The Phantom Of The Opera Opening Sequence

In the phantom of the opera the lighting during the beginning of the film is dark and black and white. This makes us think it is old and dusty there. Even though it is black and white we can see the lighting effects on some of the actors. The old man in the wheelchair has one side of his face lit up and the other side dark quite a lot of the time which could show that there is a dark side to him/ his character. The light on the old lady's face is full and bright which shows she is important and gives us an idea that she is a main character. When the chandelier lights are turned on we are shown how they are directly shone onto the old man in the wheelchair and the old lady. This shows us that they play an important part in the movie. We can see this because their faces are shown by the camera how much they are lit up. At this point all the lights are shone onto them at all angles. When everything lights up the audience is guided around the theatre by everything suddenly being lit up and colourful again. This catches the audience’s attention because the scene is suddenly changing. We can see the lighting on the other people is less bright as they are not important characters and it is showing that.

The sounds are eerie and echoed when the characters speak. This shows the audience the building is empty because there is nothing for the sound to absorb into in the building. When the music starts it is quiet when the man starts singing and the camera is focused on the monkey. This shows the monkey is important and should be focused on. When the instruments start the music is strong and bold when everything starts lighting up. This shows the audience that it is an important. The music is non- diegetic because we cannot see where the source of the music is in the film world. Whereas the banging of the hammer when the auction is taking place is diegetic sound as the source of the noise can be seen in the film world.

At the beginning of the film the director has used props to make the mise en scene. The old cars show the time in which the movie is set and so do other aspects such as the wheelchair as it is clearly not from present day. The costumes show us the social status of the characters which is upper class and also again show the audience what day in age it was in. We can also see the man in the wheelchair is ill because he has a nurse with him and is wearing a blanket over his legs to keep him warm. The old man and women are wearing very posh clothes and are nicely kept which shows us they are quite well off. The birds flying around and the spider webs contribute to the mise en scene in the film. It causes the audience to think that the building is old and not in use anymore. When the audience are being shown the second scene when everything outside is light, even though it is in colour it is older than before because of the props used again, such as the a horse and carriage. The outfits and costumes again were older. You could clearly see the difference between the social classes as some of the men were dressed in red rich clothing and then there were workers in basically rags and overalls.