Starwars is thee most successful sci-fi films of all time. The first film ‘A new hope’ came out in 1977. Produced with a budget of $11 million it made a $460 million in the United States and $337 million overseas. Sci-fi films seem to give away their genre very early on, during their opening.
The text that comes up within the first few seconds tells us its sci-fi ‘A long time ago in a galaxy far away’ tells us its about space and different universes. Even the title ‘Starwars’ tells us that this film is based around battles up in space. More lines within the first twenty seconds give more hints of the sci-fi storyline ‘It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base,’ The word spaceships clearly shows us that this is sci-fi. Within the first two minutes more visual information feeds us this is sci-fi such as the location being in space, planets also help show this. There are huge white (white connoting futuristic) spacships, shooting red lasers out of a cannon also highlights that this is a sci-fi genre of film. This is the first Starwars film so the bold iconic music is not yet recognisable, however, it is loud, dramatic and made by a orchestra and it flows and mixes with the visual elements of the movie perfectly.
‘Superbad’ is a great example of a comedy opening. Comedies are suppose to make you laugh and happy and they are never supposed to take themselves too seriously. The music is fun and upbeat connoting straight away this is a cool, happy film. The bright colours of the background and the people seen on screen also connote this is a happy fun film. The dancing is awful which suggests the characters in the film don’t take themselves too seriously; it’s funny making it apparent it’s a comedy. The two characters on screen are obviously close friends shown by them dancing foolishly together. This is all apparent within ten seconds of the film. The enigma code already suggests that the two characters are best friends and that they are young and reckless, not only shown by their looks but also through their dancing.
Horror films seem to have several different types of openings.The horror films that seem to be the best are the ones based on true events such as ‘The Strangers’ and ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ (2003). Both of these have the similar openings which include a speech about the events of the true story and shows brief video clips of the locations of the movie. ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ however also has pictures and a video clip which state they are from the original crime scene (it’s arguable that they may not be the original evidence).
The opening of ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ begins with 'The film you are about to see is an account of a tragedy which befell a group of five youths’. The word tragedy already suggests that there is death included during the film. The wording is chilling making it apparent early on this is a horror. Other lines such as ‘an appealing summers afternoon becomes a nightmare’ also tells the audience this is a scary film.
Many images of ‘real’ evidence were also shown on screen which varied from bones, ripped shoes, finger nails and the chainsaw. Also, an establishing shot of the house was shown and it made it apparent this house was in the middle of nowhere already telling the audience the five youths won't find help. After one minute and fifty five seconds the title appeared underneath the date August 20th 1973 feeding the viewer the historical period.
But the ‘real’ footage of the police tells us the most information about the film. It shows scratch marks running down the stairs showing some signs of struggles and touchier. He says ‘we’re now entering the Hewitt residences furnace room' telling the audience that the murder took place at the ‘Hewitt’ residence and that the furnace room will play a key role. Like 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’, other horror films that are based on true events also use the enigma code. The clip after less than two minutes feeds the audience information regarding the location, historical period, the number of characters that are traumatised and their ages. This already sets the mood and allows the viewer to know the information that the teens are doomed before they do, creating dramatic irony.
The thing that separates most action films openings from others is the fact it usually jumps straight into the action then seems to calm down. This is used so the viewer is already buzzed and excited for the film from a very early stage. The film ‘The Watchmen’ (2009) is a great example of this.
The scene very early on shows several slow motion moments which include the door breaking and the throwing the glass. Within several seconds you see the presumed protagonist look at the gun connoting violence and death. The gun signifies this is an action movie. It has fast paced fighting mixed with slow motion which gets your heart pumping from the start. The house gets destroyed during the fight; the destruction also creates an exciting atmosphere. The blood connotes violence, sugessting a film that is not suitable for children. The smiley face shows the audience the brawlers' may have logos or a humourous side to death, showing they are comfortable around death showing that the brawlers are tough. The blood that drips onto the presumed logo becomes the easily recognisable icon for the film. The diegetic music in the background from the television is brilliant as the music itself is juxtaposition to the violence, however the lyrics fits with the character. The music is soothing and calm which helps to highlight the action and violence. The lyrics say ‘unforgettable’ and if you watch the film the man is a famous hero. All these features are part of an enigma code to make you ask why this man died? Who killed him? And finally, showing you this is an action film.
