Lemony Snicket - A Series Of Unfortunate Events Opening Scene.

Themes- Family, Love, Tragedy, Adventure, Mystery.

Genre- Mystery/Adventure

Narrative - The narrative shows the children have different skills. For example, Violetis a brilliant inventor. The skills of the children be used later - why else would the viewer be told about them. The narrative also gives important information about the childrens lives and hints at what lies ahead in the film.

Character - The 3 main protaganists are introduced immediately in a brisk fashion by the narrator, voiced by Lemony Snicket himself. Background information is given on Violet, Klaus and Sunny and their individual skills are outlined. They are presented as nice, kind children and this helps the viewer empathise with them when the news of their parent's deaths is broken to them.

Atmosphere/mood- At the beginning the viewer is led to believe it is a film about 'The Happy Little Elf' - perhaps they are in the wrong cinema? However, this sequence is cut brutally short and all the colour and joy vanishes as The Happy Little Elf is replaced by a desolate shoreline and the 3 children. The use of the Elf short amplifies the negative effect of the beach. The eerie mist and drab use of colour immediately gives the audience the impression that something terrible is about to happen. The film creates suspense and atmosphere by using its barren landscape, but increases the impact created by this scenery via The Happy Little Elf sequence at the start of the film, which causes the powerful contrast.