Film Genre Research

The Matrix (1999)

In the opening scene of The Matrix, it fades into random computer characters falling down the computer screen with incidental music and sound effects. Everything on the screen has a green color to it. The camera zooms into the screen and then the characters fall into place as the movie title. The title fades out and a white box starts blinking on the upper right corner of the screen, waiting for input. The sound of a phone call plays in this scene with a beeping noise. Six seconds later, an input is received, "Call trans opt: received. 2-19-98 13:24:18 REC:Log>", and then the computer responds, "Trace program: running". Dialogue over the phone call happens, two people talk about Morpheus. One wants to kill him whereas the other likes him, the dialogue ends when the person who likes morpheus suspects that they are being traced. While this happens, the movie immediately cuts to a matrix of rapidly changing numbers on the screen. The numbers slowly start to become specific values and the camera slowly zooms into the numbers with incidental music and computer-like sound effects. A white circle fills the screen and it fades into a close up of a police officer with the white circle being the light of a flashlight. The camera pans away from the officer and follows another officer moving into an area. There are only ambient noise and sound effects playing with a dark environment. It cuts to a wide shot of multiple officers approaching a room and a cut to a door with officers in front of it. The camera rotates behind the officers and stops as an officer approaches the door on the right third and then cuts to a midshot of an officer breaking into the door. The camera briefly shows the officer breaking into the door from one side and then immediately cuts to the other side of the door with the officers entering. It cuts to a wide shot of a woman at a desk with flashlights aiming at her. There is no other light illuminating other parts of the area but the woman. It then cuts to the camera with a somewhat close-up shot of the woman's face with her hands up. Multiple flashlights illuminate behind her.

The use of a computer screen and sound effects indicate that the film will surround the use of computers throughout. The dialogue indicates the importance surrounding a significant character, Morpheus, in the film. The use of officers searching for the woman in the film indicate a sense of suspense in the film with the quick pacing and dark lighting of the scene. The wide shot of the woman at the desk with flashlights onto her allows the audience to focus on her and indicates her significance in the film.

There are no job titles in the opening credits of the film. It had $63 million budget with a profit of $460 million worldwide. The film has won the Oscars, Bafta Film Award, Saturn Award, Eddie, ACCA, Blockbuster Entertainment Award, and more.

Inception (2010)

In the opening scene of Inception, it shows a closeup of the main character opening a safe with clicking sounds of the safe and then the insert shot of the safe. The main character takes a letter from the safe and pulls another letter from his suit while he is in darkness. Before he was able to replace the letter, the lights turn on and it cuts to a wide shot of the camera panning with the character turning around to see two people behind him who are the owners of the safe in the right third. The main character pulls his gun out and points his gun towards them while the woman, one of the owners, puts a gun at him. During this standoff, two more people behind them bring another character who appears to be working with him as a hostage. One of the owners asks for the envelope and his employer, revealing the name of the main character, Cobb. The dialogue shows that they are in a dream and you can only escape it if you die. Cobb's colleague gets shot in the leg. As they go for the other leg, Cobb reaches in for his gun and shoots at his colleague and he wakes up in the real world. The dream world starts to break down and Cobb rushes to an exit. It cuts to the real world where they kick him into a tub of water and it quickly exchanges back to the dream world. As they kick him into the tub, the incidental music stops and slow-motion sound effects are played. The scene ends as he sees the dream world collapse and fill with water. There were no opening credits in this scene.

The closeup of Cobb opening the safe in the scene shows his importance in the film. With this and the insert shot of him opening the safe, the dark lighting, and incidental music, it suggests that he is doing a secret mission. When the lights turn on with the quick panning of the camera and gun props, it intensifies the mood of the film. This is further intensified when they introduce another character as a hostage in the scene and the collapse of the dream world as Cobb tries to escape with the confidential information with the increase in pacing. The discontinuous editing from the real world and the dream world allows more intensity in the film and confusion.

Inception's budget was $160 million and it made more than $800 million worldwide. The awards the film has won are the Oscars, BAFTA film award, Saturn, AFI, EDA, AAFCA, and more.

Interstellar (2014)

In the opening scene of Interstellar, the camera pans across a bookshelf covered in dust. A space shuttle prop sits on the shelf and the title comes on screen and it fades to black. An old woman speaks in the film who would turn out to be a crucial character by the end of the film speaking to the camera about her father. It fades into a massive cornfield across the screen, establishing the setting of the film. The speaker then says about her father's life before being a farmer. It cuts to a flashback of Cooper in a space shuttle, a voice from mission control tells him to shut the mission down, but he refuses. He then screams as the shuttle makes a sudden movement and he is thrown back. Cooper abruptly wakes up in the room with his daughter, Murph, standing at the doorway thinking the noise was "the ghost" but Cooper denies saying there are no ghosts. Murph then asks if he was dreaming about the plane crash again but is told to go back to sleep. Incidental music plays as he moves to a window to look at the field of corn. The old woman talks about their farming life when the wheat died out and the corn they had were covered in dust with a view of dust coming through the field.