It’s 09/02/2011 and all three recreations of the chosen film openings have been created.
'The Strangers' and 'Vertigo' were both simple to edit. With no transitions, apart from several fade to blacks, they took less than two hours to achieve. However, despite how simply both of them were they are still off their estimated predicted time by a second or two. The same thing also occured on 'Juno', making me ask what did we do wrong; my simple conclusion is due to the transitions lapping over shots we miscalculated by several seconds. The Strangers also included a voiceover that reads the sentences shown on the screen. Our group did this with no problem as we did it all in one recording that lasted nearly a minute. However, speaking to other groups I discovered that they tried doing a separate voiceover for each sentence that seemed to end up in hard work as the voiceover would often carry on or cut short from the sentences on screen.
Juno was hard to edit and time consuming. Throughout the clip, two shots would happen in one frame (eg. crab in background tracking up front). This left us thinking outside the box and splitting scenes in two, halving their shot time so we can still fit both in, however, they now have their own shots. Juno also had names appear in separate, unique ways compared to other openings which caused us to experiment with what iMovie fonts fitted best with the one from the original opening. Often, the names would appear in the top or bottom corners of Juno however you can’t just do this by a touch of a button. Instead, we had to hold the spacebar button down until it reached where the text should be located; this too was time consuming. Also we used a drawn background in several shots and this showed parts of the whiteboard we stuck it to, so many shots had to be cropped during editing so that the opening seemed to be filmed perfectly with the size of the background.
Today we filmed 'Vertigo'. It was simple to do we just found a dark room and did it in one shot (though it took several attempts). We then spent roughly thirty minutes starting our editing. We choose ‘Juno’ first as it has the most cuts and transitions and will be the most time consuming. Despite having the shot list we seem to be off by half or a whole second within each scene however using iMovie we are slowing down various shots by a second or less making up for the lost time.
This is my groups shot list for the first minute of 'The Strangers'. Like 'Juno' my task was also to create this shot list. This was much simpler than 'Juno' as it had simple shots (not two at once) and during the first minute most the screen was black with a bit of writing.
This is my groups shot list of the first opening minute of 'Juno'. I was the one who created the shot list and i found doing it vary simple and easy. However, some shots in Juno cross over one another leading me to get confused what to write. This confusion can negatively impact our editing process as we can debate some shots when it should be simple. To overcome this problem during our editing we watched Juno again for those bits we debated and all came to the simplest logical choices to dealing with the problem, as doing two shots at once on iMovie is near impossible.
We were set the task to pick three out of nine film openings and to recreate them.
For a comedy opening,we chose ‘Juno’ instead of ’50 first dates’ and ‘Superbad’. ‘Superbad’ would have been too hard to recreate using iMovie though it was our favourite choice. '50 first dates’ was just far too easy, we want to be challenged in filming and editing. ‘Juno’ seemed the obvious pick however the background of the opening is a black and white cartoon. We can’t create that using iMovie so we drew the background ourselves on A3 sheets of paper and used Barbie dolls as the actors. This worked surprisingly well. We did the filming for ‘Juno’ today and it took around an hour. We stuck the A3 sheets to a white board and someone would hold Barbie (their hand out of view). This seemed to work well however we won’t know how effective it is until we edit.
For a horror opening we choose ‘The Strangers’ instead of ‘Halloween’ and ‘Se7en’. All of these were rather simple to create however ‘The Strangers’ had a lot of editing parts behind the opening though it’s basic. So we could show our potential of editing with iMovie, we choose to do ‘The Strangers’. We filmed the houses for ‘The Strangers’ today also. The first fifty seconds of the opening is all done in editing the last ten seconds is split into 4 seconds and 6 seconds filming two separate homes. We found houses that were not connected to others to film so it could look like the stereotypical American homes.
For a thriller opening we choose ‘Vertigo’ instead of ‘Memento’ and ‘The Shinning’. ‘The Shinning’ opening is just a car driving through the mountains. It's dull and boring so we quickly ruled it out despite having planned how we would create it. ‘Memento’ is all filmed backwards and quickly caught my attention as a good opening. It’s interesting that the directors name comes up first instead of last this is used because the film starts from the end and travels to the beginning. The reason we didn’t choose to do this opening was just due to the fact ‘Vertigo’ stood out. ‘Vertigo’ allows us to show some of our camera potential as it includes close ups, tilts and panning.
