Analysis of opening sequence - 28 Days Later

The opening sequence to 28 days later is a very good opening sequence as it provides the viewer with a good sense of curiosity and anticipation of what is going to happen. This is important as it means that the viewer is likely to want to continue watching the movie.

The only titles that appear in the movie is “28 days later…” in the bottom right corner and this clearly sets up a time after an important event that happened 28 days before it. The opening sequence that follows is completely uninterrupted by titles which creates a setting that Is considerably more unnerving than if titles that were clearly out of place, where appearing all over the screen and thus stopping the viewer from fully immersing himself with the thriller movie that was unravelling before his eyes.

In the majority of thriller movies the opening sequences purpose is to create a large amount of enigmas that are meant to entice the audience and encourage it to continue watching the movie. By those standards, the opening sequence to 28 Days Later fulfils those requirements fully as the long opening sequence provides an enormous amount of enigmas that became more and more scary as the character discovers the details of what exactly happened during the 28 days since the beginning of the event.

The following enigmas appear right away; Who is the man in the hospital bed?, Why is he naked?, Why is he in the hospital bed?, Where is all the hospital staff and why is it so quiet? We then move on to enigmas about why certain things happened suchas; Why is the whole hospital empty, Why is there nobody on the streets?, If something that made all the people dissapear happened why is there no damage to the city?, Why is Picaddily circus full of messages left for other people? and finally Why did the city have to evacuate?

Throughout this opening sequence there is no dialogue but neverthless large numbers of wide ranging enigmas appear. The enigmas also don't have to be solved as an opening sequence does not need narrative closure. This opening sequence provides a fully restricted narrative a the audience only finds out information at the same time as the protagonist.