Film Openings- Captain America

It's 1942 and America has entered WW2, and sickly but determined Steve Rogers is frustrated after being deemed unfit for military service. Rogers then volunteers for a top secret research project that turns him into Captain America, a superhero dedicated to defending USA ideals. the film starred Hollywod greats such as; Stanley Tucci, Chris Evans and Samuel L. Jackson. It was dirceted by Joe Johnston, and was first released in July 2011.

In order to deconstruct the timeline I split the opening into two parts, the VISUALS and the SOUND.

VISUALS

0s-18s- Paramount logo
21s-33s MARVEL logo
35s- Fade up from black to snow fogged screen
47s- Headlights gradually appear
52s- Headlights expand to full screen
54s-POV shot from the driver's point of view
1m1s- Man comes into shot holding a red light
1m12s- The two characters from the car are introduced
1m20s- Two shot of the men from the car
1m26s-Mid shot that includes al three characters
1m28s- Wide shot of the snowy setting
1m32- Medium close-up
1m34s-Two shot
1m38- Mid shot behind characters
1m41s-Zoom in on the  spaceship
1m47s-Pan up
1m51s-Zoom into character
1m52-Shot of the spaceship
1m59s- The camera zooms out
2m-Shot of a car tyre

SOUND

0s-18s- Paramount soundtrack
1m12s-2m- Dialogue

It's clear that the focus of the opening is to set the scene and really help the audience to grasp the concept of what's happening/ the econtext of the scene (as with any film opening). They do this by having detailed shot of the setting (wide shot of snowy plane), and by focusing on the dialogue between characters and not adding in any extra background music so the audience remain focused on what is being said.

WHAT IT DOES WELL-

It successfully  uses zoom a technique that's not really seenin film but this helps us to really understsnd the gravitas of the situation and grasp the size of  the spaceship. The way in which they use several camera shots in order to successfully set the scene is another positive of this particular film opening. In addition it uses dialogue to provide the audience with a solid context that is backed up by the footage used.

WHAT IT DOESN'T DO WELL-
In my opinion the opening spends too much time on the car travelling through the snow and not  on developing the story behind the spaceship. I understand that they want to create enigma however it doesn't work to the extent that they want it to.