Monday, 10 October 2011



The first film opening I shall be analysing is a Japanese film called "Wangan Midnight: Maximum Tune", about a college student named Akio Asakura who discovers a cursed Nissan Datsun 240Z, nicknamed "The Devil Z" in a scrapyard, crashed by it's previous owner with the same name as the lead character. The car appears to have a mind of its own and rebels against its driver; the previous owner was killed by the car while street-racing against Blackbird on the Tokyo Expressway Bayshore Route, aka Wangan.

The film opens with an overhead shot of Wangan to set the scene, then the sound of an engine can be heard as the film title appears on screen to give an idea of what the film is about. It then cuts to a shot of the previous owner crashing The Devil Z while in a race with Blackbird. It then cuts back to the overhead shot, possibly for added drama. Then it cuts back again to the crash with Blackbird stopping his Porsche and rushing to the aid of his friend. It then fades into a shot of the Devil Z driving as Blackbird begins to commentate: "It was like the car is mad. It runs like it was twisting it's body." This is done to show the audience what the car is like and how it is possesed. After this, it cuts to a girl laying some flowers down on the route, where the Devil Z crashed to prove that the owner did not survive the crash. She is with Blackbird, who is waiting in his car. He then recieves a phone call about an operation on someone, to alert the audience of his occupation (a doctor/surgeon.) Blackbird's commentary begins again; 'A coworker once asked me, "You're a surgeon. Why risk your life over an obsession with racing." I do not really remember my reply to him.' as the couple retreat to Blackbirds Porsche. The scene changes completely to a flashback with a man on a stretcher being rushed into a room with Blackbird pleading to assist with his resussitation, this is the previous owner after being rescued from the Devil Z. Blackbird describes the car some more and then it cuts to Akio and his friends in the Nissan 300ZX.

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