Travail
Soldiers in the French Foreign Legion stationed in Djibouti stand in the sun as an endurance test.
Leon's Replicant Test, Blade Runner
The police test Leon while looking for replicants at the Tyrell headquarters.
Love: The Transition From Gangster to Human, Satya
This scene is a montage that isolates Satya (J.D. Chakravarthi) and Vidya (Urmila Matondkar) and further establishes their intimacy, showing that Satya is not just a rugged, tough gang member, but complex and emotional as well. This intimacy exposes viewers to his true feelings and makes him more human, as opposed to a hypermasculine criminal.
Marcello Calms the Bully Dog, Dogman
At a dog grooming shop, we are introduced to Marcello, who is attempting to give an aggressive dog a bath.
Micah and Jo Wake Up Together, Medicine for Melancholy
After an apparent one-night stand, Micah (Wyatt Cenac) and Jo (Tracey Heggins) quietly observe each other while getting ready to leave their host (John Thurgood)'s now largely empty loft apartment. The party host invites them to stay for breakfast on their way out but they leave anyway.
Nuclear Reactor Hack, Blackhat
A Nuclear Power Plant in China is hacked resulting in a massive meltdown.
One Little Girl, The Matrix
Trinity battles policemen and agents as she attempts to flee the Matrix
Opening Scene, Cheyenne Autumn
The opening sequence of the film, narrated by James Stewart, depicts life on the Cheyenne reservation in 1964.
Opening Sequence, The Exorcist
An archaeologist finds a figurine while excavating ancient grounds.
Opening Sequence, Carrie
Carrie menstruates for the first time.
Opening Sequence, Candyman
The film opens on the city of Chicago.
Opening Sequence, Minority Report
Acting on information from the Precognitives, Chief Anderton of the Precrime Program prevents the homicide of an unfaithful wife by her husband.
Opening Sequence, The Conversation
Harry tracks a couple through San Francisco's Union Square.
Opening Sequence, Psycho
Marion and Sam get dressed.
Opening Sequence, Rosemary's Baby
Rosemary and Guy move into their new home.
Opening Sequence, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
Flashes of a crime scene along with a police report.
Opening Sequence, A Nightmare on Elm Street
Tina has her first dream about Freddy Krueger.
Opening Sequence, BlacKkKlansman
The famous scene from Gone with the Wind, in which Scarlett O’Hara searches for Dr. Meade among the dead and dying in the Atlanta train yard, segues to Dr. Kennebrew Beauregard’s tirade against Black Americans.
Opening Sequence, Breathless
Michel steals a car with the help of a female accomplice and then shoots a police officer to evade arrest.
Opening Sequence, Moonrise Kingdom
A symphonic record plays as the Bishop family starts their day on New Penzance Island.
Opening Sequence, Frances Ha
An introduction to the character Frances Ha and snippets from a day in her life
Opening Sequence, Mulholland Drive
An unidentified woman in a limousine escapes the threatening men driving her unharmed after the car is involved in a collision.
Opening Sequence, The Garden of the Finzi-Continis
A group of young adults in Ferrara come together to play tennis in the walled garden of the wealthy Finzi-Contini family, leading Micòl Finzi-Contini (Dominique Sanda) to reconnect with her childhood friend Giorgio (Lino Capolicchio)
Opening Sequence, Sleep Dealer
Memo (Luis Fernando Peña) describes node work at the sleep dealers.
Opening Sequence, Godzilla
Two freighters and a fishing boat are destroyed near Odo Island.
Opening Sequence, The Martian
After a dust storm on Mars forces a crew of astronauts to evacuate, Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is injured and presumed to be dead.
Opening Sequence, Jurassic Park
A velociraptor kills a worker at Isla Nublar.
Opening Sequence, The Congress
Actress Robin Wright (Robin Wright) has a conversation with her agent Al (Harvey Keitel).
Opening Sequence, The Truman Show
Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) unknowingly stars in a television show created by Christof (Ed Harris).
Opening Sequence, Solaris
Psychologist Kris Kelvin (Donatas Banionis) spends time on Earth before going to the Solaris space station.
Opening Sequence, The Man Who Fell to Earth
An alien falls to Earth and takes the appearance of a human named Thomas Jerome Newton (David Bowie).
Opening Sequence, Pumzi
35 years after The Water War, the Maitu community lives in contained cities and dreams are prohibited.
