As Media opening sequences

Part one Josh Tregunno

Coraline http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/coraline/#

The opening starts off with a leather looking background supposedly of a hardback book with the words Focus Features presents, Laika and Pandemonium which are the 3 production companies that worked together to make this film. The title Coraline then appears sewn into the supposedly leather book with a button as the o to foreshadow that the button is going to be a main feature of the film. It then opens with a medium shot of a doll spinning and flying through window where two mechanical hands come into frame to meet it. The camera then pans across the room as in a point of view shot of mechanical person to open a case. The doll is placed in the centre of the case. It is then cut to a close up of the back of the doll which then gets cut open by large scissors which remove the clothing of the doll. There is then a mid-shot of the doll and the hand grabs a stand of hair and pulls it which makes the doll start to go bald. It cuts to an extreme close up of the hair being unstitched and removed from the head one row at a time you cannot see the hands in the shot. Credits of the art directors also appear at on the right side of the screen in the same font as the previous. It then cuts to another close up off the face the thread holding the button eyes in is cut and the buttons are then removed in this shot you also cannot see the mechanical hands only the tools that they are using. The camera then pans down to an extreme close up of the mouth of the doll and the stitching from where the doll was filled is cut open again by tools. The close camera shots are used to disorient the viewer and so that you cannot see the maker of the doll as the purpose of the film is to discover who this mechanical person is. There is a cut to a mid-shot and the doll is upside down and the stuffing is then pulled out by the hands this can represent that the creator can manipulate any of the puppets that it makes. There is then a low angle cut to the stuffing that came out of the mouth of the doll dropping to the floor. This can be used as a dramatic effect and maintains the disturbed feelings that are given off in this opening sequence. The music in this opening sequence is used to also disorient and confuse the viewer as it has calming tone but with it accompanied with the visuals in the opening sequence it can seem quite disturbing.

Skyfall http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/skyfall/

The opening credits start off with a close up of a hand grabbing another hand and pulling it down, it is quite evident from the bubbles that they are underwater. The production company’s credits also appear in white writing. There is then a brief jump cut to another close up of the body of James Bond falling down. When it then cuts to a long shot where you can see a giant hand pulling James Bond’s foot downwards this is showing that people can eventually be brought down by a greater force. There is then a high angle shot form the level of James bond’s head looking down showing James Bonds perspective of him falling further into a hole It then cuts to a long shot of James falling into the hole that is on the sea bed and the title “SKYFALL” appears on the screen the graphic of the writing is worn down almost like it is dissolving . This could represent that even in his old age James is falling into a hole that he cannot get out of. The next cut is then behind Bond as he is falling he fades and then appears further away and eventually goes out of frame. The colour of the section is very blue representing the water this is also backed up by James falling very slowly suggesting that there is some resistance from the water. There are many targets of James surrounding him as he falls one appears to have blood coming out of the right shoulder representing where James had just been shot. This also represents that James is a target for his enemies and getting shot is his fate in life . The camera then appears to go through the bullet hole in the target and then jump cuts to a naked woman also in the water this could foreshadow who is also going to get hurt in James's crossfire. I liked the way the way that the scenes linked into one another in this opening sequence it gives you a sense of the story before its even started

Dawn Of The Dead http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/dawn-of-the-dead/#

