Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone Analyse

In the opening scene of Harry Potter and the Philosopher Stone we can already tell that this film has the genre of fantasy, lots of magic and also mystery to it. We know this because we see a guy in robes and having a hat on his head, which some people don't know who is, but as a Harry Potter fan, this person is Dumbledore and he is a head of wizardry. Reason why we see magic in the opening, is because Dumbledore has a little cylinder button (not really sure what it is called) thing and he is in the street, making the cylinder thing suck the light as he doesn't want to wake the neighborhood up and also doesn't want to be caught doing magic. 

There is also more magic being used as we see a cat turn into a women which is a little weird and abnormal and this wouldn't normal happen in the real world. This is shown as a normal magic trick for the film to make the audience more engaged. We then see a bright light in the distance, as it gets closer we notice it is a flying car coming into landing... Now we know this is magic because really? This wouldn't happen in real life because I don't think anyone has see a flying car yet. The audience now assume this film isn't based on a true story or these things happening in real life as they now know it is a fantasy.

Obviously there is always music in films as it makes it more effective but the audience will then be more engaged if music is added. At the start of the opening scene, we see that the scene is quite dark so we know that it is night time. The camera moves on to a owl on a road name which is "Privet Drive" suggesting that this is where the scene is being held, while this is happening, in the background we can hear magical, mysterious music so this can make the scene more tense and intriguing. This is known as non diegetic music. This kind of music fits great with the genre of the film and makes the film even more better! This music in the background then becomes a little quieter and we hear a violin being used and it increases as Dumbledore makes his way down the road, suggesting that he could be one of the main characters of the film. The violin sounds goes low to high a couple of times until it changes into a calm sound as the character has stopped. 

As the music has stopped, we can still hear the non diegetic music in the background. We then hear some sound effects being used when Dumbledore is using something to absorb the light. These sound effects are like swooshing and little twinkles to add more affect but also to make it more realistic on what is going on. The music then starts up again but being much louder, this is because the motorbike is coming down to landing. We then hear the sound effects of the motorbike as it is being used and of course the audience will be more engaged with this object because of the sound effects. The sound effects of the motorbike show that it is still a motorbike but it is a flying one because of the magic being used so it can be used to fly in the sky.

There of course is the camera shots in this opening scene. One main camera shot being used is the close up, this is being used on the baby, who is known as Harry Potter, the main character of the film. This close up shot is effective at this moment, because it is zooming into the baby's forehead as he has a lightning strike scar on his forehead. When the camera is zooming into the forehead, the music starts up again and the scar makes a sound effect like you are ripping something, this is showing that it is ripping into something because the scar then goes straight into the name title of the film, with the theme music being played at that moment, making it more intense but magical for the audience. With this music and how the opening scene are being used, it shows that this film is actually a fantasy genre with a lot of magic!