In 1924, around roughly the same time 'Universal Studios' globe began to spin, 'Leo' the lion became the mascot and the iconic figure for 'MGM'. This was the key moment were logos no longer just simple pictures but instead had very brief animation or recordings.
In 1935, '20th Century Fox' expanded from the animated globe of 'Universal Studios' and made a cool animated logo for itself. The flash lights are the thing that stood out for me as they were never seen before. Also, the music played a key role of building tension for the films they produced. Both the visuals and music from this logo lead on to much better modern logos.
The 'Paramount' logo from 1952 shows the first brief version of animation added into the logo. It was a basic fade in and out of the picture to suit the way in which films become slightly more complicated.
The 1968 version of the logo clearly shows more use of animation. Though simple today the moving background highlights the way in which animation has changed for not just logos but also for films.
During 1976, all logos apart from 'Universal's Globe' included some form of CGI but, by the 1980s, many industries chose to stick to its original routes shown by 'Warner Brothers' iconic shield.
During 1987, 'Paramount' created an iconic futuristic logo using CGI. The use of CGI influenced the concept for other industries to adopt their own logos. This is the first of the 'Paramount' logos that further its use of music.
For 'Universal Studio's' 75th anniversary they released this breath taking logo. This seems to be the key point for logos to start making films seem out of this world. Not just shown by its visual effects but also by its now iconic music. This logo also sets the atmosphere up for the film before it has even begun.
The 2002 'Paramount' logo is a great example of how the modern logos don't just advertise the industry it's representing but also how it sets the atmosphere for the film up with great sounds effects and amazing visuals. The visual effects are awesome and really help set the mood for the film. Your eyes are drawn to the screen before the film even begins; a great technique to intrigue your viewer.
Just like 'Universal Studios' and 'Paramount', most mainstream industries today have amazing logos setting the atmosphere up before the film has begun using both visual and aural elements. If you watch just the first minute of this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJBVvKB1RI0 it shows how '20th Century Fox' has evolved and is another great example of logo development.
The new strand of logos seems to have one thing in common for big films: they fit the logo to match the setting of the film. Harry Potter's openings always have the iconic 'Warner Bros' shield fit to match the films setting. Other films also adopt this new craze, especially 'Dream Works' doing it with nearly every one of their animated films in a humorous way. Madagascar 2 (2008) clearly highlights this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVa41tRBpt8 (sorry I couldn’t find this in English).
'Pixar', the masters of animation, also have taken their logo to fit that of the film shown in this clip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpQucD29Ydo&NR=1 from 'WALL-E' (2008). I personally feel that this bringing the logo to the film is going to be the near future for the film industries.
(I apologise for the video cutting short however it was the only opening i could find.)
The opening holds no characters or any moving video clips which makes it far more questionable and confusing for the viewer. However, the dullness and creepy of setting and the music suggest it’s a horror film from first glimmers. The storyline is unclear of this film but it is an open narrative. However, the enigma code suggests part of the plot to the audience such as the setting of the laboratory connoting experimentation; you could even argue the setting of the laboratory is a flashback making it a fractured narrative. This fits with the title ‘Edward Scissorhands’ as we are aware people do not have scissor hands. The themes of the piece seem to be a child’s horror and a fairytale type story.
The title itself appears on screen in a scriblled style with the top line ‘EDWARD’ and the bottom ‘SCISSORHANDS’ forming the shape of scissors and slowly open like scissors. This helps highlight the title of the film. The title also suggests there is a character called ‘Edward’ and also suggests he has scissors for hands. To emphasise he has scissors for hands, two images flash up; one being scissors the other being a pair of hands attached to no body.The non-diegetic music chimes like a baby dial up music box. This is very creepy and old fashioned helping to mould the atmosphere of chilling fear.
