Detailed Analysis of three film openings...

SHERLOCK HOLMES:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ7ArosUUf

Mise-en-scene

The costumes are fitting to the time period, as the film is set in the early 1900s, so the costumes show this, with smart clothing (Watson in particular). The very first shot is of Holmes jumping off something and doing a flip, so this implies from the very first scene, that the film will be full of action.
The woman lying on the table that is being kept hostage is wearing white, and this is important because it shows that she is vulnerable, innocent and pure.
The man in a black hood stood over her shows power and the fire around the scene symbolises danger.

Camera Movement

The camera zooms in slowly on Holmes’ face when we is narrating, so the audience can see his face more clearly as he is going through his thought process.
There are close up shots on the man Holmes plans to fight, the close ups are effective because it means we can see what exactly Sherlock plans to do as he says it.
The camera work looks simple, with clean cuts, but it works effective following Holmes as he tries to find his way through the building.
There is a low angle shot when Holmes at the top of the building looking down, and it shows he is in the dominant position which sets a base for the rest of the scene when

Lighting
Again, like a lot of thriller openings, the lighting is very dark and some parts it is hard to make out certain things. This contrasts to a lot of the rest of the film where the lighting is bright. The beginning of the film is darker than the rest of it, because it is setting the story and introducing the characters.
The fire and the candles add light to the dark setting, but in a natural way (there isn’t use of unnatural light, that the audience can see), and this works well.

Editing

There is a jump cut from Holmes to the girl on the table.
The camera cuts from Holmes to the scene below, this is called a ‘cross cutting’ technique – where the scene shows two things happening at the same time.
Slow motion is added on the parts where Holmes is attacking the man, to add emphasis to what he is doing.

Sound
The sound is very staccato, with sharp stabs of sound occasionally.
Diegetic sounds are added, to fit with the slow motion, like bones cracking for example and this adds emphasis.
There are also non-diegetic sounds in the scene, like the creaking of the lantern, and this makes the scene still feel realistic. This is also done by using environmental noise.