The voiceover of the old woman talking about Cooper as the camera cuts to him in the shuttle shows his significance in the story. The old woman provides a narrative and subtly foreshadows what is about to happen by the end of the film. Her storytelling is most likely told to her children and grandchildren which would be seen by the end of the film. The insert shot of a space shuttle gives the audience an idea of what the story is about. The voiceover talks about Cooper's life before a farmer with a cut to him in a space shuttle to provide character background of Cooper. When Murph talks about "the ghost", it shows a connection to the events of the ending scenes of the film since Cooper was "the ghost" all along. The shot of the dust flowing through the cornfield provides context to what is happening in the film.

Interstellar's budget is $165 million dollars with a profit of $678 million worldwide. The film has won the Oscars, BAFTA Film Award, Saturn Award, AFI Award, ASCAP Award, ACCA Award, and more. The film was nominated for the Saturn Award.

The Martian (2015)

In the opening scene of The Martian, it fades to a shot of space with the camera slowly panning to the planet Mars with the title appearing in the middle of the shot. Ambient sound effects bridge to an establishing shot of the martian landscape. It then cuts to an aerial shot of the landscape, panning around the landscape. Incidental music starts to play and text appears in the lower-left third. Another text appears to establish the location of the film. A voiceover plays with three astronauts talking about the mission in the film. It cuts to a rover moving in the landscape and then another cut to three astronauts working on a mission. One astronaut is on the left third and it cuts to an insert shot of him taking a sample of the soil. The shots cut from inside and outside of the main center from one character to another while they have friendly conversations with one another. A storm starts to come and ominous incidental music starts to play. The camera pans to the oncoming storm in the left third. It then cuts to a closeup of a lady's face talking about the severity of the storm with another cut of a master shot of the characters. They discuss how to approach the situation and then the captain decides to abort the mission. They exit the main center and reach for the space shuttle in the storm. The pacing speeds up while they try to reach the shuttle and a satellite breaks down and hits one of the members. They all reach the ship and exit the planet. There are no opening credits in this scene.

The opening shot of space and Mars with space-like ambient sound to set the setting and scene of the film. This is further added on with the establishing and aerial shot of the landscape and the text in the lower-left third. The voiceover which turns into a dialogue between each member helps us understand each character trait of each member. The insert shot of the container and the soil may help establish the importance of it in later scenes of the film. The pacing starts with incidental music to establish intensity to the film. When they enter the storm to enter the spaceship, the only lighting we see is the lights on the spacesuits, which do not lighten up the area well. This makes the audience wonder what is happening to the crew in the film. Once they reach the shuttle, the pacing slows down to calm down the mood of the film. The camera cuts to the commander looking at the empty seat of the astronaut who was hit by the satellite which may show the connection she had with that person. There are no opening credits in this scene to focus the audience's attention on the events in the scene than the actors.

The Martian's budget is $108 million and profited $630 million. The film was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Actor and Motion Picture, Hugo Award, Empire Award, People's Choice, Satellite, and more.



Avatar (2009)

In the opening scene of Avatar, incidental music plays and fades into an aerial shot of what appears to be a tropical landscape. A voiceover of a man talking about his dreams of him flying in the air after coming from the hospital. The shot cuts to black and cuts to an extreme-closeup of the main character opening his eyes with the voiceover still continuing from the previous shot. The shot then becomes a mid-shot of him to a wide shot of him at a crosswalk. The crane shot moves upwards to provide the view of the crowdedness of the city and the scenery. The character uses a wheelchair to move across the street. It then cuts to his bedroom where he takes off his pants to reveal his crippled legs with the wheelchair in the background. The camera shifts to his legs as he undresses. The monologue reveals his life as a marine with false beliefs that he can "pass any test a man can pass". The scene then cuts to him in a bar doing a trick and then watching football. He discusses how life is on the planet and how people prey on the weak with an eyeline match of him seeing a woman getting abused by a man in the right third. He approaches the man and begins to fight him for a sense of justice and something to fight for. He later gets thrown out of the bar and lies on the ground looking at the rainy sky that is occluded with holograms and a monorail.

The aerial shot of the landscape helps the audience visualize what the main character, Sully, dreams about after his time in the hospital. His voiceover is a monologue of himself talking about his life and the mindset he has from his time in the marine this bridges across several shots to describe his life in the location he is living in. The shot of the extreme closeup of the character which then cuts with a zoomed out mid-shot to a wide shot makes the audience wonder who this person is from top to bottom. They reveal the wheelchair last when they zoom out more to show a significant feature that distinguishes Sully from other characters in the film. The use of the wheelchair tells the audience about his physical condition which is further indicated when they shift the camera shifts to his legs as he undresses. The events that he sees happening correlate to his monologue which helps establish the harshness of the setting around them with the character's theoretical mindset. When he looks at the sky occluded with holograms and monorails, it shows the audience that the environment around him lacks beauty which can be seen from Sully and the audience.

This film's budget is $237 million dollars and made a profit of almost $3 billion worldwide. The film has won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Visual Effects, and Best Production Design; Golden Globe; Empire Award; BAFTA Award; Empire Award; and more.