The opening starts with a lot of flickering images of the forthcoming dead and events before showing the title “Dawn of the Dead” the writing then disperses like it was blood and had been blown on to make it disappear. There are then more flickering extreme close-ups of the zombies inbetween the credits of the people who made the film. The way the credits leave the screen, much like the title they are normal red writing but then they turn into a red liquid and get blown off the screen to the left much like when droplets of rain get blown off the car when it is going fast. I think that is this a very effective way to dispose of the credits once they have been on screen. There are then clips of a media spokesman for the Department of Disease Prevention looking troubled during television interviews; this gives the audience an insight into how well society is coping with the zombie outbreak. The visuals for the opening sequence purposely has interference static and the flicking of clips so that the viewer get disoriented. Videos of riots and explosions then start to make an appearance, this is when Johnny Cash: “The man comes around” starts playing; as the song plays the images in the frame start becoming more chaotic and violent, the images are juxtaposed to the music which is contrapuntal as it seems to have quite a joyful tone which makes the videos look like things that happen every day and its just the usual thing as the song is like a working mans song. The end of the sequence shows the zombies coming in disturbing the news broadcast, the images have static and start jolting on purpose as the broadcast is being interrupted. The image of the zombie freezes on the screen. There is then a cut to black. The screen is cracked which is supposed to represent the now broken TV camera, there is also a credit there but it is unreadable because of the said screen crack. When there is the broken screen Johnny Cash states “There was a pale horse, and his name was death and all hell followed with him” this has been chosen specifically by the director as it explains what the zombies are to society and how they have broken everyone's way of life into a “hell”.

Edward Scissorhandshttp://www.artofthetitle.com/title/edward-scissorhands/

The sequence opens with the production company 20th Century Fox but instead of having their traditional theme, they have people singing and synthesisers playing a harmonious tune in the background. Even this cut sets the scene for the film as the scenery around it looks cold as it is snowing, it is also in black and white setting a creepy tone for the film. It then fades to black a new tune starts and we start in a close up of what appears to be a gutter, the colours on the of the scene are almost black and white but it appears to have a blue tint. The camera then pans down to a door which opens and the camera goes through it, it then fades to black again and the title slides in from the right. The two words Edward Scissor hands appear to separate but are joined at one end like a scissor does when it is in the process of cutting something. As we have now been taken inside the house there is a very smooth transition from the black out after the title to a dolly cam around to what looks like a pterodactyl statue. The actor Johnny Depp's credits come up on the screen as he is the main character of the film. The pterodactyl statue is covered in cobwebs, this is to insinuate to the audience how old and abandoned this house is, the fact that a pterodactyl is on display in this building could also insinuate that the owner of this building is quite intelligent as it is quite a obscure object to have in the building. There is then a fade to black and the camera comes back and slowly makes its way up the stairs at a low level which then turns into a low angle shot as it looks up the stairs. There are also cobwebs on the stairs. The way the camera moves so smoothly up the stairs could insinuate that the point of view we are looking through could be a ghost. It gets to the top of the stairs before then fading to black again. The sequence then continues with some extreme close ups of a machine. This is so that the viewers wonder about what the machine is and what its purpose is . After, it then cuts to a black background again after multiple cut out shapes appear on the screen momentarily before then all appearing on the screen at the same time, slowly falling. The audience could think to remember them for later in the film as they might be of some meaning and give you a hint to what happens later in the film.

Vertigohttp://www.artofthetitle.com/title/vertigo/

The Opening starts with an extreme close up of the side of a woman's face, the camera pans across her face and zooms into her mouth, it is expressionless, the backing soundtrack suggests mystery, because of its clock like sound it insinuates time passing, it also goes from very quiet to quite psychotic and loud, this film is not a horror but this opening sequence defintely sets the tone for what could be a horror or thriller genre film. The camera moves up from the enormous lips to the woman's eyes which look left and right like she is nervous about something or as if she is looking out for something. This could hint that later in the film someone is going to be looking for a girl and the girl would not like to be found. We then zoom in to just one eye which is looking directly at the camera. The music intensifies and “in Alfred Hitchcock's” appears on the screen everything turns red this could symbolise blood or passion. The eye widens like it is staring at something and the music intensifies again the writing “VERTIGO” comes in from the centre of the eye starting small and getting bigger the more it comes out from the centre of the eye. The title Vertigo exits at the top of the screen. A Galaxy like spiral then appears in the centre of the eye spinning and slowly gets closer the eye then blacks out and we slowly travel through each of the spirals it insinuates that we the audience are falling like the title “Vertigo” in this sequence I like the use of the extreme close ups to express emotions to the audience without expressing it directly and openly. After a couple of multi-coloured spirals they retreat back into the eye and the screen returns to red. The directors credits comes up and it fades to black.