Notice the opening has no actual video clips, instead the images and ways words are written is the clues of what to come. All is clear from the opening is that this film is strange, spooky and most likely includes a character named Edward who has scissor type hands. This keeps the audience asking questions about the movie and sets the mood needed for the movie. ‘Tim Burton’, the director of this movie, often opens films in this manner (such as ‘Sweeny Todd’) and each time it gives you a slight taste of the movie and character.
This is one if not the most simple movie openings I have ever seen. It just consists of eight men walking down a street towards a road. This was effective though as it makes the audience want to know more. And despite it being very short and simple you still gather a large amount and understanding of the film.
The genre is not necessarily clear in the opening, however if I had to pick I would go with thriller. The open narrative uses the enigma code to feed the audience information which suggests that there is about to be trouble (action codes help advance the narrative because the audience knows something is going to happen) shown by the intimidating men all dressed like gangsters with suits, sun glasses, gold chains and a very troublesome walk. Also, the men are not individuals but instead seen to be in a group making them appear even more troublesome to the viewer. The way they walk and look suggests the theme to this movie is gangster/crime related. The setting is obviously an urban city as well, the fact they come from a small alley way into the big street may connote the small alley way to be their underground empire and now they are being released to the world.
No details are told about the characters. However, the actor’s names flash up once the character is seen on screen letting the audience know who plays who. All characters appear to be gangsters apart from the actor ‘Chris Penn’ who wears the blue shirt. The blue shirt may suggest he is a ‘fake’ gangster or possibly a bit of a ladies man.All other men who wear the suits are seen to be tough, hard, troublesome and dangerous. The music in the background is fun, cool and relaxing which juxtaposes the image on screen, looking dangerous and threatening. Both the images on screen and the fun music helps create two opposite atmospheres; one being serious and the other being fun. This works well as it keeps the audience keen into finding out what is coming up in the movie. Finally, the men are all seen from the back in the distance and the word ‘are’ appears and is shortly followed by ‘Reservoir Dogs’letting the audience know all these characters are important as there all linked to the title.
Napoleon Dynamite was released in 2004. Its opening sequence suits the genre, black comedy, which can be recognised by a few signifiers. When you see the card that says ‘Staring John Heder’ with a logo of an alien you can quickly connote the character John Heder will play is a nerd. To further this idea, the next card reveals Heder's character's name as ‘Napoleon Dynamite’ with an image of the geek. He is dramatic, over-the-top and stereotypically true to film as being a geek. Listening to the lyrics of the calm, country song ‘I can tell that we’re going to be friends’ is the final hint that can connote this is a black comedy as the audience laughs at something that in society is not usually laughable.
The song lyrics also mention going back to school which coincides with the school card that features the image of Napoleon. This establishes the high school location of the movie, which as a result reveals the character's age. The song's tone also helped set the relaxed, calm and considerably dull atmosphere which fits with the character of Napoleon as he is all these features. The character also has an active side which can be connoted with few props from the opening sequence such as the ninja star which is thrown. The narrative of the film is open though thanks to the song lyrics ‘I can tell that we’re going to be friends’. The audience gets the sense that Napoleon is going to make a friend and perhaps this is the end of the film creating a closed narrative. It is questionable. The theme is also obvious to be surrounding school life and due to Napoleon's appearance you can consider one theme to be bullying.
Also as a further note the opening was very original and possibly could be mistaken as an amateur opening. Not because it was bad as it was brilliant but due to its simplicity and low budget needed. This sort of opening interests me and I will ask this to be consider during our planning period of our own opening.
Tim Burton- His early film career was fueled by almost unbelievable good luck, but it's his talent and originality that have kept him at the top of the Hollywood tree. Tim Burton began drawing at an early age, going on to attend the California Institute of the Arts with other famous media names such as John Lasseter the founder of Pixar and director to many of their films. Tim Burton was awarded an apprentership from Disney, for whom he went on to work. He is known for his gothic, gory and original films. He has a unquie way of begining his films with openings that just feed the auidence parts of an enigma code but still leaving them clueless.