Opening Sequence, Brazil
Jill Layton (Kim Greist) sees her downstairs neighbor Archibald Buttle (Brian Miller) get wrongfully arrested as a result of a mistaken identity.
Opening Sequence, Jobs
Steve Jobs (Ashton Kutcher) introduces the iPod at an Apple town hall meeting.
Opening Sequence, Biidaaban (The Dawn Comes)
A caribou ghost unwraps plastic fencing around a tree.
Opening Sequence, File Under Miscellaneous
A Mi’kmaq man arrives at a hospital to undergo a surgical procedure to become white.
Opening Sequence, Cosmic Slop
Aliens named the Space Traders visit Earth and offer abundant resources in exchange for the entire population of Black Americans.
Opening Sequence, Wakening
Weesageechak (Sarah Podemski) hides from the authorities.
Opening Sequence, Alphaville
Secret agent Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constantine) arrives at the futuristic city of Alphaville.
Opening Sequence , In the Mood for Love
The Chans and the Chows move into their new Hong Kong apartments, becoming neighbors.
Opening Sequence, Sound of Metal
Ruben Stone (Riz Ahmed) and his partner Lou (Olivia Cooke) play at one of their concert tours.
Opening Sequence, In the Heights
Usnavi (Anthony Ramos) introduces el barrio.
Opening Sequence, The Watermelon Woman
Cheryl (Cheryl Dunye) and Tamara (Valarie Walker) record a wedding ceremony.
Opening Sequence , Killer of Sheep
A boy is yelled at by his father for failing to protect his younger brother.
Opening Sequence, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One
Various women (Susan Ansprach, Patricia See Gilbert) read for the role of Alice in director William Greaves' (William Greaves) new film.
Opening Sequence, The Learning Tree
Young Newt Winger (Kyle Johnson) wanders around his hometown of Cherokee Flats, Kansas.
Opening Sequence, Losing Ground
Professor Sara Rogers (Seret Scott) teaches a class on logic.
Opening Sequence, Malcolm X
Malcolm X (Denzel Washington) gives a speech.
Opening Sequence, Shadows
Ben (Ben Carruthers) goes to a party.
Opening Sequence, Cotton Comes to Harlem
Deke "Reverend" O'Malley (Calvin Lockhart) drives back into Harlem.
Opening Sequence, Landscape in the Mist
Siblings Voula (Tania Palaiologou) and Alexandros (Michalis Zeke) attempt to get on a train to Germany.
Opening Sequence, Hell-Bound Train
The hell-bound train is conducted by the Devil. The first coach is dancing and bootlegging.
Opening Sequence, The Weeping Meadow
A group of Greek refugees from Bolshevik-run Odessa, led by Spyros (Vasilis Kolovos), settle near a river.
Opening Sequence, Nostalgia
Russian writer Andrei Gorchakov (Oleg Yankovsky) travels with his interpreter Eugenia (Domiziana Giordano) in the Italian countryside.
Opening Sequence, Caught
Leonora Eames (Barbara Bel Geddes) and her roommate Maxine (Ruth Brady) talk about finances and the future.
Opening Sequence, Letter from an Unknown Woman
Concert pianist Stefan Brand (Louis Jourdan) enlists his mute butler John (Art Smith) in helping him evade a duel, and sits down to read a letter from an unknown woman (Joan Fontaine).
Opening Sequence , Once Upon a Time in the West
Three gunmen (Woody Strode, Al Mulock, Jack Elam) prepare to ambush a harmonica-playing stranger (Charles Bronson).
Opening Sequence, Once Upon a Time in America
Three thugs terrorize Eve (Darlanne Fluegel) for information about Noodles' (Robert De Niro) whereabouts.
Opening Sequence, What Time Is It There?
Hsiao-kang's father (Miao Tien) passes, and Hsiao-kang (Lee Kang-shiang) begins mourning.
Opening Sequence, The Story of a Three-Day Pass
Turner (Harry Baird), an American G.I. stationed in France, receives a promotion and a three-day outing pass from his captain (Hal Brav).
Opening Sequence, Old Joy
Mark (Daniel London) receives a call from his old friend Kurt (Will Oldham) for an impromptu trip to the mountains.
Opening Sequence, Wendy and Lucy
Wendy (Michelle Williams) travels up north with her dog Lucy in hopes of finding work in a cannery in Alaska.
