Transformers 4: Age of Extinction is a 2014 American 3D science fiction action film, produced by Paramount Pictures. It is the fourth installment of the live-action Transformers film series. It was directed by Michael Bay and written by Ehren Kruger, with Steven Spielberg and Bay as executive producers. It stars Mark Wahlberg, with Peter Cullen reprising his role as the voice of the famous Optimus Prime, as the lead roles. The film was released on June 27, 2014, in IMAX and 3D and achieved a box office of $1.104 Billion.
The opening sequence starts by zooming out to reveal the vast amounts of space craft and the edge of Earth. The camera moves in one slow, steady motion, revealing each detail bit by bit. There is a quiet piece of background music being played which signifies that something bad is about to happen. The fact it is in space and showing all the spaceships as well as the black and blue colours shows us that this is a sci-fi film.
Now we see the 'Transformers' title appear also in a futuristic, sci-fi like font. The camera is now completely zoomed out and we see the full range of spaceships, this shows the progression they have made. As an audience we don't know yet where these spaceships have come from or where they are going. Although we can suggest that as the only bright light we can see is a glimmer of the sun that the spaceships may be moving towards this light.
The scene then changes to a shot underneath a waterfall which slowly pans downwards. The lighting changes from low key to high key as it is bright and only natural is used which could suggest something positive. However, this is a low angle shot looking upwards at two huge. scary looking spaceships. The way this is shown is that these spaceships clearly have the most power currently as we can hear the roar of their engines over the sound of the waterfall. The audience could now have the idea that perhaps an attack is happening.
As the camera moves down to ground level we see a dinosaur looking creature fighting off some smaller creatures for food. They scuffle around for only a short amount of time before the larger dinosaur shows its domination being the only subject visible. Until the camera cuts and changes to the other side of the animal and zooms into its face. The creature shows almost a shocked and scared facial expression as it looks up into the sky. The use of a close up shows clearly this animals expression but also shows that this creature may be the dominant figure on the ground, but whatever is currently up in the sky even worries it, which shows the force these space ships may be bringing.
The scene then cuts to an alien arm and hand with six claw like fingers and a hole in its hand moving across a blue aura. This is only happens for a few seconds which leaves the audience confused and intrigued. At the end the hand seems to press something or attract something from this blue liquid. The fact the camera is only focused on this hand shows it could be of some sort of power and possibly starting an attack. The colours of black and a swirly blue continues to fit the conventions of a sci-fi film as well as the alien arm. We can hear both a background piece of music which is very slow and at a low pitch suggesting this is something bad or evil and we can also hear the crackling of the alien hand moving around this blue water.
We then move to a shot where we see a long dried up sort of river or valley with lots of these dinosaur creatures running away from the spacecraft's in the sky. We see one dinosaur quite high up at the same height of these spaceships to show the size difference between the two. Also we now see that there are many more spaceships than the original two we saw. This time the camera angle is high and looking down on the animals again showing the dominance the spacecraft's have.
The next part shows a carpet of lava that was shot down by the spaceships which is swarming the whole ditch and chasing after the animals. This shot shows the animals running for their life with the spacecraft's in the background again showing their dominance.
Here we see the lava eventually catching up with the animals and engulfing into flames. As the audience we feel sorry for the animals but also we are on the edge of our seat as its an intense scene and we want to know why this has happened and what will happen next.
These last two picture show firstly the force, power and speed this lava is travelling at as it bounces of the rocks and fills the canyon. The final picture which is the end of the opening sequence shows the complete canyon filled with this red hot lava with the ever-present dominant force of the spaceships looming over the shot. There is a contrast between these dark coloured spaceships and a gloomy sky to a bright red and orange lava on the ground. As the scene ends with this we as the audience continue to wonder what role did the alien creature play in this violent attack and why. And what will happen next...This would be an example of a linear opening sequence as even though you don't yet know the who, what or why this is happening it is a clear storyline. Some of the binary opposites shown are Good vs Evil, Force vs Nature, Alien vs Animal. Overall this opening sequence does fit the target audience as it has all the action of a typical 'Transformers' film plus the added mysterious sci-fi edge to it.
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