This is Tim Burton's 'Sweeney Todd' realised during 2007. As you can see it is very gothic a favoured styled choice of the director. He uses a very confusing enigma code to keep the audience engaged during the usually boring opening sequence. You know the over the top exaggeration of blood connotes that many deaths will appear throughout the film. Also you see a trapdoor open leading to a machine that moshes meat leading the viewer to presume the victims of murder get grinded up. The next part of the clip shows some pies being cooked leading the viewer to conclude the victims get baked and eaten being the ingredient of the delicious looking pie. Notice the very dramatic non-diegetic use of music, another favoured choice from the director as it builds up a tense atmosphere. Tim Burton also always informs the audience of the location through every animated opening he's done, though not easily noticed this is set in the historical period of 18th century connoted by the old town at the start of the opening and the old sewage system.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62TEljaPzo0
(sorry this video could not be embeded)
This is Tim Burton's 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' realised during 2005. The music is creepy and gothic but with a childish feel that makes the factory seem scary; almost creating a children’s horror. Though the title itself tells the viewer about the narrative of the film Tim uses an enigma code that shows this chocolate factory is special, shown through visual elements. The dark gloomy background creates an atmosphere of mystery. Like Sweeney Todd with his over the top use of blood this film uses an over the top use of chocolate manufacturing. At first the chocolate seems to be manufactured in the normal manner. However, things start getting more crazy as it flips around, shoots in the air and even floats on a Para shoot from the sky. The music suddenly calms as you see five 'Golden Tickets' places on five separate bars. This enigma code feeds the audience more information about the narrative yet you still don’t know how these tickets are related to the film. However in smaller writing under the text 'Golden Ticket' you see 'FEB 1 10.AM (SHARP) FRONT GATES' and above the text 'WONKA' written in signature font. This tells the audience that these are invites from the presumed owner of the chocolate factory; his name being Wonka. The gold also connotes these are obviously very important and high value invites. You then see the chocolate bars stashed in boxes and stickers of their locations are placed on the boxes outside. Do these stickers tell us the film is based in 'London', 'New York', 'Cairo' and 'Tokyo'? or are these stickers not location of the film but instead a well fed enigma code that shows Mr Wonkas bars are sold all over the world? The clip ends with Wonka's vans leaving the factory. This opening sets the story up that there are hidden tickets in the world for a very important price. Once again Tim Burton tells the audience a lot about the narrative of the film but in such a subtle way they don’t actual realise.
Tim Burton favours dark, gothic type visual elements of animation. And creepy dramatic music. Most of his films start in these animated ways giving him extra respect and uniqueness around the film industry world.
The trailer clearly shows the film to be that of an action movie shown by all the action sequences within the trailer possibly with the sub genre of love shown with ‘Bond’ compassion for the woman. The opening suggests that the genre is action shown by all the animated fighting and shoot outs.
Narrative
The trailer is an open narrative telling us the whole plot of the film but still hiding the ending. Firstly it tells us that it is James Bond's first mission highlighted by dialogue. It tells us how the antagonist is a villain by revealing he finances terrorist organisations. It also tells us that ‘Bond’ has been hired by the US government to play in a poker match and to win causing the villain to lose all his money. It then goes on to reveal that his girl also gets kidnapped by the villain. All this information is given through the enigma code hiding the ending of the film but revealing the rest; it shows all this by using many fade to blacks showing time passing. The narrative is much more obviously open than in the trailer, it still uses the enigma code however but in a less obvious way. All you can be certain of is that the film is based around gambling suggested by the playing cards in the background and spades, clubs, diamonds and hearts in a card deck being shot out a gun into people. The gun itself connotes violence as does the fight scenes. Notice how little is given away with the enigma code compared to the trailer.
Theme
The trailer clearly shows there is a theme of death shown by many violent images on screen and also dialogue once again. It also suggests that there may be love shown by the hugging the girl in the shower obviously comforting her. And finally gambling seems to play a key theme in the film epecially poker, this is also suggested by the title as well as the dialogue speaking of it and also the clips of gambolling. This is the same as the narrative and for the same reasons. The opening does not suggest the theme of love like the trailer does but instead only gambling and violence (but not necessary death as you are not certain if you see anyone die or just get wounded).
