Research - The Number 23

One of the movies I looked at was 'The Number 23'. This film was made in 2007, produced by New Line Cinema and Contrafilm. The movie has some big names starring in it like Jim Carrey and Virginia Madsen, the basic story is that a man gets haunted by the number 23. He begins to see it everywhere and eventually it wears down his mind making him become clinically insane. The film is a thriller with a sense of mystery, here is the first few minutes to the film:


The film starts with a fade in from black into a shot of what appears to be a piece of paper. The credits then start to appear in a sort of type writer style that adds a feel of age to the film. The production credits appear on screen, followed by a slightly subliminal flash of the number 23 which is then quickly cut to a shot of the paper with the actors names. The shot then seems to pan down the piece of paper, revealing a number of 23's positioned strangely on the page, creating a sense of mystery. A quick pan reveals the title of the film in red ink on the page, linking to danger as well as making the title stand out from the page. To add further mystery the title appears to smudge, almost like blood. Next on screen is a fact about the number 23, which gives a little background to the film as well as creating mystery for the viewer. Here is a screen shot of the number 23 fact:

The sequence continues to pan down revealing more actors and more facts, red ink is splashed on the page showing the danger of the number and the film as well as making things jump out from the screen. Then as the paper continues to pan down a drop of blood is introduced, making the viewer aware of the thrill of the film as well as providing a visually stimulating picture. As the blood appears to spread across the page the ambient music that can be heard on the background quickens and reaches a higher pitch, all of which create a sense of mystery and thrill. Then as the red of the blood fills the whole frame the shot slowly fades into a new shot of an animal control van with the main character sat inside, a subtitle appears showing '3. February' which obviously links to the number 23. This is then the end of the opening sequence which shows the credits, gives a sense of mystery and enigma as well as providing a little insight into the film. Here is the shot with the animal control van:

From this film opening i learnt that for our opening me need a little insight into the world of the film as well as giving sufficient credits. Another thing that may seem trivial that i learnt from the sequence is that the music we use (if we use any) will have to be tense and eerie. Perhaps just using a monotone, ambient sound which would give a sense of mystery and create tension. However all in all the film opening sequence does what it's supposed to, providing some insight into the film as well as providing a hook for the viewing audience to latch onto.