Opening Title Sequence "Dead Man's Shoes" Analysis

- old camera tapes of baby growing up in between shots 

- keeps cutting to 2 men walking on dirt track in field 

- credits shown during the walking in field scenes, producers, title of film, cast, editors, writers, etc.

- medium tempo country song playing as non-diegetic sound, nostalgic, sounds old, a bit melancholic

- kids being shown in the films are the two older men walking in the field, possibly brothers, cross cutting 

- family footage, 

- never saw the character's faces, emotional connection through music, more complex 

- music starts on black out screen, half way through into of music video of baby in a pushchair comes in

- vintage style, static on it, looks like real footage from 1970-80s, heavily affected some footage to make it look like old film footage 

- opening line of song is "I can't be held responsible", lowkey, slow paced song and gains pace as opening title sequence goes on

- wide establishing shot of field and two men walking, right to left, something unusual is going to occur or is occurring, feels like they're returning from somewhere, establishes the idea that they're returning, British countryside, don't really know where they are, forces us to focus on the fact they are going back from somewhere 

- fade/dissolve into more vintage footage, links the two characters to the fact that they are the kids in the videos 

- older brother in videos hugging younger brother, sets tone for their relationship 

- wide depth of field shot of brothers walking away from camera, shows distance they are walking/scale of journey, don't see them talking whole journey, always a little bit of distance between them or one leading the other 

- camera is always still and characters walk away from camera each time, disconnect/shows contrast between the sweet childhood videos and these shots

- shot duration is slow paced of just two men walking, shows that the journey is long 

- clips showing family, Christmas opening presents, happy memories, small Christmas tree, not a lot of money/not very privileged, quite a big family, all about family

- cross cut back to the field shots, which are colder feeling than the vintage films

- one brother is wearing walking clothes and carrying the bags, military looking, other brother wearing tracksuit, doesn't look very suited for a long walk

- the one who is always leading is older, about 2-4 years apart, which we can see from the videos as them as kids 

- they aren't holding a map so they know where they're going, shows they have possibly done the journey before 

- shot of them coming towards the camera, but camera tilts round as they walk past and they're walking away from the camera again, faces seen briefly but not enough to form a connection or gain any information 

- somebody is recording everything, emphasises idea of happy childhood as someone wants all of it being recorded for memories 

- final shot, music is at the end and fades/dies down, the bag is off his shoulder, we see them walking up to an old looking house, we get the impression that they arrive as they are also no longer on a dirt path, shot fades to black, sense of journey is over and its night time, returning back to a place they possibly hadn't been back for a while

- brother's relationship possibly not as good as it was when they were kids so they're not talking 

Opening Title Sequence "Dead Man's Shoes" Analysis

- old camera tapes of baby growing up in between shots 

- keeps cutting to 2 men walking on dirt track in field 

- credits shown during the walking in field scenes, producers, title of film, cast, editors, writers, etc.

- medium tempo country song playing as non-diegetic sound, nostalgic, sounds old, a bit melancholic

- kids being shown in the films are the two older men walking in the field, possibly brothers, cross cutting 

- family footage, 

- never saw the character's faces, emotional connection through music, more complex 

- music starts on black out screen, half way through into of music video of baby in a pushchair comes in

- vintage style, static on it, looks like real footage from 1970-80s, heavily affected some footage to make it look like old film footage 

- opening line of song is "I can't be held responsible", lowkey, slow paced song and gains pace as opening title sequence goes on

- wide establishing shot of field and two men walking, right to left, something unusual is going to occur or is occurring, feels like they're returning from somewhere, establishes the idea that they're returning, British countryside, don't really know where they are, forces us to focus on the fact they are going back from somewhere 

- fade/dissolve into more vintage footage, links the two characters to the fact that they are the kids in the videos 

- older brother in videos hugging younger brother, sets tone for their relationship 

- wide depth of field shot of brothers walking away from camera, shows distance they are walking/scale of journey, don't see them talking whole journey, always a little bit of distance between them or one leading the other 

- camera is always still and characters walk away from camera each time, disconnect/shows contrast between the sweet childhood videos and these shots

- shot duration is slow paced of just two men walking, shows that the journey is long 

- clips showing family, Christmas opening presents, happy memories, small Christmas tree, not a lot of money/not very privileged, quite a big family, all about family

