At the start of the film, five subtitles come up. The subtitles in order are ‘Twentieth century Fox’, ‘A centropolis entertainment production’, ‘ presents’, ‘Independence Day’, ‘July 2’. The font of the metallic capital lettering is stencil and in bold with a shadow. The top of the letters are on a black background so the audience attention is on the lettering. The subtitles only stayed for a brief period of time. Then the words in the middle of the screen, all the lines except the middle line disappears and then the text left shatters and float off towards the centre of the screen as if it was coming towards the viewer, this is to show a lack of gravity. This would also show a sense of mystery in to the film. While this is happening the sound effects are like thunder crashing on the ground, a small earthquake, gun shots or docking of two space ships. As one set of letters fades then next forms for the words appearing in the middle of the screen. Then there is a 2-second wipe shot, which is a blank white screen. This separates the credits to the movie. The director planed the film to start this way because it produces a sense of mystery in the film. This is effective because with this sense of mystery the audience would want to watch more of the film.
At the start of the scene the American flag appears in black and white on the moon. This flag is supposedly that Neil Armstrong had put on the moon. Then as it pans back from the flag colour gradually appear in the scene also the stars starts to appear in the black sky. As the camera pans back from the flag, then a plaque comes from the bottom of the screen. A lunar module is near the plaque comes in sight just after the plaque was shown. This is supposed to represent how the moon was at that period of time. The moon is dry and empty with no wind. This gives the audience a sense of peace and also gives the audience a hint that something is happening. While this is happening patriotic American music is playing. Which is a non-ambient sound in the film.
The camera starts to zoom in towards the plaque and Neil Armstrong starts to read the plaque over the radio. The plaque consists of a picture of the earth by two sides to show the whole of the earth in a flat picture and then quote which is ‘Here men from the planet earth first set foot upon the moon July 1969 AD. At the bottom of the plaque the names of the crew who went Apollo 11 to the moon and their signatures. The plaque was commemorating Americans landing on the moon in 1969. This also to shows the achievements of the human race but particularly the Americans.
After that scene, foot prints which was made by Neil Armstrong starts to vibrates which represents the first time the sand is moving since 1969. This indicates that trouble is about to happen and also a rumbling noise starts. The scene changes again in to a long shot view where a shadow starts to cover the ground in the distance, which comes towards to where the camera is. Then the camera turns around and pans toward the earth, then the shadow comes over head and leads away from the camera. This is suppose to represent that something big is coming towards the earth Which then puts a bit of mystery in to the beginning of the film. This is because the audience wants to know what is making the shadow that covers the landscape, which the camera shows. Which is the exact position that the director would want the audience to be like.
After that scene a medium shot of the earth in the distance and from overhead the audience can see the alien spacecraft .The audience have a visible view of the spacecraft for the first time. If the audience look closely enough, the audience can see small lights around the domes at the bottom of the spacecraft, which shows that the extraterrestrial is an advance race. The shot which the audience can see is an under shot which means that the shot was taken from underneath the spacecraft. The spacecraft also shows a contrast between the lunar module, which was on the moon and the huge powerful spacecraft. The director included this because it shows the audience what they would like to see and also puts in a sense of mystery again in to the film. Then there is another 2-second wipe.
The next scene is in Mexico, USA on the planet earth and there is a row of large radar dishes. It is in the early morning and then pop music goes on, the song that is played is called ‘The end of the world and I’m feeling fine’. This would indicate what could happen to the earth if nothing could have been done. Then a new scene comes up and the audience is in a technical lab underground, which is called the S.E.T.I, which stands for 'Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institution’. This tells the audience that the film is based in America. The young scientist, who is on night duty, is practising his golf shots. That show that the scientists are relaxed most of the time, which confuses the audience because the audience would expect them to be people who always work extremely hard. Also it shows that the scientists have been waiting a long time because nothing has happened.
But then an alarm goes off and a flashing red light turns on. This means that an alien signal is coming form space in the film. The young scientist gets excited when he sees the flashing red light. So he drops his golf club and runs to his radio and turns it off. Then the audience would then be able to here a noise, which is coming out of a speaker. This is supposedly a transmission form an extra-terrestrial alien race. So he rings the section commander to tell him about the new discovery which he has discovered.
A new scene starts where the section commander is in bed sleeping and when he hears the phone, he picks it up and says ‘ If this not a beautiful woman than I am hanging up’. This shows some humour that has just been introduced in to the film. The scene in the lab turns back and the young scientist who is in the lab says ‘Sir, listen to this’. He puts the phone speaking bit to the main speaker which gives us the sound of the spaceship earlier in the film. Then the scene where the section commander is in bed comes up again and he hits his head on the bottom of the top bed in the bunk bed. This also shows some more humorous moments in the film.
From watching the beginning of ‘Independence Day’, for the conclusion of the question, which is ‘How does the opening of the film show the genre of science fiction?’ I conclude that the film shows a lot of science fiction genre though out the beginning. The film starts with the subtitles which the style of the way in which they have done them has set the section at first. Then the film continues by making it patriotic with a sense of fear and mystery. Which is put into perspective when the alien spacecraft appears coming toward earth. In the lab in Mexico scene starts you can sense excitement, and adventure to come. The combine technology between the spacecraft produces a large aspect of science fiction in the film. You can see our past and the present to show the advancement of the technology since 1969 and the time the film was suppose to represent. It also puts earth in prospect to the alien spacecraft.