The credits for 'Catch Me If You Can' are incorporated into the title sequence, which is an animated title sequence, so they have cleverly moulded the sequence around the credits.
This makes it very interesting and there is almost a preview of the movie ahead.
The font is very clear, and the words are part of the animation, for example road markings. I think this is a very different and effective way of starting a movie off. And its good to see a film making the title sequence actually good to watch.
The sequence has a man running away from someone or something, we are not sure yet (creating enigma) but the man uses many different methods of getting away, and passes through many places.
The actual title and credits are almost part of the scenery of the animation, keeping to the theme of hiding/running away.
I have found that with the opening of this film, it doesnt create as much enigma as others, but i dont think it needs to, as the sequence is so interesting and different, it keeps the viewers attention, which leads to them watching the start of the film, which is where they include the enigma.
Panic Room -
Again the credits are included in the setting for the film, and plays a part in setting the scene. The credits are on buildings and pavements, as the camera guides us through the city scape.
Because the sequence is set in the city we presume the whole film is set there, and that something is going to happen either to the city, or to someone in the city. It creates a lot of enigma as the viewer can only really be thinking about what could happen in the city.
The titles run parallel and along the buildings sides and corners, taking the shape of the buildings, and with the title 'Panic Room' this may help to suggest someone being boxed in, or trapped.
The camera pans slowly across skyscrapers and other buildings revealing the credits, this connotes something is maybe watching someone or watching over the city itself. It creates an eery effect, because the camera pans across in most shots, apart from the start, where there is about 3 shots which cut between each other.
The music at first is at a low pace, seems like its trying to maybe build up to something. After a few credits are shown, the main title of the film 'Panic Room' is revealed, the same way as all other credits. The camera pans across just like the others, only this time, the music suddenly changes. There is now more of a fast paced chant, with a ticking sound like a clock. The scenes are the same, but now it seems a lot more worrying, the viewer may now be thinking that something is going to happen soon, although it doesnt.
The ticking sound automatically makes you think of a clock, so this asks questions to whether somebody is running out of time, and has a task to complete. Or something is going to happen to the city, and doom will be upon them.
The music also builds up tension before the film even begins. Also, there is a fast clicking sound towards the end, suggesting time is running out for someone? title is 'Panic Room' so somebody may be put into a situation where they have a certain time to complete something.
Spider Man -
The title sequence to Spider Man is very graphic, and the credits are in a font which people relate to a comic book, because obviously this film is from a Marvel comic.
The sequences displays many webs intertwining together in which the titles appear and disappear. Its very fast moving keeping the viewer alert and looking out for whats happening. The sequence shows brief clips of spiderman and the enemy he will be facing. This creates enigma because the viewers have already seen the enemy, therefore thinking about whats going to happen in the story and the relationship between the two.
There is a blue and dark theme to the opening sequence, which is almost very mysterious. And with the occasional reds you see which connote blood and death, it immediately suggests fighting and action.
In the scene there is a clenched fist, this again is directly linked to fighting, and would help to get the viewer exciting and ready for the start of the film.
The clips of spiderman which are shown to the viewer make him look very powerful and heroic, so already the viewers are made to become attached to spiderman, and may feel in ore of him.
The title sequence seems very jumbled, as in the credits are scrambled up as they enter the screen, and then adjust for us to be able to read the credits. This suggests confusion and helps to reinforce the sci-fi genre of the film.
We see towards the end spiderman scaling many large skyscrapers and buildings, showing just how high up in peoples opinions he is, how important he is, and how powerful he is.
The non diagetic music is continuos throughout the sequence and is typically epic, the music is very triumphant and heroic, it matches perfectly with the images we see of spiderman climbing buildings.
War of the Worlds (2005) -
The opening shots are of an animated sequence, in which straight away we are confronted with some credits, but they are overlaid onto what at first is very unclear. We see the colour blue first, which normally suggests the cold or dark, and of course water, which in this case is what it represented.
The camera slowly zooms outwards and we begin to see particles floating about, squiggly parts of dna structure and molecules. So the viewer begins to wonder what object the camera is focused on.
The music at this point is very eery, its used to disturb the viewer, and links well with the images on show as it makes the viewer begin to question the object they are looking at, is it dangerous? maybe a virus? these are questions which are already being asked by the viewer in the first few opening seconds of the film.
The camera continues to zoom slowly outwards, but now more and more larger particles come into view, the zooming action speeds up, and the colour begins to change from blue to green, this is now suggesting a more deadly object we are looking at, as green has links with poisonous and toxic items. It becomes more clear that it is a liquid, which strengthens the thought that it could be a deadly liquid.
The camera, still zooming out, begins to pan slightly to the left, and reveal a round innocent water droplet on a leaf. Note they have now made you think about innocence, which then leads onto the droplet cleverly changing into the earth. This suggests someone is watching the earth, which is made to look defenceless, weak and very small, meaning it is being watched from outer space?
A voice over is now used to help narrate the title sequence, it is a very formal sounding narrator, very serious and telling a very serious story.
We next see an establishing shot of New York city, making it obvious that the main character lives in or is from New York. We get an overhead shot of the cityscape, again creating a concept of overlooking everything.
There is then a sequence of long shots showing the busy roads and streets or New York, as the narrator talks about 'telescopes' we see a shot of loads of people crossing a busy crossroads, and they look like ants, so they are cleverly enforcing the fact that these humans are very small and insignificant.
Now we see more locational shots of places around the world, letting the viewer know this is a world wide problem, not just New York's.
And finally we have a shot from outer space, looking down on the Earth, and then the title 'War of the Worlds' appears as the music gets louder. Throughout the whole title sequence the shots have been getting further and further away from the Earth, which i think is very clever.
No comments:
Post a Comment