Anamika Kayal's Opening Sequence Analysis.

For my analysis I choose Fish Tank as my opening sequence, many elements of Fish Tank resemble the same to our opening sequence largly the representation of the lower class.

The film starts with a mid shot of the main protagonsit sitting on a bench hunched over and than shortly into a wide shot facing a window. The purpose of the shot of the window is to identify 'Mia's' background and her roots, although Mia is shown to the centre of the window (meaning she is in the the centre of the shot) she is shown to the be in the shadows rather than her face being shown as we overlook her background image, this could indicate to an audience member that she lives in the darkness or shadows because of her background because of her lower class status.
The next shot is through the current estate of which Mia lives in the complete focus becomes on Mia and her surroundings. The camera trakcs as the main protagonsit walks through her home enviroment, the track allows the actress to be in the middle of every shot and signifies to the audience she is comfortable in her surroundings as she can move freely. From the use of thirds in the shot gives the impression to the audience she can escape and move if she wishes.
Editing wise, between the two main shots we can see one drastic cut between to two due to the change in location. This cut in particular establishes the character on her own and her as a member of her society. However there is also a cut in the first shot we see between her being shown and the large window, this cut represents that we are shown her culture, background. In conclusion the shot establishes her identity. The soft focus on the character allows the audience to uncover her roots and prepares us for her attitude. As the focus returns to our main character she is turning and cutting to represent the start in her journey she is going on and as an audience we are now joining her.
The mise-en-scene can indicate various things in a film and to normally fit a stereotype. In the film of Fish Tank if follows this convention. Costume wise they place their main character in tracksuit bottoms with a matching hoddie and large gold earrings. By representing the character in this way it gives the audience the typical 'estate girl' as a main character that can be seen in today's societies. The representation of the character can also bring in a specfic type of audience to see how the characters in the film are being represented and engaged them in the film itself. Mia is also shown to be carrying a black draw string bag with her, this continues to stereotype Mia as a 'rough ended' girl. The setting in the opening of the film is what looks like an empty flat, this choice of setting allows the audience to become familar with Mia and gradually becoming more involved in her life as we cut into seeing her home area and soon enough to her house. The use of lighing in this sequence uses a clear white light over the main protgaonist to introduce to the audience who can than become atttached as their main focus is Katie Jarvis. Than shadowing over the main character allows the main focus to become the city for the audience to identify the story through the locations. By than cutting to the lighted shot in the estate area with bright sunlight can signify  to the audience that a new opportunity may soon be approaching for Mia to be happy.
Fish tank opens with digetic sounds of Mia making a phone call to her friend that shes been in a argument with. The purpose of the phone call can represent Mia's confidence with expressing her own views clearly and gives the audience a sense of her negative attitude coming from Mia which can land her in unwanted situations. However by her trying to say sorry to her friend could symbolise to the audience that although Mia may be stubborn she learns that she is wrong over time but sometimes it could be too late.
The title itself are in simple capital block letters in white. The title signifies how Mia is trapped in her typical life similarly to how a fish is trapped in the tank and how without being in that 'tank' she cannot survive but soon realises she found an escape.

The narrative isn't clearly introduced in the opening sequence, however from the sequence we, as an audience member, can see she leads a difficult life from a young age but we can predict that something will happen to create drama which is what the audience are intreseted to find out and would continue to watch as how Mia's life changes.

Anamika Kayal