Dreamtown

This is a crime thriller about a serial killer seemingly randomly murdering people from Dreamtown. It follows our protagonist,  Emma, an 18 year old resident of Dreamtown who's parents were killed by the murderer orphaning her and her younger sibling. Emma managed to escape the attack but was left injured in hospital. When she wakes up she is questioned by the police about her experience and, alone, scared and determined, Emma chooses to help the police in their investigation to find the person that killed her parents.
However, as more and more murders take place it becomes apparent that the culprit can't be a single person and the police are met with the challenge of stopping a seemingly invisible group of killers with no apparent pattern or motive except from the fact that they only kill the residents of Dreamtown.
Throughout the film, whilst trying to solve the crimes, Emma is faced with corruption, lies and volatility leading her to question who can and can't be trusted. All the while she fights to protect herself and her younger sibling as the population of Dreamtown falls and their position on the kill list moves higher.

The structure of the film is quite fragmented and 'jerky' as different pieces of information about the investigation are withheld and then found. It is riddled with plot holes and subplots that finally fall into place at the end of the film when the murders are solved.
The opening of the film therefore reflects this disjointed structure by being itself a total narrative enigma. The scene comes from the first third of the story, after her parents are killed but before she's interviewed by the police; we see her in hospital being given life saving treatment. However, the very first shot of the opening scene comes from when her and her sibling learn of her parent's death. They are cowered together in a cold stark room instantly beginning the film with the sadness, loss and worry that would have been initially felt by Dreamtown's inhabitants after they learned of the first murder.

We then get the flashbacks whilst Emma's heart is being re-started which foreshadows the disjointed structure of the rest of the film and how it relies on lots of information coming together from different places, just like a real life criminal investigation.

The opening contains a lot of contrasts in lighting, sound and camerawork to make it difficult and uncomfortable to watch. This draws the audience into the story, making them feel and under threat as the residents of Dreamtown.

The opening scene is designed to draw the audience in. They are left not knowing what on earth has happened and slightly shell shocked, again like the people of Dreamtown would actually feel. It also provides them with pieces of information which will slot into place as the film progresses - when it comes round to the opening scene again after her parents have been killed the audience will have a grasp win what's going on and should experience an, "Oh, that's what that was," moment, again creating the feeling that they themselves are solving the crime.