Opening Sequence Analysis: Part Three

Star Wars: A New Hope - Opening Sequence Analysis

My detailed breakdown of the opening sequence to Star Wars Episode IV (1977) - Click HERE to view sequence (Title crawl ends 2:00) Unfortunately the clip was removed from YouTube due to copyright claims. 

Who/what has been selected? What can you see? Why is it there?

DENOTATION
Begins with iconic title crawl explaining context of film. Shows rebel ship trying to escape through space from an enormous imperial star destroyer. Ends with battle on rebel ship in which the rebels appear to lose. Finally, the main villain, Darth Vader emerges.

CONNOTATION
Opening shot of space shows the visually stunning (for the period) setting as well as the enormity of the imperial starship, which stretches further and further across the screen. The size of the imperial starship conveys it to be extremely powerful and thus shows the rebel starship to be an underdog with massive opposition. The one sided fight onboard rebel ship further extends portrayal of Vader's men as extremely powerful. From the smoke and wreckage of the battle emerges the villain Darth Vader. His entry at the end of the fight shows him to be the leading and prevailing antagonist. 

Mise-en-scene - Locations, Costumes, Props, Casting, NVC, Lighting, Colour

DENOTATION
Location is somewhere in space. Two spaceships are where the scenes are unfolding. The rebels are equipped with helmets and grey uniforms, they all hold small pistols. The Imperial Stormtroopers sport immaculate, futuristic white body suits. Interior of rebel ship is entirely white and grey. Darth Vader sports an all black body suit that looks like a customized storm trooper uniform, with a cape.

CONNOTATION
Location of space would have dazzled audiences of the time, also shows that the film is set far in the future. The rebel uniforms appear far inferior to the stormtroopers full body suits. Moreover, the small rebel guns look insufficient in comparison to the futuristic stormtrooper equipment.

Technical Construction - Camerawork, Special Effects, Resolution, Framing

DENOTATION
Establishing shot is an extreme long shot of the planes of space. Other shots from afar of the chase follow. Heavy use of medium and long shots in the ship to show the fight.

CONNOTATION
Long and extreme long shots prominently used to show the scale of space. Would have thrilled audiences of the time who wouldn't have seen such ambitious special FX. Size and complexity of ships showed, battle showed to be one sided and swift through the length of timings of shots.

Audience - Demographic, Psychographic

Queues for the first screening of Star Wars: A New Hope
in 1977.

Star Wars was described by George Lucas, the creator of the franchise, as a 'Space Western'. The setting of space was exciting, and interested people in 1977. People caught word of the groundbreaking special effects and enthralling story and the word of mouth of the film spread across the world. History.com describes how "the anticipation of a revolutionary movie-watching experience spread like wildfire." The films were particularly popular with young males due in part to the plucky male protagonist (Luke Skywalker) who would rise from humble beginnings to save the day. Furthermore, the action and science fiction elements interested young people. Star Wars quickly became and has remained a bona-fide pop culture phenomenon. 

Opening Sequence Analysis: Part Two

AKIRA - Opening Sequence Analysis

My detailed breakdown of the opening sequence to AKIRA (1988) - Click HERE  to view sequence.

Who/what has been selected? What can you see? Why is it there?

DENOTATION

Aerial pan of Tokyo in the year 1989, exploding. Followed by aerial shot of New Tokyo with a title that translates to "31 years after the 3rd world war in the year 2019, New Tokyo." At 1:20, a large red font appears, reading "AKIRA" over an image of a large crater in the ground.

CONNOTATION

These two shots give an audience an idea of where the story is set, and most importantly, the context of the story. The explosion of the former Tokyo is shocking as it is said to have occurred in 1989, a year after the films release. It is hinted that this is linked to the mentioned, "3rd world war." This gives the audience a foothold in the story. The final shot of the large crater shows the audience the remains of 1989, offering more context and showing how 'Neo Tokyo' is in a new location and is incredibly different. The title loge - 'AKIRA' is striking and memorable due to the bold red. The image appears as a drum beats, making the title more dramatic.