Opening Sequence, Close-Up
Journalist Hossain Farazmand (Hossain Farazmand) tells a taxi driver (Hooshang Shamaei) about the arrest he has planned for his upcoming article.
Opening Sequence, The Wind Will Carry Us
A filmmaker posing as an engineer (Behzad Dorani) and his three-man crew travel to the remote Kurdish village of Siah Dareh.
Opening Sequence, The Earrings of Madame de...
Louise (Danielle Darrieux) searches her closet for a pair of costly heart-shaped diamond earrings.
Opening Sequence, The Ring
Katie (Amber Tamlyn) and Becca (Rachael Bella) gossip and discuss a scary story, which quickly proves to be true.
Opening Sequence, Ringu
Tomoko (Yûko Takeuchi) and Masami (Hitomi Satô) gossip and discuss a scary story, which quickly proves to be true.
Opening Sequence, Luck by Chance
Sona Mishra (Konkona Sen Sharma) is signed by producer Satish Chaudhary (Alyy Khan).
Opening Sequence, Where Is My Friend's House?
Nematzadeh (Ahmed Ahmadpour) doesn't do his homework in his notebook, and the teacher (Khodabaksh Defai) threatens to expel him if it happens again.
Opening Sequence, Zero Dark Thirty
Powerful audio from the 9/11 attack in the US introduces a scene taking place years later, involving the torture of a member of Al-Qaeda.
Opening Sequence, Ulysses' Gaze
An old assistant (Thanos Grammenos) to the Manaki brothers tells A (Harvey Keitel) about a three lost film reels.
Opening Sequence, Scream
Casey (Drew Barrymore) is home alone when she receives a phone call from an unnamed ghost face killer (Matthew Lillard).
Opening Sequence, Tangerine
Transgender sex worker Sin-Dee Rella (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) meets friend fellow sex worker and friend Alexandra (Mya Taylor) at a donut shop in Hollywood, where she learns that her boyfriend has been cheating on her during her stint in jail.
Opening Sequence, Chungking Express
He Qiwu (Takeshi Kaneshiro) is struggling with a breakup when he first bumps into a woman in a blonde wig.
Opening Sequence, The Icicle Thief
Director Nichetti (Maurizio Nichetti) arrives at a television studio for the airing of his film "Ladri di saponette".
Opening Sequence, The Jackie Robinson Story
An offscreen narrator explains the importance of Jackie Robinson's story as a young Jackie (Howard Louis MacNeely) walks with his back turned to the camera.
Opening Sequence, The Children's Hour
Children from the Wright-Dobie School for Girls ride bikes, play outdoors, and perform in a piano recital for their parents to watch.
Opening Sequence, Avatar
Paraplegic Marine Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) narrates the view of Pandora, an alien planet with abundant resources. The scenery changes to a futuristic Earth whose own natural resources have been depleted by climate change, war, and overpopulation.
Opening Sequence, Pulp Fiction
Before the opening credits roll, Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer) and Pumpkin (Tim Roth) discuss robbery while at a diner.
Opening Sequence, Pulp Fiction
Before the opening credits roll, Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer) and Pumpkin (Tim Roth) discuss robbery while at a diner.
Opening Sequence, Some Like It Hot
The police raid a speakeasy owned by "Spats" Colombo (George Raft), where jazz band players Joe (Tony Curtis) and Jerry (Jack Lemmon) work.
Opening Sequence, Carmen Jones
Cindy Lou (Olga James) visits Joe (Harry Belafonte) at his military base.
Opening Sequence, Edge of the City
Drifter Axel Nordmann (John Cassavetes) looks for a job at the waterfront and calls his parents.
Opening Sequence, Imitation of Life
Lora (Lana Lurner) loses her daughter Susie (Terry Burnham) at Coney Island, only to find her with Annie (Juanita Moore) and her white-passing daughter Sarah Jane (Karin Dicker).
Opening Sequence, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
Newly engaged John (Sidney Poitier) and Joanna (Catherine Houghton) arrive at Joanna's hometown in San Fransisco.
Opening Sequence, The Red Ball Express
The narrator opens the film with a description of the state of the war in France during WW2.
Opening Sequence, West Side Story
The Jets, a white gang led by Riff (Russ Tamblyn), and the Sharks, a Puerto Rican gang led by Bernardo (George Chakiris), brawl in the streets.
