The Second Opening Analysis (Knives Out)

    Knives Out is one of my favorite movies I have ever seen. Unlike The Grand Budapest Hotel, I have actually seen this movie, multiple times. Every time I view it, I catch up on small little details that I missed, which tells me about clever foreshadowing and an increased depth of the chracters and plot, which is really makes the film fun to rewatch over and over again.

    Knives out is a Murder Mystery/Comedy film released in 2019 and is directed by Rian Johnson. The film includes multiple famous actors, including Daniel Craig and Chris Evans. The film received international praise after its released and even got nominated for the best screenplay at the 2020 Oscars. The opening sequence of the film is often an overlooked aspect of the film, but expertly sets up the tone and introduces where and how the victim was killed, jumpstarting the rest of the film as the characters investigate the motives and villains involved in this grand murder.

The Opening Shot of the Film

    The opening starts with a wide-shot and establishing of a mansion with two dogs running through the yard in front of the mansion. The mansion is portrayed as being eerie, which sets up the tone for the muder taking place. The shot lasts long, emphasizing the scale of the murder taking place. The next shot is a close-up which shows a cup with the phrase "My House... My Rules... My Coffee", with a lady(presumably a butler) picking up the cup and walking out of the frame. The next shot is a medium shot of the same lady walking away from the camera towards a doorframe, setting up the next sequence of shots to follow.

    The next shots consist of various close-ups of artworks of creepy dolls and masks, showing how rich the household truly is. The editing consists of quick shots, which emphasizes how a murder is about to take place and chaos is about the break loose within the family, which also relates to the tone of the overall film.

    The following shots are wide-shots showcasing the butler walking towards someone's room. The wide-shots emphasize the scale of the household, showing their luxury lifestyle. The wide-shot also illustrate an uncomfortable feeling as the audience anticipates there to be a murder.

    The butler then speaks to a Mr. Thromby, who isn't in his usual room. The audience knows this because the butler walks into the room, and the camera pans  to a bed, which has already been made and is empty. The following shots showcase the butler walking upstairs past his bedroom.

    A shot that positions the camera at the top of the stairs illustrates the butler walking up them towards the camera. She stops and her smile immediately becomes flat. The following shot starts wide and begins tracking onto a dead man on the couch in the room to a medium shot of his lifeless body. The next shot illustrates the butler dropping the tray on herself, showing her shock to see the owner of the house dead. A murder has been commited.

A Sketch of The Opening Title

    The title card then appears. The letters in the title seem extremely sharp, just like a weapon that could cause harm, which relates to the movie since it is about a murder. The title is also underlined, which adds increased style to the film. But, the "V" in the title also pierces through the underlined title, showing the danger of the knife, as the underlined section could refer to the skin of a murder, in which weapons pierce through the skin to kill.

    The opening is a perfect example of how to set up a film in terms of tone. The tone illustrated gives off an uncomfortable feeling. A feeling that something is not quite right, which leads perfectly into a murder that seems impossible to commit. It also sets up some of the characters perfectly. The audience knows who was killed, Mr. Thromby, the owner of the household. The audience knows this because he has a butler who brings him food with a cup that shows that the house is his. It also creates a sense of mystery. The illustration of Mr. Thromby's death arises all of the questions a murder mystery film needs to create, which follows the convetions of a mystery, where questions are presented, and, over the course of the film, the characters piece together the pieces of an elaborate puzzle, which inevitably gets solved.

    Overall, the opening of Knives Out is a perfect opening to research, as it presents typical genre conventions of a myster film and presents an offputting tone and the victim of the murder.

    Sources: 

        Johnson, R. (Director). (2019). Knives Out [Film]. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8946378/