Sound
Sound seems to be the biggest tell tale signs of the plot. Many dialogue sections use both diegetic and non-diegetic quotes that are key to telling the audience the plot. Such as ‘does it bother you killing those people?’ ‘If it did I wouldn’t be very good at my job’ this shows us there is death. When images of the woman trapped in water appear you hear non - diegetic dialogue of ‘you took everything from me’ suggesting that there is a girl involved and love. The whole way through the clip you hear the iconic ‘James Bond’ music letting the viewer know straight away what movie this is. The traditional ‘James Bond’ song is not present for the opening but instead replaced with a rock type song with lyrics ‘if you take a life do you know what you give’ suggesting that a life may be taken but once again not proving that it is incorporated in the film. Also it is asking a question and sounds like it is asking it to someone who has never taken a life what fits with this being ‘Bond’ first ever mission and therefore death.
Character
The trailer shows us there is at least three main characters and tells us about each one. ‘James Bond’ is clearly the protagonist shown by him working for the government as well as trying to stop the antagonist. He is obviously very brave, strong and confident all shown by the furious action sequences, his ways around the ladies and the poker game. He is also very arogant shown with the dialogue line from the female ‘sidekick’ ‘I will be keeping an eye on the governments money and you perfectly formed ass.’ ‘So you noticed’ this section also shows the audience she is attracted to him. She is also seen to be the damsel in distress as it is ‘Bond’ who comforts her in the shower scene and also has to save her. Finally, there is an obvious antagonist with scars on his face. The scars allow the man to stand out and easily by notified as the villain. He wears black in all scenes and dialogue allows you to know he works with terrorists. The opening only suggests one main character. A man who is seen in a black suit and a white shirt fighting many plain coloured figures. This suggests that this man is the main character. At the end of the clip the animated man steps closer to the camera revealing the real life face of ‘Daniel Craig’ letting the audience know he is the star of the film and telling them that he will be in fights when outnumbered.
Atmosphere
The trailer makes the whole film just seem link one big rollercoaster ride of shoot outs, car chases and violence. The atmosphere can only be described as an adrenaline junkies playground. The opening has a tension building atmosphere made by the animation fight sequences, music and the waiting to see real people in the film and to find out what the plot is; a great way to keep your audience intrigued with the film.
Setting
The setting doesn’t seem to be in any focused place. However the trailer suggests that the film is based around several hot countries shown by golden beaches, light blue oceans and summer clothing. It also tells the audience that a casino is definitely involved. The animation is set in front of plain coloured backgrounds. However the deck of cards and the fact cards symbols are shot from guns suggests gambling is involved with the film leading the audience to believe a casino is the main if not only setting of the film.
Title
The title is in bold capitals saying ‘CASINO ROYALE’ then the ‘o’ from each word form together as the other words vanish making a ‘00’ followed by a ‘7’ creating the iconic and easily recognisable name of ‘007’. The title ‘CASINO ROYALE’ fades away quickly this time and does not look as glamorous as the trailer. It also doesn’t turn into ‘007’ like in the trailer. This could be due to the fact that because you’re already watching it you don’t need to know the title as you should be aware of it, or may due to the fact they want to start the film as swiftly as possible not making the audience become bored. My guess would be the first one due to the fact your already watching therefore you attention or no convincing needs to take place.
The main point I hope these notes gave off is that trailers and openings are very different. Trailers tell the whole or most of the film's story and let you know exactly what’s in it. They try to catch your attention and make you a potential consumer. Openings however just give you hints or clues to the audience what is expected from the film.
The first thing I noticed was the painted clouds and sun in the sky. When ‘Monty Python's’ name appears floating on a cloud, it is apparent this is an old movie due to the animation. However, like today it still shows that this is going to be a fun, humourous film shown by the name flashing multiple colours. Then in bold capital letters, the title appears ‘LIFE OF BRIAN’ each word placed under the last floating word into the sky. Then the ‘B’ from ‘Brian’ falls out of place knocking a man off a cloud and he descends to earth. This connotes that possible themes of the film may be linked to religion and heaven as a man falling from the heavens is assumed to be holy. The names of the cast and crew subtly appear such as being carved into stone; this allows the viewer not to be distracted from the action on screen allowing the opening more time to create the desired atmosphere intended.
The statues on screen link with ancient Greek culture or ancient Roman culture showing the setting of the film is in ancient Greece or Rome. There are many enigma code signals that suggest the genre is comedy. For example, the man falling of the cloud at the beginning of the opening to the woman getting burnt by the sun as she floated at the end are both comical connoting this film is a comedy. The music suggests the film is about a man called Brian; the title suggests this also.