Opening Sequence, The Exiles
A montage of photographs of Native Americans.
Opening Sequence, Cruising
Boaters discover dismembered body parts in the harbor.
Opening Sequence, The Living End
Jon (Craig Gilmore) gets a diagnosis at the doctor's office
Opening Sequence , Waiting to Exhale
On New Year's Eve, four women in separate households navigate relationships with the men in their lives.
Opening Sequence, Roman Holiday
Crown princess Ann (Audrey Hepburn) travels on a goodwill tour to various European cities.
Opening Sequence, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
A journey to the countryside from the city.
Opening Sequence, Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Marianne (Noémie Merlant) instructs her students on how to paint a portrait.
Opening Sequence, Hiroshima Mon Amour
A woman (Emmanuelle Riva) and a man (Eiji Okada) discuss the aftermath of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.
Opening Sequence, The Grey Zone
Hoffman (David Arquette) calls for Dr. Nyiszli (Allan Corduner) to try to save another prisoner.
Opening Sequence, Sweet Smell of Success
Press agent Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis) picks up a newspaper with a column by J.J. Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster).
Opening Sequence, A Matter of Life and Death
The Earth in the Universe. British pilot Peter Carter (David Niven) radios in June (Kim Hunter), an American radio operator, before jumping out of a burning plane.
Opening Sequence, Singin' in the Rain
Don (Gene Kelly), Lina (Jean Hagen), and Cosmo (Donald O'Connor) arrive at the premiere for their newest film. Per the interviewer's (Madge Blake) request, Don recounts his and Cosmo's journey in Hollywood.
Opening Sequence, Diary of a Country Priest
The new priest of Ambricourt (Claude Laydu) writes in his diary.
Opening Sequence, 8½
Guido (Marcello Mastroianni) dreams of himself escaping from a traffic jam and flying high in the sky.
Opening Sequence 1, Ghost in the Shell
Major Motoko Kusanagi (Atsuko Tanaka) assassinates a political target.
Opening Sequence 2, Ghost in the Shell
The cyborg Major Motoko Kusanagi (Atsuko Tanaka) is created.
Opening Sequence and Credits , Teesri Manzil
The death and supposed suicide of Rupa during the opening credit sequence.
Post Internet, Transcendence
Max Waters reminisces about his friends Will and Evelyn Caster in a post-internet world.
Probing Siri (Opening Sequence), The Artifice Girl
Deena (Sidna Nichols) uses her phone's Siri for assistance, posing ethical questions of an increasingly challenging nature.
S.T.T.S., Sorry to Bother You
Cassius Green interviews for a telemarketing job.
Slow Disclosure, Caché
A seemingly static image of a quiet Parisian neighborhood is revealed to be a recording.
Tanning Salon Shootout , Gomorrah
An internal fight among warring factions of the Di Lauro Camorra syndicate brings death and destruction to a local tanning salon.
The Death of Johnny Boz, Basic Instinct
A mystery woman has sex with rockstar Johnny Boz (Bill Cable), in which she murders him.
The Heavens Over Berlin (Opening Sequence), Wings of Desire
Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander), two angels, observe the lives and listen to the thoughts of Berliners.
The Postman, Four Sons
A normal day in a small Bavarian village as seen by a postman (Albert Gran).
The Showboat Arrives, Show Boat
Captain Andy Hawks (Charles Winninger) and his showboat arrive in Natchez, Mississippi.
The Temptation of Dr Antonio (dir. Federico Fellini), Opening Sequence, Boccaccio '70
A cherubic narrator provides an overview of Roman society in the early 1960s.
This is Life?, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Magazine editor Jean-Dominique (Jean-Do) Bauby awakes from a coma to find himself suffering from locked-in syndrome in a hospital in Berck-sur-Mer, France.
Wakanda Origins, Black Panther
N'Jobu tells his son about their homeland, Wakanda. Later, N'Jobu is confronted by T'Chaka for giving information on Wakanda to arms dealer Ulysses Klaue.
Welcome to Bricksburg, The Lego Movie
Emmet (Chris Pratt) wakes up and follows his instructions to have another wonderful day in Bricksburg.
What's Past is Prologue, Daughters of the Dust
Mary (Barbara O. Jones) and Viola (Cheryl Lynn Bruce) Peazant travel home to Ibo Landing in anticipation of the family moving North.