Mise-en-Scene - Locations, Costumes, Props, Casting, NVC, Lighting, Colour

DENOTATION

The first and second shots of Tokyo contrast greatly in regards to the colors used. Heavy use of faded browns and reds in the second of shot present it Neo Tokyo as greatly run down. Lighting is unsaturated.

CONNOTATION

Pre-Explosion Tokyo is portrayed as picturesque. It looks a beautiful, clean and orderly city. Simple, pretty  colours illustrate this. The colours are faded however, this could highlight the fact that it is the Tokyo of the past.  Neo Tokyo much uglier, the camera descends through sprawling red and brown cloud, showing Neo Tokyo to be dirty and perhaps dangerous. The contrast between the two cities underlines the devastation of the explosion and the events of 'The 3rd World War'.

Technical Construction - Camerawork, Special Effects, Resolution, Framing

DENOTATION

A low aerial shot of 1989 Tokyo, panning up to an explosion near the horizon which destroys the city. An incredibly high aerial, bird's eye view shot of Neo Tokyo, zooms down. Finally an extreme long shot of a huge crater.

CONNOTATION
The aerial framing in the first two shots displays the scale of Tokyo (more so 1989 Tokyo) and the power that the explosion much have had to destroy such a vast city. The birds eye view shot of Neo Tokyo portrays it as an isolated and sprawling city, it is shown to be cold and bleak from such a height. Furthermore, The camera appears to resemble a military device; insinuating the city could be a 'warzone' or simply very dangerous.

Audience - Demographic, Psychographic


The film is an anime. In 1989 anime was a far less popular genre of film. The term relates to Japanese animation films. Akira has an interesting demographic as it is considered a ground-breaking film for anime and Japanese film. In the US and much of the West animation was, and often still is considered to be angled towards children and families. However, in Japan, anime has long been considered an art form and are far more sophisticated, often with more adult themes than Western cartoons. In Japan, the demographic would have been mainly young adults and not children due to the films mature story and deep themes. When the film arrived on US shores due to the buzz it had created in Japan its demographic was somewhat unknown. Few films like it had been seen by a US audience and Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas; huge hollywood directors labelled the film "Unmarketable." The film slowly became a massive hit in Japan and since 1989 gained a cult following in the West.

Part Three to follow shortly...

Opening Sequence Analysis: Part One

Batman: The Dark Knight - Opening Sequence Analysis

My detailed breakdown of the opening sequence of Batman: The Dark Knight (2008) - Click HERE to view sequence.

Who/What has been selected? What can you see? Why is it there?

DENOTATION
A bank robbery featuring 'criminals' of Gotham city. The Character of The Joker is introduced. His personality is revealed. Themes include Game theory vs. fair division, as well as more basic themes (Morality vs. Evil.)

CONNOTATION

The Joker is introduced as an incredibly intelligent and cunning character, this is shown through his organisation of a complex and ingenious bank robbery. Furthermore The Joker is portrayed as ruthless and greedy through his insistence that each mobster should kill his partner to increase each member’s pay-out. We see the cowardice and intense greed of the mobsters of Gotham when they agree to the Joker’s scheme of game theory, The Joker prevails as the only remaining member of the robbery, this infers his superior intelligence in comparison to Gotham’s other criminals.

Mise-en-scene - Locations, Costumes, Props, Casting, NVC, Lighting, Colour

DENOTATION
The location, Gotham City, visually stunning cityscapes. Each criminal sports a plastic clown mask – hiding expressions. Well lit, crime carried out in broad daylight.

CONNOTATION
The scale of Gotham City shows the ambition and scale of the robbery. The clown masks portray the criminals as conformists and anonymous, These masks also insinuate that the criminal’s work for The Joker as the Jokers image is similar to that of a clown.

Technical construction - Camerawork, Special Effects, Resolution

DENOTATION

Opens with breath-taking aerial shots of the fictional Gotham City, memorable use of aerial tilt. Many tracking shots and pans.