Brian, the babe they called Brian,
he grew, he grew, and grew,
grew up to be, grew up to be,
a boy called Brian. A boy called Brian,
he had arms, and legs, and hands, and feet,
the boy, whose name was Brian.
And he grew, he grew, grew, and grew,
grew up to be, yes, he grew up to be,
yes, his name was Brian, a teenager called Brian.
And his face became spotty, yes, his face became spotty,
and his voice dropped down low,
and things started to grow, on young Brian and so,
he was certainly no, no girl named Brian,
not a girl named Brian.
And he started to shave, and have one of the wrist,
and want to see girls, and go out and get pissed,
a man called Brian, this man called Brian,
the man they called Brian, this man called
Briaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa...
Notice the lyrics are comical also connoting this is a comedy film. However, all this does for the narrative using an enigma code is tell the audience Brian is now a fully grown man and this is where the story begins.
This type of opening is similar to a lot of films made roughly 30 years ago, including those of different genres. ‘Greece’ (1978) uses the same type of comical animation for its film opening and also gives little information about the characters or narrative of the film. This shows how history has changed the methods of film openings.
After remaking this film opening shown on our group blog I can see how it isn’t a conventional comedy opening but instead that of a black comedy opening. The difference between these two genre types of comedies as an overall is that black comedy involves things that you wouldn't normally laugh, such as how Juno deals with her pregnancy. The way they're different for openings is that the Juno opening isn’t funny and it doesn’t try to be. It sets the atmosphere up to be mature which makes the humor in the film all that more inappropriate and funny.
The title alone introduces you to the main characters name. However, during all but one short section of the opening Juno is in the frame and is seen alone. This enigma code feeds the audience information that Juno is not popular but instead a loner in life. The whole setting of the opening is in an urban suburb environment denoting obviously to the audience that the film is located in a suburban area.The music is soothing and not the traditional music chosen for comedy films; this also separates black comedy from normal comedy genres.
Juno is still skinny during the opening so it isn’t apparent yet that she is pregnant. This makes it seem like the theme and narrative of the film is about teenage life and troubles. The reason I conclude troubles is because Juno is seen as a loner through a visual enigma code. Like most modern day comedy films, is not the only things in the frame instead of having its own shot like ‘Life of Brain’ has and in other old comedy films.The way the names appear also isn’t as subtle as Life of Brian this is so they're bolder and noticed by the audience but not so over the top that the audience gets distracted from Juno on screen.
This is a total contrast of ‘Catch me if you can’ but it still achieves the same goal of giving the viewer a taster of the film's storyline. The genre is a romantic girls film, obvious by nearly every aspect of the sequence. The narrative could be argued to be open or closed. The lines like ‘you will be his’ suggests that the film may be a closed narrative showing both the start (being the wedding or engagement) and end (finally being his). This is called conventional narrative, however is it much more likely something may go wrong suggested by the enigma code making the opening an open narrative. The enigma code suggests something may go wrong by the lyrics from the song ‘Kiss him and squeeze him…..wishin' and hopin'….show him you care.’ These lines also suggest to the viewer that the film is about love and men showing that this is definitely a romantic film if it wasn’t apparent enough by the title. The three friends in the back at all times also suggests that it’s a about friendship. The fact that bride catches her own bouquet also suggests that something may go wrong.
It is apparent who the main character is as she is always centre of the frame in a wedding dress as the other friends are just in bridesmaids outfits. The audience can presume there is also a groom in this film. The atmosphere is very feminine and also happy and cheerful and feels like its set in the 1950-60’s due to the style of the dress and song. The themes are apparent from not just the song, but also what you visualise. The themes are love obvious by the dress and cuddly dances, as well as the lyrics; men are also obvious by the song lyrics and friendship is apparent by the friends in the background. Also, the opening is set in a pink studio which is almost mocking the movie, showing it doesn’t take itself too seriously. Finally, the titles are written in a wedding invitation style font almost asking the audience to join them in an adventure.
