I’ve decided on the jump cut from the film Stanley’s Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey released in 1968. The opening jump cut depicts an event several million years prior where monkeys first encounter the film’s MacGuffin, the Black Monolith. One of the monkeys is holding  a bone, the camera cuts to the bone being thrown in the sky and back down to the monkeys and and again into the sky and the monkey’s hands. He uses it to beat another monkey already knocked on the ground in submission, symbolizing his position as the victor. This portrays the beginning of evolution from caveman intellect to learning the use of weapons and hunting for survival. The film than cuts to a a satellite orbiting the earth upon ascending from the rising sun and descending back down. The impact of this specific scene describes the basis of evolution taking place and how the Black Monolith is instrumental in the advancement of Earth’s evolution from the prehistoric time to the modern day future. It is widely regarded as one of the most memorable match/jump cuts in cinema history. The film itself is a personal favorite and an adaptation of a 4 part novel series set which expands decades.

Below you shall find the link.

One of my most favorite film opening scenes is that of the superhero film genre from X-Men: Days of Future past based off the famous comic super hero team of the same name. The opening scene depicts the mutants and the story’s main characters in a war-torn future where they are hunted down by sentient robots known as Sentinels. Their purpose is to hunt, capture and/or kill the mutants and X-Men alike. What I came to love most about this scene was how it it opens up using the time frame of the X-Men characters of the original trilogy( Hugh Jackman/Wolverine, Hallie Berry/Storm, Patrick Stewart/Professor Xavier, Shawn Ashemore/Ice Man) in an apocalyptic setting as opposed to different characters playing their parts.

This entry in the film series adapts the comic’s 1981 story line by combining the main cast’s younger and older selves together to deliver a powerful ensemble of strong acting and story telling making it the most iconic installment in the series. It was a dual sequel that later acted as a retroactive continuity piece rather that outright completely reboot the franchise as a whole. This film is among one of the final times the original cast would reprise their roles as X-Men.