This essay will define the opening in The Diving Bell and The Butterfly as the first three minutes of the opening of the narrative whilst considering how effectively it evokes emotions of discomfort and disorientation. In order to focus my analysis, I will explore how feelings of discomfort and disorientation are created though, compositional balance, camera quality, POV and sound; what is being shot, how it is being shot, where it is being shot from, whilst exploring how it simultaneously creates both a film world. .

             Although the opening credits play soothing music which seemingly relax the viewer, the opening of the narrative instantly disorientates, creating the feeling of discomfort. The theme of uneasiness is continually present throughout the film and it is only with Jean-Do's acceptance of his new situation that the audience is allowed respite from this unease felt at the start of the film.

             Throughout this opening the audience experiences the room through the visual stimuli of a roving camera, disembodied voices, and the effect of a blinking eye but there is obviously a great deal of additional information necessary in authenticating the film world; for example the films mis-en-scene. The clinical yet welcoming setting, the seemingly natural yet soft lighting, the subtle yet erratic editing, the blue-green colour plates which link with the diving bell images seen later in the film, and actors performance are all necessary to an analysis of the opening. I have, however, chosen to focus on the elements mentioned early as I believe these are the key elements which create the feeling of disorientation and discomfort. .

             Compositional Balance; What We are Seeing.

             Within a film, compositional balance refers to the extent to which the screen space has equally distributed masses. This is important as it shapes our expectations of where significant action will be located on the screen1.