Mission Impossible Opening Analysis

Narrative Function: this opening sequence doesn't really set the story line so much as the genre. The burning of the fuse, as well as small scenes such as the lasers and bloody hands show us that this movie is a a thriller. 

Conventions Displayed: yet again in this sequence a montage is used, which seems to be a popular trend across opening sequences as it does not give too much information away, which is vital to grabbing the audience's attention.

Characters Introduced: in this movie, although they aren't presented as rounded characters, we still see glimpses of a man and a woman who then feature throughout the movie more explicitly. 

Cinematography: the music in this is now iconic, but at the time of production it was made to create a sense of excitement and suspense, which it does successfully. The lighting and colours used changes as there are a variety of scenes, but it tends to be fairly dark which suggests illicit activities. This is further supported by the content of the scenes, including the stabbing of someone, particular governmental-looking documents and the burning of a fuse. 


What I particularly liked about this extract is the way the shots were timed to the music, and particularly the amount of jump cuts used. I thought this was a really clever way of breaking up a shot or a scene to create suspense.