CONNOTATION

Extreme long opening shots act as establishing shots and again show the scale of the crime and more-so give the fictional Gotham City a sense of identity. The aerial tilt and opening long shots also manipulate the use of IMAX cameras deployed in the main action sequences. 

Audience - Demographic, Psychographic

The age demographic of the Batman franchises has traditionally been fairly young (Batman is based on a comic book series of the same name.) However the Dark Knight aims to appeal to a far wider audience, this is reflected in the opening sequence with the use of gritty scenes of death as well as the far darker portrayal of The Joker. The film will appeal more to males due to the dark and gritty atmosphere of the film; the mainprotagonist and antagonist are also male characters. The film features violence, action, a tight, clever and sophisticated plot as well as very strong performances from A-list actors, it meets the needs and wants of avery wide demographic. 

Preliminary Task: Editing Process

Screenshots of the editing process

I edited from home using Final Cut Express 4. The software allowed me more freedom to edit the footage the way I wanted to than other editing programs like iMovie. 

The colour-correction filters were extremely useful in grading the footage and compensating for any inconsistencies in the lighting.

For my final piece, I'll probably produce a draft edit from home using Final Cut Express, and then a final edit on Final Cut X, the newer (supposedly) more sophisticated version of the Final Express Program.

Preliminary Task: Evaluation

To view my preliminary task again click here

What have you learned by doing this exercise?

After shooting I gained a greater appreciation for the use of storyboarding, having clear, direct storyboards allowed me to better visualize how I wanted my piece to turn out and also to organize the shoot quickly and efficiently. From the task I learned the importance of storyboards. 

Matching storyboards with the completed shots 

What skills have you developed?

I feel, after completing my tasks, I better developed skills at directing actors to achieve what I wanted the piece to look like. I wanted Will (the protagonist) to follow the storyboard very closely and was strict and precise with my directions. I have never done this before when filming and was pleased with how closely my preliminary resembled the vision I had of it in my mind.

Directing Will on the timings of the final shot

Receiving feedback

For feedback, I submitted my piece to a number of different social media websites. I posted the task to Vimeo and YouTube, and also Tweeted links to my task. To view the online feedback I received, click the website links.

The feedback I received praised and criticized different aspects of my piece, this was extremely useful and gives me more perspective for my Final opening sequence task. Points made by many of the comments were:

- The soundtrack was largely praised, "Music works well to create the mood" was posted by one YouTuber. Another stated that "it (soundtrack) matches the mood of the film." The overall consensus was that the use of music over the piece was a success. For the preliminary task, I enlisted the help of my friend Louis Fitton, a music student who composed the main theme specifically for my preliminary task. I will definitely work with Louis again to produce the soundtrack for my final opening sequence.

- One aspect of the soundtrack that was criticized was the dialogue between the two brothers from outside the room. One user wrote that "I recommend making the narrative louder, it is hard to make out properly over the music." In response I would say that I played with the volume of the brothers dialogue lots in post-production and in my opinion it is at the right volume to convey that the brothers are outside of the room and only parts of their conversation was audible to the protagonist. Perhaps though it still could be slightly louder, or alternatively the music slightly quieter to appease such criticisms, the balancing of the different sources of sound will be something I greatly consider in my final piece. 

Improvements to my Preliminary Task

Overall, I was extremely satisfied with the results of my preliminary task, however I do agree some improvements could be made. 

- Firstly, I'd like to gain a greater understanding of lighting. For my preliminary task I didn't pay huge amounts of intention to how the shots should be lit and made most corrections to lighting in post-production, while this is passable, before I shoot my final piece I'd like to research some techniques and equipment that could help better the lighting in my films.

- Secondly, I think had I used more foley to replace the external sound effects (cars passing from outside the window etc.) the piece would have sounded more professional. For my final piece I'll look at better balancing the sounds, the use of more foley would help this.

Preliminary Task: 'Forest Escape!'

Preliminary task is complete! Hit full screen and enjoy.

Story Boarding - Preliminary Task

 To be able to visualise your ideas on a piece of paper is liberating. Follow the storyboards from left to right. More to come shortly: