OpeningEG2 Casablanca

Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)

Budget: $950,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend: $181,494 (USA) (12 April 1992) (11 Screens)

Gross: $1,711,189 (USA) (19 June 1992)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/

This Film was set in early unoccupied Africa in the early days of World War 2, Its about a Freedom fighter who meets an ex lover which has unforeseen complications. The Opening indents of the film start with Warner Brothers which shows the viewers that the film is a huge American film mainly because Warner Brothers are linked with huge Box Office films. Here is the trailer of Casablanca

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In the opening shots, as a viewer you see an image of the globe in black and white indicating the age of the film as black and white picture show the film is before the time when colour was introduced. The opening credits are over what is a picture of Africa which gives us an idea of where the film is set and going to be based, also the American national anthem is played whilst the opening credits are being show, this can mean that the film is an American film. The opening credits fade out and then the opening scene starts.

Shot 1 is a Extreme long shot which is for establishing where the setting is, usually to set the scene of the film and in this case it is a shot of a slow spinning globe until it gets to the country of France where the globe stops spinning.
Shot 2 is a close up of the country France on the globe to indicate where the film is going to start or what the film is going to be about, when the film was set World War 2 was happening so the Germans were invading parts of France at the time.
Shot 3 is a close up of the city Paris with the background fading of soldiers in the war which shows the film is going to revolved around war and the going's on of the war.
Shot 4 is an Extreme long shot of the surrounding buildings of the area usually shown to add a sense of atmoshpere to the scene.
Shot 5 is a long shot of a sort of market street or square to show the lower working class of the time and how they would be seen in this time and age
Shot 6 is a medium shot between what looks like two generals of war and by their accent they sound very French this enables the audience to see the expression and body image of the characters
Shot 7 is a medium shot of what looks to be a warden of some sort or an old police officer you can tell this by the clothing and accessories he has on his person.
Shot 8 is a long shot of a police car passing across the camera and this also is a panning shot which follows the car until it screeches to a halt
Shot 9 is a medium long shot of which seems to be refugees getting into the police car or more like getting forced into the back by the policemen
Shot 10 is a medium shot of two men who seem highly important and powerful by the way they are dressed and the way they speak as a more posh and upper class tone of voice
Shot 11 is a medium shot of a character who seems to be standing with a group of women who seems to be a thin white man who looks to be clean shaven indicating that this could be the hero of the film
Shot 12 is a long shot of a man who is clearly breaking the law gets shot in the back by a gun and suddenly falls to the ground after falling to his knees
Shot 13 is a close up of the dead man's hand before it is opened to reveil to an officer a document that seems to be valuble to the officer the close up shows that the detail and emotion is being observed
Shot 14 is a close up of what looks like a sign ontop of a door at a court of justice where the trail and sentensing is being held, the close up here shows the detail of the old building and the detail the walls
Shot 15 is an establishing long shot which shows men of the law it looks like, to be getting ready for a court case of some form
Shot 16 is an extreme long shot of a resterante or cafe to show the parade of police vehicles parking up near the court and then emptying the cars of the refugees.
Shot 17 is a medium close up of two men of high class due to the clothing and the monacle and the neatly trimmed moustashes showing upper class stature
Shot 18 is an extreme long shot of the general public gazing at something in the sky of interest or an unusual circumstance, for example a fighter jet or somthing.
Shot 19 is an extreme long shot of what looks like some form of fighter jet or bomber plane in the sky overhead.
Shot 20 is a medium shot of the crowds which are looking at this jet and this shows the expression on their faces and emotion towards the happenings by the camera panning across them

The opening sequence lasts for roughly 1:30 seconds up to the point of which the plane or jet flys overhead. So from this opening you dont really get to see which the main character is which indicates some form of mystery or somthing isnt right about the film or who it is about or what it is about. The film doesnt really communicate with the audience much by what is going on during the opening scene but you get an idea of what the story is based around.