Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl Opening Scene Analysis

Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl Opening Scene Analysis (Own Choice)

Sound is very important within an adventure film as its constant use of ambiance and music helps set the mood of the audience and the atmosphere they receive at given points in the film. Diegetic sound is present through the entirety of the opening scene and is first used during the slow and poetic song being sang by a girl, the song is effective as it adds a sense of mystery into the opening scene as the song is strange and dark which helps set the tone of the opening scene. This is accompanied by the constant noises both the ship and the water create to help add realism into the film and allows the scene to be established to a higher degree. Diegetic sound is also present in the dialogue between the characters at the beginning of the opening scene as the dialogue reveals to the audience the setting of the film and the immediate danger that the characters are introduced in is typical of the adventure genre as it constantly keeps the audience engaged with those sort of tense moments. The dialogue is also essential in proclaiming to the audience the known relationships between the characters introduced and allows us to assume that the characters are of a higher class due to their various titles they label eachother with. The scene eventually develops a slow rhythmatic non-diegetic music to infer to the audience that there is only a matter of time before something will happen and as the scene progresses the music becomes more intense and fast paced and when accompanied with the vivid imagery and sound of a burning vessel helps emphasize the danger present and creates a tense atmosphere for the audience. Ambiance also features heavily within this opening scene as it helps reveal to the audience when something significant to the narrative of the film is shown and allows the scene to become more effective and immerses the audience more.

An establishing shot is used of the setting which in this case is a medieval vessel sailing on open ocean, this establishes to the audience on where the narrative of the movie will take place and allows us to assume that the ocean will play a major part in the story-line. Individual close-up shots are used to help introduce the characters to the audience, and helps personalize the character and their personality more. A two shot is used between Gibbs and Elizabeth to help inform the audience of the main feature of the film and helps establish the setting of the film and allows us to infer that these are two of the main characters. Afterwards an over the shoulder shot is used to help reveal to the audience the potential power each individual character presents with Norrington seeming far more dominant due to his clothing and dialogue. A two shot is used of Norrington and Captain Swan to help show their relevance to one of the supposed main characters of the film and helps show the relationship between these characters, helping personalize them to the audience more. A tracking shot is used after we are introduced to a young male character to help infer to the audience the importance of this character and helps engage them in the movie as it reveals to the audience that he has supposedly been involved in a pirate attack. When this character is introduced the audience assume he is one of the main characters as the camera focuses largely on him and the dialogue between him and Elizabeth is purposely short; this may be due to the emphatic use of profound information which informs the audience of the character but he is otherwise unknown in this opening scene which helps the audience assume that he is important in the film.

Two of the main characters are introduced in the opening scene as the audience are extensively shown the young girl and later on the young boy, The audience recognises that these are the main characters through the extensive use of camera shots centering around them and the dialogue involving the two which informs the audience of their supposed names and roles.We are also introduced to some important supporting cast as the majority of the dialogue in the opening scene involves a few of these characters including: Norrington, Captain Swan and Gibbs. These characters are introduced to help emphasize to the audience the realism of the film and also allows us to relate this movie to others of the genre.

The audience can see that the majority of the characters shown are wearing upper class uniforms which infers to the audience that these characters are relatively important in terms of the narratives hierarchy and allows us to contrast this to the supposed lower class styling of Will. This is typical of the genre as they usually depict a wide array of characters in terms of race, gender and backgrounds as it helps engage the audience more into the storyline as they can relate more to the characters as they eventually become more personalized during the scene.

Certain questions are left unanswered in the opening scene such as the origins of one of the main protagonists and what happened to the supposed merchant vessel and pirate ship after that night. The audience is left puzzled due to the relative amount of information on the so called pirate ship but this only emphasizes to the audience that the pirate ship shown will be of some relevance to the film as well as the characters shown. The audience will want to know what happens to the characters after the events shown on screen and this helps immerse the audience into the plot of the story and engages them in the characters portrayals.