RESEARCH INTO A SCI-FI OPENING TITLE: Dune

Sci-Fi Opening Scene Analysis.

Edited, this is not the clip I initially analysed but it got taken down so I am using a different section of the film*

Dune, starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya and Rebecca Ferguson was directed by Denis Villeneuve and released in 2021 by Warner Bros. Pictures.

The film starts with text, explaining the fictional setting of the piece; this ensures that the audience understand the history and circumstances of the narrative as the ideas in the sci-fi genre tend to be rather farfetched. This acts as a typical convention, of sci-fi. Additionally, the text here captivates the audience as it is a fairly unique idea, thus encouraging the audience to continue watching in order to understand and visualise the fictional world in Dune. It is also accompanied by a non-diegetic soundtrack in a dissonant, minor key which crafts an intense tone, perhaps establishing the dramatic yet action packed nature of the film.

The audience are then brought into an establishing shot as the camera moves over desert dunes with a sombre colour palette, portraying and emphasising how isolated and uninhabited the land is, as well as illustrating the fictional location - this is another convention of sci-fi as it is set in a place concerned with locations beyond earth. The darker colours also, again, convey the tone of the film, and how intense it will be. Alongside this, the soundtrack also shifts into a religious chanting with a pulsing thrumming, crafting an uneasy atmosphere and perhaps hinting at the ritualistic undertones of the film in the narrative.

The first character of the film is then introduced following this, looking directly into the camera lens and smiling in slow motion; this depicts that the protagonist is not her, and is instead most likely the eyes of whoever has been placed as the camera. The use of slow motion, non naturalistic sound and lighting emerging from behind her also crafts a dreamlike state, which hints at the narrative as the point of view seems to be heavily concerned with the metaphysical. Her unnaturally bright blue eyes also act as a convention of sci-fi as they are an unrealistic physical quality.

This is then shown again following another shot of the dunes, but now with an unfocused and blurry composition of the same woman. This again emphasises the dream like state the point of view is in, and hints at the narrative of the film. 

Following another slow motion shot of the same woman and the dunes, the title emerges in darkness in a hieroglyphics-like font and a golden ring; this depicts the sci-fi genre of the film, and also presents the ritualistic elements to the piece. 

I personally believe that the opening captures the elements of the film well and establishes the sci-fi genre. From this, the audience can presume that perhaps the narrative will follow that of the protagonist and his journey to this woman as she is heavily isolated and the only character present, suggesting that she is the focus of the storyline. 

THE TRAILER