Legally Blonde Opening analysis Sequence up to 3:18
At the beginnning, there is a blur with the blonde hair telling the important producers,and important names to the creation of the film, and then comes the fluffy pink title, and then the montage after that shows that a lot is happening, almost like it's a all fabulous and perfect journey. There is pink font that can suggest the girly theme of the film. We can also tell that this is a girly film because of the colour of the font because it's pink. The show of mis en scene such as the hairbrush and the blonde hair can suggest the girlyness too. The colours used within the sequence are very happy and warm welcoming girly light colours, which goes well with the high-key lighting used. Everything is really bright and colourful, relating to the song and making the opening seem all perfect and upbeat. The close-up of the "president"on her object, tells us that she's staying at a sorority house, and that she has a very exciting and "perfect"life.
We are introduced to a positive opening because of the non-diagetic song that is used. It gives the opening a positive happy rhythm and the lyrics "perfect day" and "nothing can go wrong" can also suggest the positive atmosphere of the opening sequence. We can also get positive attitudes from the characters in the background and what is happening in the sequence. There are people playing on the grass and there is nothing negative happening, but we can also tell from the opening that bad things are going to occur later on for Elle, and gives us a sense that perhaps this relationship may come to an end, the amount of pink and girly trendy props used, give it away that the audience is probably teenage girls, or maybe even young girls. The pink gives connotations of girlyness, and is quite steryotypical.
Us as an audience are shown some important props, such as the letter with Elle written on it, the close up of this letter shows us that it's a Romantic comedy, as there are love hearts on it. The importance is shown with a close up of the object. Another object of importance is the picture of the man in the photograph. We know that he is important because the main character makes a gesture towards the picture which was her blowing a kiss and the camera slowly moves over to the photo and zooms slightly. This is done deliberately so that the audience knows who Elle likes most of all boys in this film so far, and tells us that Warner is her boyfriend. The close-up of the picture tells us that Elle has a very good looking, smart boyfriend, just like the typical drama, chick-fling queen in the ROM-COM genre.
Elle is the main character, and is dressed in pink, and owns many pink girly items. You can tell that she's the homecoming queen, because there is a close up of her banner, this relates to the lyrics in the song "i'm in a race but i've already won" implying that she's a typical lucky blonde that must always come first place. The shot where she puts on the necklace, and sprays the perfume onto her wrist tells us that she is a very elegant character, who appearence is a major priority.
When Elle is introduced to us in the opening sequence, the music stops. This can indicate the importance of the character because the music has stopped so we can hear what she has got to say. She is obviously the main character, who has popularity, and comes first as the two girls specially making sure that she receives her letter.
From what we are shown as an audience in the opening sequence, we know that the film genre is going to be romantic/rom com. Us as an audience knows this because of the conventions such as the pink text, the blow kiss Elle gives to the camera, the love heart that is shown on the card, the show of make-up and getting prepared for something such as a party where normally in romantic films, a woman finds a man or visa versa. Another thing that can suggest that it is a romantic film is the positive theme that we are given from the start to the end of the opening sequence.
During the opening sequence, there is not much editing that has been made to the sequence. There is a blur at the front where it shows the girls blonde hair,slow mo parts through out the sequence and editing on the pink text. Apart from that, there is not much editing that has been used on the sequence but I don't think that is necessarily required as it isn't really a action or horror sequence that can sometimes require a lot of editing.
Saturday night fever opening analysis all the way
This film focuses on the settings and location more than anything else. The main
character Tony's personality is shown through the wide variety of long shots, to close ups
of his facial expressions, while looking around the area. The montage at the start tells
us that he's going on some kind of journey, perhaps to work because of the paint used.
The mise-en-scene adds to the disco feel, and the fancy flashing red font at the start, making
it seem all disco like, and also tells us that it's perhaps a musical genre. The music "staying alive"adds to the way he looks, and the atmosphere of the genre, and also goes well with the
character's identidy.