The Watchmen (2009) is about a group of superheroes, all do not have super powers but still fight crime. The opening stands out as being great. The first snippet of this opening shows a man grabbing a crook who has a gun, connoting straight away this is an action film. Many of the clips are odd, out of place suggesting possibly hybrid genre of thriller or mystery. Also there could be a sub genre of sci-fi connoted by the blue glowing man shaking the president’s hand. The narrative is open and the titles clearly suggest things are changing for the heroes shown by not just visual elements but also the lyrics from the song ‘the times are now changing’. The clips however feed the audience hints for the films themes from an enigma code. War is definitely included in the film apparent from all the scenes of war and the effects back home. Poverty, corruption and protest could be argued from the small ginger boy looking afraid or the hippies who place a flower in a gun barrel of the National Guard to be shot upon. The Buddhist who set himself on fire in protest during the Vietnam War or the president being shot, all these suggest poverty, corruption and protest. The fact all these famous historical events happened on separate years makes it hard to pin point when this film is set. However, the ending seems to be relatively modern suggesting that the film is set in the present.
Most the clips are set in urban environments also suggesting that this film is set in the cites, also all the clips from true historical events are American showing the film is set within America. The music catches you of guard at first as you don’t expect chillwave music (also called 'Texas music') to be with an action film opening. However, once you start acknowledging the lyrics ‘the times are now changing’ suggests things are changing from perfect shown by smiles at the start of the clip. The happy music juxtapositions the titles towards the end not with its lyrics but with its calm relaxing atmosphere as the images progressively become more violent. The names of the crew and cast come up in big bold yellow font in a comic book type way (superheroes being related to comic books) within each snippet catching the viewer’s eye but not distracting him from the important images on screen.
‘Catch me if you can’ has a great opening to a film; it’s fresh, interesting and sets the audience up for the movie. The opening gives the audience tonnes of information about the film (in actually fact it tells the whole story) but the animation helps keeps this information clouded letting the audience question what they have just witnessed.
The opening suggests that this film has hybrid genres consisting of thriller and mystery. This is shown through enigma code what tells us there is a chase by the constant running and chasing in the cartoon and also by the title.This chase adds tension to the audience making it a thriller. The disguises worn by ‘Leonardo Dicaprio’ lets you question the motive of wearing disguises showing that it is a mystery, also the chase itself and the titles let you question what is ‘Leonardo Dicaprio’ running from? However you've never seen ‘Leonardo Dicaprio’ escape or get captured leaving the narrative open.
The reason I know it's ‘Leonardo Dicaprio’ is because arrows point at the cartoon characters when the actors name comes up implying this cartoon character represents them. ‘Leonardo Dicaprio’ character is always seen to be one step ahead of ‘Tom Hanks’ what suggests he is just that much smarter and also that he is the one being chased. He often wears different outfits/disguises implying that he is a confident impressionist and also that he is the one hiding from ‘Tom Hanks’ who wears only one outfit.That fact ‘Tom Hanks’ is usually only a second behind ‘Leonardo Dicaprio’ last position also suggests that ‘Tom Hanks’ is always so close but never quite good enough.
The music seems to be 1960’s and is fast pace most of the sequence. It is retro and upbeat. The music fits the animation brilliantly adding the atmospheric feel of suspense and fast pace. The music also has sneaky sections to it much softer than the rest of the piece this helps show the theme of sneakiness alongside the sneaky animated ‘Leonardo Dicaprio’. This sequence also suggests other themes such as imitating shown by all the disguises; brains/smarts shown by the clever imitating and ‘Leonardo Dicaprio’ always being one step ahead and possibly wealth shown by the big mansion with woman beside an orange swimming pool. The mansion is one suggested setting of the film shown through this sequence. It also suggests that there is a hospital and airport. Also it suggests the film is based in America shown by the national identifiable yellow taxi.
Laurent Kelly says that the importance of film openings "is to establish a tone so that the audience fall into the same mood as the film they are watching. It doesn’t have to be a big budget explosive opening in order to grab the audience’s attention."
Another annonymous source says "A good opening title sequence sets the tone of a film and serves to establish rhythm and pacing. Yes, yes, it’s never good to judge a book by its cover, but who can resist the urge?"
Both these sources make it clear what we must set out to achive for our opening. We must 'establish a tone', however, if we fail to do this our film won't be watched as the film is judged by its opening.
