Research into openings of action films: Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

Amirah also wrote about and analysed the features of 2011's Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol's opening, providing relevant evidence, as follows:

Codes and Conventions	Findings	Textual Evidence
Stock Settings	We are introduced to the setting, where the film is starting off. The name of the city; Budapest was introduced to us first on a black screen. Then a few seconds later we saw the actual city. This method may have been used to show the audience how the place where its set is of some importance. It’s part of the plot. It also draws their attention to the scene.	0.55 – shows the name of the city in white, on a black background. Contrasting colours have been used to make it stand out. 0.56 – we are introduced to the city.
Stock Characters	We are introduced to the characters mid-way through a chase scene. The first character runs out onto a rooftop with two more men behind him. The two men behind are shooting, suggesting they are the villains. However the first character which was shown shoots back, this makes us (the audience) unsure of who is who, it creates mystery, we are trying to figure out who is who and what is actually going on. We are then introduced to the final character in that scene the ‘assassin’, we first see her walking toward the hero character, who is carrying the important files. The hero character gets a message on his phone – which we later find out that its actually warning him about her – when he looks up, she shoots him three times before rushing for the files, taking them and walking away	1.15 – we are introduced to the first character. Who we think is the hero. 1.21 – we are introduced to the two men who run out after the first guy, and shoot. Making us think they are the villains. 1.51 – we are introduced to yet another villain. She shoots the hero character who is holding the important files.
Themes	The theme comes through the first scene almost immediately as the characters are introduced. The running, shooting and jumping of buildings is what we typically expect to see in an action movie. The non-diegetic music in the background has a low tone and is fast pace, it gives connotations of danger, and it makes us feel more alert, like we need to pay more attention. also, the fact that they are on top of a building, carrying out an action sequence, allows the audience to be able to differentiate between this genre and others.	1.21-1.23 – two men are chasing a guy whilst at the same time shooting at him. 1.22 – one of the men jumps of the building. He turns around and starts shooting at the others.
Narrative	The first character we are introduced to, we are slightly confused as to who he is, hero or villain. This draws the audience in, it makes them feel the need to find out more about who they are. Towards the end of the scene we are introduced to the villain, the woman is seen walking toward the first character, she then shoots him, takes his stuff and leaves. The camera zooms in to the man’s phone where we can see the picture of the woman, where on top we can clearly see that it says ‘assassin’.	1.15 – we are introduced to the first character as he bursts through a door leading to the roof of a building 2.09 – we see the woman’s image on the phone screen showing the audience she is the villain, the ‘assassin’
Iconography	The first character shown in the scene activates a small device in his hand which he later throws off the building as he jumps, when he is near the ground the device expands into a big air filled cushion, to break his fall. We also see a lot of use of guns, every character we see in the sequence is either carrying or shooting a gun. All of these props have been used to show the genre of the movie. They are typical action movie props, very high tech, complicated and small which somehow turn into a bigger object.	1.17 – the first character activating the device 1.23 – the man throws the same device over the edge of the building 1.21 – the two men using their guns and shooting.