The lighting is quite natural, and pretty much makes it seem like it's a working day. The montage
introduces Tony's character well. The leather, black and red are all kind of like dancing
wear, the part of the song "you can tell by the way I walk that i'm a ladies man" implies that
he actually is very interested in good-looking women, for example the time where he stops
infront of her and we get a POV shot as Tony, seeing her reaction that she's not very
interested into him. This also tells us a bit about the main character of the film.
The bright atmosphere causes quite a happy, positive upbeat mood towards the film, and has
a very good rhythm. The part where Tony crosses the road and goes inside the pizza place,
and interacts with the man, tells us that the director of the film wants us to understand
the character inside out, from the way he walks/dresses, to the way he interacts with other
people around him, in the city.
There isn't much use of dialogue in this opening, it's more about the setting, and the background of
the place, and of course the main character Tony. Although, the high-key lighting,natural lighting
gives us a positive feel about the film, there's a slight dullness, and darkness at times, giving the
audience the impression that perhaps something bad will happen to Tony later on, for example perhaps he will loose a job or something will happen which we don't expect.
The editing and setting are very important in this opening, as it makes us want to watch what happens to the character next.
Halloween Opening Sequence analysis all the way
At the beginning of the opening sequence, we're suddenly struck by horror scary,fast beat music. This is done to create tension between the audience and to draw them in. The bold orangey red text is surrounded by the black background which does not give us as an audience a lot of information which can also increase the tension and the mysterious atmosphere between the audience, the glowing pumpkins evil expression tells us that it's a movie based on halloween, and perhaps murdering. At the starting credits, all the important names are mentioned, like the person who made the film,the producer,the person who made the music, the person who directed it.
Once it cuts from one of the credit title scenes, we are introduced to the first object which is a jack o latern/pumpkin that has been lit. This is one of the mis en scene objects that relates to the title of the film "Halloween". This can create an eerie effect and make the audience once again tense.
All of a sudden , you can hear some sort of classroom when the music stops and then it cuts to a POV shot of someone walking towards the house. By now the audience is really unaware of what is going on and want to find out more. When the POV shot is walking around the house, we're introduced to two characters, a teenage girl and boy who seem to be in their college years. The POV shot then looks at the window and then the light goes off and a sound effect happens which could make the audience jump and in this case, some of the audience may think that the girl is being raped.
After, the POV shot goes into the kitchen and reaches out for a knife. Tense high pitched music plays and the man walks out of the house so we know that the girl did not get abused or raped by the guy and now the audience start to question why the POV shot of whomever it may be has a knife.
During the POV shot of Michael, Michael puts on a mask and this is shown on the screen as we can see only the eye hole. This may be an effect or it could be put onto the camera, but we do not know. At the end of the sequence, we are shown the killer's face (Michael), and then the camera zooms out of the scene, showing his mother and his father is complete shock, looking at the knife and the mask.
The lighting that is used in this opening is quite low key lighting and the lighting is quite dark to make it more "horror" like. I think that majority of the lighting that is used in this opening sequence is natural, whether the lighting coming from one of the lights on the ceiling or from outside of the house (which may be set up lighting).
Constantine opening analysis all the way
At the beginning of the opening sequence, there is a sound bridge of the kettle as we hear the sound before we actually see the video of the kettle. When the kettle is sceeching away, we are immediatly indicated that the film is set in Los Angeles. We know this because of the text that is displayed on the screen. When the kettle is being boiled, there is a zoom out from the window and then there is a close up on the tea.
We can tell that the place where the film is set in is quiet and urban lower class area as we can see the background of Los Angeles in the window which suggest we are not in a house and in the centre on the city which is most likely in an appartment. We also know as the audience that the place where the woman is living in is not in a good standard because of the clothes that she is wearing and the state of the appartment.
