Back To The Future Opening Scene.

Analysing the concepts of the opening scene and the micro elements.


The opening scene of Back to the future starts with many sound effects of different ticking clocks as the movie title comes up, It then cuts to the actual clocks which are making the sound. As this is being shown, there are credits fading in and out while the opening scene keeps going.The Mise-en-scene of the props and set of a very old fashioned room with lots of random mis-matched furniture, with lots of Random clocks all in different shapes and colours on the wall, and the newspaper cuttings on the wall, really makes the character of 'Doc' seem very scatty. The radio that comes on, a man with a very posh voice- (this also helps the audience understand it is set in olden time America as the television and radio speakers were only allowed to speak that way) The radio sets off some strange invention which helps to tie in the fact that one of the main character is a crazy scientist. After some of the invention goes off, the camera's do a pan to the door as the main character- a stereotypical American teen in the 80's walks through, however you can only see his clothes- jeans and high-top trainers, and only hear his voice calling to another character- 'Doc'. He has an American accent, which is totally different to the one you hear on the radio- this gives a sense that he is ordinary, not posh and that there is a divide between classes in the film to come. The opening scene also uses some pyrotechnics for the explosion of one of docs inventions- a mega guitar amp, this gives the audience a bit of excitement as well. He is also carrying a skateboard which gives the impression that he is a cool main character- which the audience may fall in love with. The phone then rings, giving the audience something to wonder about, like who is possibly calling?. You then hear another mans voice in a hushed tone, as if he is hiding from something- he gets the boy to meet him in an eerie, empty car park at 1.15 in the morning, which also engages the audience to want to keep watching. After the phone call every single alarm clock which are synced together all go off at the same time. Very happy and upbeat music comes on when the main character rushes to school- the music keep in with the type of person the main character is.
All of this sets the scene and makes the audience want to know more about what will happen when he meets up with the doctor etc. 
Some morals are also introduced in the opening scene which is bullying- infact that is brought in by the teacher bullying the main character Marty Mcfly. The teacher also tells Marty that 'Doc' is a nut case and shouldn't hang around with him, or be friends with him, this still has the same effect on the audience, where they are kept waiting to see who this 'Doc' is, it makes that particular character seem more mysterious.