Homme De La Montagne: Location

Val-d'Isère

Val-d'Isère is a commune of the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie department in southeastern France. It lies 5km (3 mi) from the border with Italy. It is on the border of the Vanoise National Park created in 1963. During the 1992 Winter Olympics, the Face de Bellevarde was the site of the men’s downhill race.


It has good transport links in and out of Lyon, Geneva and Chambery. The ski area of Val-d'Isère and Tignes forms the Espace Killy, named after the triple olympic champion Jean-Claude Killy who grew up in Val-d'Isère.

Val-d'Isère spreads along a remote valley, which is a dead end in winter. The road in from Bourg-St-Maurice brings you dramatically through a rocky defile to La Daille – a convenient but hideous slope-side apartment complex and the base of lifts into the major Bellevarde sector of the slopes.

Carry on into the centre of town and turn right and you go past the nursery slopes and major lifts up to both the Bellevarde and Solaise sectors to a lot of new development. Continue up the main valley instead, and you come first to Le Laisinant, a peaceful little outpost with a fast lift into the slopes, and then to Le Fornet, the fourth major lift station.



The developments up the side valley beyond the main lift station – in Le Châtelard and La Legettaz – are mainly attractive, and some offer ski-in/ski-out convenience. La Daille and Le Fornet have their (quite different) attractions for those less concerned about nightlife.




Opening Sequence Early Ideas

These are my opening sequence early ideas presented in a Prezi format. At this point in time I am considering all of the options that I have listed. I will follow this up by asking the members of my class which idea they prefer.

Ski Trip Video

During the week of 15-22 December the Harrodian School went on a ski trip to Val d'Isère. 

This is a video which myself and a fellow media student put together for the trip and following this went on to present in a school assembly.

I was greatly inspired by our time and experiences in Val d'Isère so much so that I decided to come back to film my opening sequence.

Batman: The Dark Knight - Opening Sequence Analysis

My detailed breakdown of the opening sequence of Batman: The Dark Knight (2008) - Click HERE to view sequence.

The Dark Knight is a 2008 British-American superhero film directed, produced, and co-written by Christopher Nolan. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is the second part of Nolan's Batman film series and a sequel to 2005's Batman Begins.

The opening sequence features a bank robbery featuring 'criminals' of Gotham city. Themes in the sequence include Game Theory vs. Fair Division, as well as more basic themes such as Morality vs. Evil.

The Joker is introduced as an intelligent and cunning character, this is shown through his organisation of a complex and ingenious bank robbery. Furthermore, The Joker is portrayed as ruthless and greedy through his insistence that each mobster should kill his partner to increase each member’s payout. We see the cowardice and intense greed of the mobsters of Gotham when they agree to the Joker’s scheme. The Joker prevails as the only remaining member of the robbery. This highlights his superior intelligence in comparison to Gotham’s other criminals.

Each criminal sports a plastic clown mask – hiding expressions. The area is well lit and the crime is carried out in broad daylight to show the criminals have no fear of other authority in Gotham such as Police. This kind of no fear attitude of criminals is common in all superhero films. The clown masks portray the criminals as conformists and anonymous, these masks also insinuate that the criminal’s work for The Joker as the Jokers image is similar to that of a clown.

Extreme long opening shots act as establishing shots and again show the scale of the crime and more-so give the fictional Gotham City a sense of identity. The aerial tilt and opening long shots also manipulate the use of IMAX cameras deployed in the main action sequences. 

The age demographic of the Batman franchise has traditionally been fairly young. However, the Dark Knight aims to appeal to a far wider audience, this is reflected in the opening sequence with the use of gritty scenes of death as well as the far darker portrayal of The Joker. The film will appeal more to males due to the dark and gritty atmosphere of the film; the main protagonist and antagonist are also male characters.

Overall, the film's opening sequence features violence, action, and a tight, clever and sophisticated plot. It meets the needs and wants of every wide demographic.

Star Wars: A New Hope - Opening Sequence Analysis

My detailed breakdown of the opening sequence to Star Wars Episode IV (1977) - Click HERE to view the sequence.

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first film released in the Star Wars saga and is the fourth in terms of the series' internal chronology. Groundbreaking in its use of special effects and science fiction and fantasy storytelling, the original Star Wars is regarded as one of the most successful and influential films.

The opening sequence begins with an iconic title crawl explaining the context of film. A rebel ship is shown trying to escape through space from an enormous imperial star destroyer. The sequence ends with a battle on the rebel ship in which the rebels appear to lose. Finally, the main villain, Darth Vader emerges.

With the opening shot of space it shows the visually stunning, for the time the film was released, as well as the enormity of the imperial starship, which stretches further and further across the screen. The pure size of the imperial starship expresses it to be extremely powerful and thus shows the rebel starship to be an underdog with massive opposition, creating a David vs Goliath situation.

This one-sided fight onboard the rebel ship further extends the portrayal of Vader's men as extremely dominant. From the smoke and wreckage of the battle emerges the villain Darth Vader. His entry at the end of the fight shows him to be the leading and prevailing antagonist. 

Two spaceships are the setting for where the scenes are unfolding. The rebels are all equipped with helmets, grey uniforms and they also all hold small pistols. The Imperial Storm troopers sport immaculate, futuristic white body suits. The interior of the rebel ship is exclusively white and grey. Darth Vader is wearing an all black body suit that looks like a customized storm trooper uniform, with a cape.

Having the location of space would have stunned audiences of the time; also it demonstrates that the film is set a long way in the future. The rebel uniforms appear far inferior to the storm troopers full body suits. Moreover, the small rebel guns look insufficient in comparison to the futuristic storm trooper equipment.

The establishing shot of the opening sequence is an extreme long shot of the planes of space. Other shots from distance of the chase follow. The heavy use of medium and long shots in the ship are used to get the audience a clear view of the events occurring in the fight. Long and extreme long shots are prominently used to show the scale of space. This would have thrilled audiences of the time who wouldn't have seen such ambitious special FX.

The setting of space was exciting, and interested people in 1977. People caught word of the groundbreaking special effects and enthralling story and the film soon spread across the world. The films were particularly popular with young males due in part to the plucky male protagonist (Luke Skywalker) who would rise from humble beginnings to save the day. Furthermore, the action and science fiction elements interested young people. Star Wars quickly became and has ever since remained a bona-fide pop culture phenomenon.