The woman walks towards the door that is down the hallway and then falls to the group in distress and shock. We are then given a reaction shot of the woman through the door which gives the audience and understanding of how the woman is feeling at that moment in time. We know that the woman is religious because of the movement she does with her hands while she is staring at the girl who is climbing on the ceiling of the room she is staring into. Once the woman see's the demon, tense and dramatic music plays which creates a lot of tension between the opening and the audience because the audience does not know what is going to happen next. After the woman screams, the volume of her screaming is shown between the fast cutting between different shot angles while you are still hearing the scream. After this cutting, we have a close up on a taxi which is still in Los Angeles and a slow motion effect is used on the cigarette that is dropped out of the cigarette and when it hits the ground. This is when John Constantine is introduced to the opening. He gets out of the car and a nice birds eye view of the lower class apartment and the taxi with John to show the location of where John is. We know that John is a main character because the camera is focused on him a lot of the time when he comes into action.
We know that this type of film is horror/mystery because of the elements that are used in the opening. For one, the demon woman that is shown at the start shows the evil and hell of the film and the music that is played is quiet eerie and religious. We also know this because of the demon that is shown that comes out of the woman and formed into the mirror.
At the beginning, there is soundbridge of the news. The picture then comes on and a character is shown who orders a black coffee from the shop. The mood of the character played by Clive Owen does not seem too bothered because he just orders the coffee and then walks out of the shop, not giving and bother about what has happened to the person on the T.V compared to those in the shop, with some getting very dramatic and crying.
We known that the film is set in the future because of the date on the T.V and the mis en scene on the streets. Not only do we know that it is set in the future because of the date on the television, we also know that it is set in the future because of the technology such as the buses have digital advertisements on them and the different change of vehicles in London. Another part of the mis en scene that can indicate that we're set in London is the police uniforms, as we know that the uniform that the British police are wearing are very similar or identical to what we use today, so not much has changed considering the date of when the opening is set.
When the character who is played by Clive Owen leaves the coffee shop, he is followed with a shot as if someone is watching him with POV view and then the character who is played by Clive Owen puts his coffee to the side and puts some sort of acohol into his drink. This can show the emotion of what the character feels and could be on the drink to tackle the depression that the country is going through. Another odd thing that happens throughout the opening sequence is that there is no young people. The youngest person that was shown was on the television and it creates question to why there is no young people in the opening sequence. We are also shown that the living standards of people have decreased since today because of the state of the vehicles and the pollution of dirt and dust that is shown in the sequence.
At the start of the opening the famous "Paramount"production company comes up, showing that the genre can be anything from horror to romance. Then the opening titles come up on black screen, in bold colourful text, displaying the important people, and the main actress "Lindsay Lohan". Also the production "A Lorne Michaels" and "paramount pictures"Comes up whilst African music is playing in the background and the white/pink title comes up and then it goes straight onto the narrative.
It starts of with a shot of the main character's parents looking down at her like she's a little kid, when really she is a teenager, she hands her her lunch.Then comes the first bit of dialogue which is a voice over of the main character talking about her past and life.The dialogue shows that the narrative is really important to the opening. The yellow bus tells us it's a American teenage movie. The way the character looks around uncomfortable tells us she isn't going to fit in inside this first high school. The song changes from peaceful and joyful,meaningful African music to a teenage song, a non-diagetic song that goes with the typical teenage incidents.
The main character's clothes are dark,dull and not very colourful. Her hair is in a ponytail, and she doesn't really have much trendy taste, she goes for more of a natural look. While the people around the school look stereotypical, and by some of their mise-en-scene you can tell most of them are bullies and in their own groups, just like the typical American high school films. The part where the girl with long black hair throws fire on the floor and treads on it, shows the school is quite a mad environment to be.
There is some comedy in the opening, like when it shows the kids at the start are talking about the "homosexuals". The part where Cady gets barged by the other high school kids, shows that the movie involved bullying and relates to the title "Mean Girls", we don't get to meet the mean girl's yet, but the opening gets the audience excited.
