Opening Sequence Analysis

Quantum of Solace

For this title sequence the music matches the genre of the film; action/thriller. It is fast paced, loud and has and quick, snappy rhythm that tells the audience that this film is full of fast-paced action and suspense and helps to create a very nervous on-the-edge atmosphere.

The images that appear are very dark so you can't see the details of the characters face very well, this conveys the fact that the man is a spy and shrouds him in mystery as is expected of a spy.
(Below is a screen grab to illustrated my point)

The title's that appear are very bold and bright in comparison to the background footage which is very dark  This is used to draw more attention to the titles.
(Below is a screen grab to illustrated my point)
    

The dark colours are used because the primary target audience for the film would be men. So to suit the audience the colours are made to be dark and dull, browns, blacks and blues. If the colours were brighter, for instance pink, yellow and purple, the film would seem more girly and give the impression it was made with women in mind and not the target audience.
(Below is a screen grab to illustrated my point)

The footage then turns into tracking shots of the bullet and as the bullet makes it's progress the titles follow. This makes the audience more interested in what's going on because it gives the feeling that the bullet is leading up to something big and until the bullet gets to this thing the titles are more eye catching as they are the only things to look at of any interest.
(Below is a screen grab to illustrated my point)

A wide range of shots are used during this opening sequence, from tracking shots, close ups to birds eye views. This is used to make the opening sequence more visually pleasing and the flow of changing shots match the music, like choreography in music videos. This in turn makes the opening sequence more attractive and amusing.
(Below is a screen grab to illustrated my point)
 

The title for the film appears in a different font than all the other titles to draw more attention to it and make it clear that this particular title is important because it is the film name. However the colour of the film title is still the same as the colour for all the other titles so that it doesn't look out of place.
(Below is a screen grab to illustrated my point)


Below is a link to the title sequence for this film.
http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/quantum-of-solace/


The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The music for this title sequence is chilling and loud with long drawn out notes and a vibrating sound to accompany it. This creates a scary, anticipatory atmosphere to help match and convey the genre of the film which is mystery/thriller.

The colours are very dark, manly black to empathise the mystery side of the film however there are flashes of light that don't last long enough for the audience to get a clear idea of what is going on in the footage. These flashes match the beat of the song and this helps to build tensions that grows and becomes obvious throughout the film.
(Below is a screen grab to illustrated my point)
   

The titles are very small but stand out against the footage because they are white while the footage is all in different degrees of the colour black. However the fact that the titles are in such a small font gives the impression that they are secondary to the footage.
(Below is a screen grab to illustrated my point)

The footage is a verity of different scene and they switch very quickly but the switches follow the beat of the song playing. The quick changes in the sequence engage the audience very well because they are too absorbed in following the different footage that they can't and refuse to become distracted.
(Below is a screen grab to illustrated my point)

The film title is quite different to the other titles because it is bigger, bolder and in a different font which draws attention to its important. However it, like the other titles, still seems to be secondary to the footage because it appears and disappears very quickly but it's important is still very clear to the audience because unlike the other titles it doesn't fade out it is drowned out by the footage.
(Below is a screen grab to illustrated my point)

The images become a lot more obvious after the title sequence and are chosen specifically with the main character of the film in mind. A computer keyboard is used, a bound woman, a motor cycle tire, a match ect. These are all relevant to the character because she is a computer hacker, was bound and raped, featured in a motor cycle race which leads to an explosion. The images are all used to give the audience clues of this.
(Below is a screen grab to illustrated my point)

Colour is then introduced into the title sequence in the form of fire which exploits the danger involved with the film and the story line for the film. It is also used to further visually excite the audience and build on the already tense and nerve racking atmosphere.
(Below is a screen grab to illustrated my point)


Below is a link to the title sequence for this film.
http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/the-girl-with-the-dragon-tattoo/

Media: 30th March

My Editing Role

For my editing role I was the one who added in the music over the footage. This was very important because we had to decide our transactions and scene order for our running shots using the music because we wanted to have the running in time with the beat of the music. This was difficult because it took a lot of time getting all the small details right like the time it takes for one scene to fade out to the next and how that would match up with the music.
We also had to keep going back to the music every time we added in another scene and/or transaction to make sure it fit properly.
Having to find the right music with the correct beat that would match up to the scenes and the genre of the film was also a problem because we had to worry about things like copy righting and the effect the music would have on the audience had what kind of atmosphere it would create when layered over the top of our footage.
The hardest thing of all when adding in music was fading it out at the right time and finding another piece of music to pick up where the first piece left off without having there be a huge change that would ruin the current atmosphere but we also needed a piece that would add to the atmosphere and make the audience more nervous than excited for what is to come.

Media: 29th February

Filming Role

When we were filming our main task I filmed one of the first scenes with Lauanne acting. I used a tripod to keep the camera steady and I had an extreme close up of Lauanne’s face. I slowly zoomed out while Lauanne was saying her lines.
The most difficult thing when filming was zooming out at the right speed, not too fast but not too slow. It was also difficult to position the camera properly on the tripod because when ever Lauanne moved the position of the camera had to be changed so that the shot was right and the audience could see her face through out the scene, save when there was an extreme close up where it was her eye we wanted in the shot.
I think the best thing I did was the actual zooming out. This was very important in the scene because having an extreme close up to start with and then having the shot open up gave off a creepy, chilling atmosphere, which we wanted as it would work well with the genre of the film, thriller.