- cross cut back to the field shots, which are colder feeling than the vintage films

- one brother is wearing walking clothes and carrying the bags, military looking, other brother wearing tracksuit, doesn't look very suited for a long walk

- the one who is always leading is older, about 2-4 years apart, which we can see from the videos as them as kids 

- they aren't holding a map so they know where they're going, shows they have possibly done the journey before 

- shot of them coming towards the camera, but camera tilts round as they walk past and they're walking away from the camera again, faces seen briefly but not enough to form a connection or gain any information 

- somebody is recording everything, emphasises idea of happy childhood as someone wants all of it being recorded for memories 

- final shot, music is at the end and fades/dies down, the bag is off his shoulder, we see them walking up to an old looking house, we get the impression that they arrive as they are also no longer on a dirt path, shot fades to black, sense of journey is over and its night time, returning back to a place they possibly hadn't been back for a while

- brother's relationship possibly not as good as it was when they were kids so they're not talking 

IMAX Research Presentation

 https://create.piktochart.com/output/56251636-imax-research-presentation

IMAX Research Presentation

 https://create.piktochart.com/output/56251636-imax-research-presentation

Opening title sequences analysis, guardians of the galaxy and stranger than fiction

 “Guardians of the galaxy Vol. 2” analysis 

In this scene the character Groot is walking around dancing while the rest of his team is fighting off a massive monster, and also trying to protect Groot in the process. The scene starts in silence with muffled sound of fighting happening in the background, then however Groot turns on a speaker which starts playing music, and so throughout this scene the song “Mr Blue Sky” is playing which is used as pleonastic, diegetic sound as the song would be heard by the characters in the scene because at the beginning of the scene Groot plugs in music to a big speaker which then starts playing the song, and we hear it at the same volume throughout the scene despite the fact Groot is walking and dancing away from the speaker. This could also be seen as contrapuntal sound as within the scene there is fighting happening between the other characters in the scene and the big monster, and the song “Mr Blue Sky” would not typically be associated with fighting or violence, nor with sci-fi. This also adds comedy to the scene and therefore the juxtaposition used then establishes both that it is an action movie as well as a comedy. The opening of the scene the camera is focused on Groot plugging in the music, while it is unfocused on the action going on behind Groot. When he gets the music playing groot does an imitation of an explosion at the same time an explosion happens in the background, and the picture freezes as the title “Guardians of the galaxy Vol. 2” appears on the screen. The camera then pans around groot until we can no longer see the title, and when we can’t see the title any longer the picture unfreezes and groot starts moving and dancing forward as the camera follows, moving backwards. The camera follows groot the whole time whilst we see the chaos and action happening behind him, which adds comedy as groot seems to be dancing along to the music, blissfully unaware of the chaos and cries of help from his teammates, which again establishes the idea of this being the genre of both action and comedy. There are no cuts at all in this scene so it is one long shot used to create the scene. Instead of bombs and actual guns being used in a military way, the characters are mainly using pistols and massive machine guns, which gives us the idea they are not exactly people who have been trained in a certain way like perhaps police would have been. 

“Stranger than fiction” analysis

In this scene the character Harold’s daily life and usual routine is being narrated by a female voice, making his life seem like it is being written and frequently talking about his wrist watch as if it is a character in the show. The scene opens with the camera zooming in from the outside of the earth all the way to a close up of Harold’s alarm clock going off in the morning, making it look like there is somebody on the outside watching harold, and this is then confirmed when we here the voice of the narrator. The first few minutes of the scene we are just shown quick shots of his daily routine as the narrator is explaining it, with mainly the use of close up shots and establishing shots, for example when he is at work we are shown a shot of the city and traffic, which indicates he also lives in a city, maybe in an apartment, and we therefore understand he is going to work. When it is “Wednesday” as the narrator describes, we get a close up shot of harold looking in the mirror as he is brushing his teeth, which could also be scene as an eye line match for he is looking at himself through the mirror and we are seeing him in the mirror through his own eyes. There is simple music being played throughout the explanation, used as parallel, non diegetic sound, which reflects his life being simple and regular. This music stops however after we see the first cycle of Harold’s daily life, as we cut to a shot of harold standing in the bathroom brushing his teeth the way he usually does still with the narrator explaining what he is doing, which would be seen at first as non diegetic sound, however it quickly becomes diegetic when he suddenly stops brushing his teeth and looks around as if he has heard something, which we realise a few seconds later is the narrator’s voice as he asks if somebody is there. The use of the narrator indicates there is something fiction about Harold’s life and therefore quite unusual, fitting with the title “Stranger Than Fiction.” While he is brushing his teeth that Wednesday and is hearing the narrator speak, Harold’s facial expression slowly confused as well as panicked and he slows down his brush strokes of brushing his teeth, showing his panic and worry further, possibly because he is scared that he might be hearing things as he hears the narrator’s voice. Throughout the scene the narrator says phrases such as “Harold’s watch didn’t like it, but it said nothing” and “until Harold’s wrist watch changed everything”, which makes Harold’s wrist watch seem like a person and not inanimate as it should be, which then indicates that it is important in the story, then adding to that unusual aspect to the scene.  

