Establishing Narrative in the Opening to a Film

Dinner for Schmucks Opening

In the opening scene of 'Dinner for Schmucks,' we see the details of the cast and crew. The production companies are shown first with text over the sequence (right). The main two actors are shown around 30 seconds in, and then the title 'Dinner for Schmucks' 40 seconds in. After the title has been shown, other actors' names are presented.

The song used ('Fool on the Hill' by the Beatles) relates to the character they are introducing in the opening scene (the character seen dressing the mice) as he is portrayed as a 'fool' in the film.The song is alo played through the ending credits, and can be seen as the signature theme tune. the sequence also seems quite quirky and naive, much like the character we are being introduced to, the film's mood and it's tone.

Throughout the sequence, there are big close ups of the character's hands constructing 'romantic cliches' (left) We later learn that the scene constructed relates to the character;s life, and we learn that the mice are based on the character (who is making the scenes) and his ex wife, which introduces his character's background, without the character even being fully in the scene. When we first see the character (about 20 minutes into the film), he is holding similar dead mice, and is wearing the same clothes as the male mouse in the opening sequence, so the audience can automatically assume that he is the same character who is constructing these scenes, and the one that the scenes were based on. We also see the level of detail taken, for example, when the hair is being dyed (below), which suggests that this activity is important in the character's life.

These scenes may also make the viewer question what is happening in the film, as it seems competely unrelated to what the plot might be, even though the appearance of the mice has a big role in the sort. It keeps the viewer watching, because the opening scene is so unique.

At the end of the film, we also see what has happened after the events of the film, with scenes of dead mice being filmed in a much similar way, for example, the camera tilts up and down in both sequences.

We can conclude from the opening to 'Dinner for Schmucks,' in comparison to other films and genres, that almost always, the opening 5 minutes introduces the main character(s).