Sweeney Todd Analysis

Opening sequence

• The main purpose of an opening sequence is to introduce the audience to certain characters, plots, themes, ideas, genres and locations.

Themes and mood

• Sweeney Todd is a horror movie based on the musical by Stephen Sondheim.

• Based in the 1900’s, Sweeney Todd is a vengeful barber, set out to kill Judge Turpin, the man who ruined his life by falsely sending him to prison 15 years before.

• The title sequence of Sweeney Todd starts in an animated form showing blood, London town and a barber shop. These images introduce the main ideas of the film.

Characters

• There are no characters present in the first 2 minutes of the film.

• This allows the audience to focus on the main themes of the film and not get distracted by the introduction of characters.

• The first characters enter around 4 minutes into the film.

Titles/ graphics

• The graphics in this opening sequence are cartoon like. This makes the opening less serious and more comical for the audience to watch.

• The titles appear in the middle of the screen in white text to make them obvious to the audience as most of the actors in the film are well known.

• The main title of the movie appears half way through the opening sequence and seems to fall with the blood down the sewers. This makes it very dramatic and creates the atmosphere and sense of falling.

Music and Sound

• The original, well known score of Sweeney Todd is played throughout the opening sequence.

• The music creates a tense and dramatic mood which contrasts with the first song of the film.

• It helps create the mood of the horror film and adds suspense in the genre.

Editing

• The image of a barber shop juxtaposed with Johnny Depp’s name shows the audience that he is the barber. Then later in the sequence, Alan Rickman’s name is shown on the chair, foreshadowing the end of the film and the death of his character.

• Cogs are juxtaposed with each other to show the thought process of Sweeney’s mind.

Opening sequence

• The sequence starts off with a cartoon image of Victorian London, it then starts to rain (a common stereotype of London) the rain then turns to blood to introduce the horror themes of the film.

• The cartoon then takes us to a barber shop where blood splashes against the window through which we see one of the main elements of the film; Sweeney’s barber chair.

• Then we see Victorian style pictures drawn in blood. This introduces the era of the film and also the fact that blood is a very dominant element in the film.

• We then see the blood from the pictures drip over the barber’s chair and onto the cogs underneath it.

• The blood then takes the audience round the cogs and down into the sewers.

• The blood is then rolled along the floor until it reaches a trap doorwhen the action seems to follow it falling through the trap door, where the title of the

film appears. This falls for a little bit before becoming still.

• The title is in red to continue the theme of blood and horror.

• As the title appears the music becomes more dramatic and builds up to emphasise the titles of the film.