Opening title sequences analysis, guardians of the galaxy and stranger than fiction

 “Guardians of the galaxy Vol. 2” analysis 

In this scene the character Groot is walking around dancing while the rest of his team is fighting off a massive monster, and also trying to protect Groot in the process. The scene starts in silence with muffled sound of fighting happening in the background, then however Groot turns on a speaker which starts playing music, and so throughout this scene the song “Mr Blue Sky” is playing which is used as pleonastic, diegetic sound as the song would be heard by the characters in the scene because at the beginning of the scene Groot plugs in music to a big speaker which then starts playing the song, and we hear it at the same volume throughout the scene despite the fact Groot is walking and dancing away from the speaker. This could also be seen as contrapuntal sound as within the scene there is fighting happening between the other characters in the scene and the big monster, and the song “Mr Blue Sky” would not typically be associated with fighting or violence, nor with sci-fi. This also adds comedy to the scene and therefore the juxtaposition used then establishes both that it is an action movie as well as a comedy. The opening of the scene the camera is focused on Groot plugging in the music, while it is unfocused on the action going on behind Groot. When he gets the music playing groot does an imitation of an explosion at the same time an explosion happens in the background, and the picture freezes as the title “Guardians of the galaxy Vol. 2” appears on the screen. The camera then pans around groot until we can no longer see the title, and when we can’t see the title any longer the picture unfreezes and groot starts moving and dancing forward as the camera follows, moving backwards. The camera follows groot the whole time whilst we see the chaos and action happening behind him, which adds comedy as groot seems to be dancing along to the music, blissfully unaware of the chaos and cries of help from his teammates, which again establishes the idea of this being the genre of both action and comedy. There are no cuts at all in this scene so it is one long shot used to create the scene. Instead of bombs and actual guns being used in a military way, the characters are mainly using pistols and massive machine guns, which gives us the idea they are not exactly people who have been trained in a certain way like perhaps police would have been. 

“Stranger than fiction” analysis

In this scene the character Harold’s daily life and usual routine is being narrated by a female voice, making his life seem like it is being written and frequently talking about his wrist watch as if it is a character in the show. The scene opens with the camera zooming in from the outside of the earth all the way to a close up of Harold’s alarm clock going off in the morning, making it look like there is somebody on the outside watching harold, and this is then confirmed when we here the voice of the narrator. The first few minutes of the scene we are just shown quick shots of his daily routine as the narrator is explaining it, with mainly the use of close up shots and establishing shots, for example when he is at work we are shown a shot of the city and traffic, which indicates he also lives in a city, maybe in an apartment, and we therefore understand he is going to work. When it is “Wednesday” as the narrator describes, we get a close up shot of harold looking in the mirror as he is brushing his teeth, which could also be scene as an eye line match for he is looking at himself through the mirror and we are seeing him in the mirror through his own eyes. There is simple music being played throughout the explanation, used as parallel, non diegetic sound, which reflects his life being simple and regular. This music stops however after we see the first cycle of Harold’s daily life, as we cut to a shot of harold standing in the bathroom brushing his teeth the way he usually does still with the narrator explaining what he is doing, which would be seen at first as non diegetic sound, however it quickly becomes diegetic when he suddenly stops brushing his teeth and looks around as if he has heard something, which we realise a few seconds later is the narrator’s voice as he asks if somebody is there. The use of the narrator indicates there is something fiction about Harold’s life and therefore quite unusual, fitting with the title “Stranger Than Fiction.” While he is brushing his teeth that Wednesday and is hearing the narrator speak, Harold’s facial expression slowly confused as well as panicked and he slows down his brush strokes of brushing his teeth, showing his panic and worry further, possibly because he is scared that he might be hearing things as he hears the narrator’s voice. Throughout the scene the narrator says phrases such as “Harold’s watch didn’t like it, but it said nothing” and “until Harold’s wrist watch changed everything”, which makes Harold’s wrist watch seem like a person and not inanimate as it should be, which then indicates that it is important in the story, then adding to that unusual aspect to the scene.  

