SI-FI opening scene (E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial 1982)

E.T is a SI-FI film released in 1982 directed by Steven Spielberg and stars Henry Thomas as Elliott, Drew Barrymore as Gertie, Dee Wallace as Mary and Robert MacNaughton as Michael.

The opening sequence starts with a starry night sky, it then pans down to a forest, where a futuristic spaceship is shown with a city in the background. We then see that the spaceship door is open and creatures are moving around. It then shows the inside of the spaceship with extra-terrestrial plants being grown inside. The creatures chests light up, which indicates that they need to return to the spaceship. One creature has wandered off on their own, and whilst looking out to the city lights encounters some humans.  The creature's chest lights up and makes a noise, the humans notice and chase after the creature, who runs to the spaceship, but doesn't make it in time before the spaceship leaves, and therefore is stranded on earth. From this we can guess that the rest of the story is going to be about the creature trying to return to it's natural habitat.

The target audience is young children to the elderly. This is due to the Si-Fi theme being enjoyed by all ages. The lack of violence connotes this tried to be targeted for families and all ages.

The first picture of the starry night sky already depicts the Si-Fi genre due to Si-Fi being linked to space. We can tell they are extra-terrestrial, due to their unusually shaped body outlines and the fact that they are intrigued by the forest environment that they are exploring, which to humans would seem normal. As it's set at night the dark setting creates a mysterious atmosphere and almost instantly shows that the creatures don't want to be seen or found due to it being set at night.

The non diegetic sound track works with what is happening within the scene, this is shown when the creature is found, and the music gets louder and faster, with a more aggressive tone, which creates more tension. 

Within the opening sequence, we are introduced to who believe to be the main characters - extra-terrestrials. The humans who are shown to be chasing the creatures, arrive by car in a dramatic, fast paced scene, which connotes that the humans are more likely to be the evil characters. This contrasts to the average stereo-typical Si-Fi film, where aliens are generally depicted as evil. The camera focuses on a bunch of keys that one particular human is wearing, this indicates that this human is the leader and suggests that they would use the keys to lock up the creature if caught.

I think that it is a very successful and effective opening sequence due to the dark and mysterious setting at night and the humans verses aliens being reversed to the other way around. this confuses the audience and creates a more interesting plot line.