Phantom of Opera

The whole scene begins with a single candle in the dark, being lit and as it was lit, the opening credits came on. The lighting of the candle may suggest the beginning of the film due to the fact once it was lit (and the film started) you can't stop it as it will bring the darkness again. The light of the candle was artificial. Then there is a transition to the street where the auction building stands, most of the lighting from the out door scene was natural and high key lighting from the sun. This made the characters look small in comparison to the building and also made them look like ordinary, every day people and not anyone special. Once they have entered the building the lighting changed to artificial lighting and just as the characters enter the source of light was at the back of characters (characters were backlit) which gave them mystery and importance. The lighting on the auction stage was high key and artificial lighting which made the whole thing look a bit dull and boring as there was no colour (just grey) and also the lighting from the top made them look small and not important. Then as the main character has won an auction the lighting became low key on the bough product bringing something more to it then just the product. Everything then changed back to the 'dull' situation until the 'phantom of opera' came into the scene. Once auctioned everything was brought to life. As the camera was showing the hall, all the props, costumes and decorations gained live and naturalistic colour. This could suggest a transition in time as all the dirt was disappearing and everything was clean and shiny again. The whole room became busy and crowded with actors and actress which may suggest to us how was it before the catastrophe that happened to the 'opera' when it stopped performing. The lighting kept changing depending on what was shown, when shown the main opera singer the lighting was three key lighting to light the singer and present her to the audience in best way possible. The music also played a big part in the opening sequence if not the biggest. The music at first introduces the opening credits and also is the motif of the film. It creates a mysterious atmosphere, which is broken by the sound of car- giving it importance. After the men leave the car, they enter a house in which an auction takes place. The man in charge of auction (his voice) is echoed to perhaps emphasise the emptiness and creepiness of the room or even the whole building. The sound of bats squeaking also may emphasise the creepiness and emptiness. When the man on wheelchair (main character of the sequence) saw the woman at the auction, the motif was played almost foreshadowing she has some part in the fore coming events. The voice of man (auction manager) interrupts the music (almost breaks it) to introduce a product making the product special as the audience will try to find out why the music was broken and all attention will go to the product. Then music comes on again, but this time the lyrics of the music were parallel to the visuals on screen almost telling the audience what the main character thought and once more it was interrupted by the auction managers’ voice, making it even more special. After that the new product was introduced ‘the phantom of opera’, along with that the motif music is played to build tension. Once the product is revealed to auctioneers, loud music hits the audience. The music gives introduction to colour as the colours come on when music begun. The sound of director rushing the actors is heard which creates the look of a big show almost foreshadowing it. Woman singing the opera is introduced by a sound-bridge and turns into a parallel music, making the music refer to the title ‘opera’.