“The Shining” and “SE7EN” Opening Title Sequence Comparison

The shining was directed by Stanley Kubrick, and produced and worked with Warner brothers studio. It was made and released in 1980, and the main cast included Jack Nicholson and Shelly Dubrick as the two main characters. SE7EN was directed by David Fincher, and produced and worked with New line cinema, which later merged with Warner brothers in 2008. The film was released in 1995 and the main cast included Brad Pitt, Morgan freeman, and Gwyneth Paltrow as the 3 main characters. 

There are many similarities between the opening title sequences of “the shining”, and “SE7EN”, for example they both use unsettling imagery to make the audience feel uncomfortable right from the get go. The movie “SE7EN” includes many needles and blades, which we as an audience associate with pain, establishing this will be a gory movie from the beginning. In “the shining” there is an unnecessarily high birds eye view shot in the beginning, using the fear of heights that some people have to make the audience already feel unsettled. 

Both title sequences obviously include the title credits, but both are done in different ways. “SE7EN” uses the idea of old film playing and the titles are in black and white playing on the old film, aswell glitching on the screen. We are shown the credits pretty much straight away, unlike in the shining where we are waiting a lot longer for the credits to start, forcing us to look at the scenery and the juxtaposing, unsettling music being used aswell. In “SE7EN” the credits are split up by unsettling clips, so we are forced to watch them in order to see the credits go by, increasing that uncomfortable feeling and establishing that this is not a light hearted film. 

In both opening sequences, we don’t properly meet any main characters, but we are given the idea that there is a person we are focusing on. In “the shining”, we are following a car for the whole of the opening title sequence, already making us assume there is someone in the car that is of importance, presumably a family of some sorts. As well as this, in “SE7EN”, we see someone’s hands doing many things in their office, for example cutting off their finger prints, sewing with a needle and thread, sorting out a notebook, etc. This then gives us a slight idea of the type of main character that we are being introduced to. 

“The shining” includes music that doesn’t match the scene playing out in front of us, meaning it is contrapuntal sound, creating an even more unsettling feeling for the audience, as the shots we were being shown were ariel shots of a car driving through the mountains in the summer, which creates a clear juxtaposition between the visuals and the sound. Within the music there is slight wails and echos, making it sound quite ghostly. This mixed with the shot of the camera swooping down following right behind the car, and then moving away from the car as it goes round the bend, establishes this ghostly idea even further, making us assume the fact this movie has some paranormal activity. “SE7EN” however, includes punk/sightly rock music, which can be seen as parallel sound as it matches the atmosphere of the scenes being shown to us. This genre music being used also encourages the idea that the movie is possibly a psychological thriller. Both of these music uses create a tone of creepy, weird and unusual atmospheres for the title sequences. 

In “SE7EN” there is mainly the colour use of black and white, however with the slight bit of red in places, possibly symbolising blood and danger, once again establishing the idea of possibly a psychological thriller and a psychopathic character that we’re being introduced to. In “the shining” however, we are shown quite dull versions of usually bright colours, almost like autumn colours. This is showing that it’s usually a ski resort as they are up in the mountains, but it is currently off season, therefore reinforcing the idea of isolation and being far away from help. The only other cars we see in the opening shots of “the shining” are driving away from where the main car we’re following is going, encouraging that idea of isolation even further. 

Both opening title sequences are very effective in trying to portray an unsettling feeling in the audience, even though they both did it in different ways. I think the opening title sequence for “the shining” was more effective for me because of the use of the contrapuntal sound and the longer shots being used to unsettle the audience, however I still thought “SE7EN” was effective because of the unnerving shots of the needles and blades being used.