"Skyfall" Title Sequence Analysis (1 of 3)
The title sequences of the iconic James Bond films have been reputable, but the latest film of the series, "Skyfall", builds on the previous efforts to create a highly praised piece.
The sequence begins with a man in a suit falling into water, as we hear a non-diegetic sound fade into a soft piano. This creates a solemn tone to perhaps suggest this character is dead, even more so when the scene fades to black, immediately creating some enigma as we recognise this man as the character James Bond. However a hand grabs him as the words "This is the end." are sung - it should be noted that the soundtrack to this opening sequence was a #2 single by singer songwriter Adele, with the same title as the film itself, that was released before the film as its soundtrack. The soft female voice over the piano backing track creates a quiet, moody atmosphere with a lot of mystery, we don't know what is going on in the sequence for the most part, it relies heavily on connotations to suggest things that may play a role in the film.
The text "Skyfall" appears on the screen as the man [Bond] falls through a gap that has appeared in the sea bed as Adele sings "feel the Earth move". We get the impression from these first few lines of song that the song matches the film and lyrics could suggest what will happen in the film. Mise-en-scene is used to great effect in this opening scene as various objects seem to fly across the screen as the camera follows the movement of the inactive body of Bond - for instance, at 0:41, a cut-out of bond with bullet holes in him and a single bleeding wound under his right shoulder drifts across the scene and intrigues the audience - why has this been placed here?, what is it's significance to the plot? The camera stays in this darkened, underwater world that creates a strong sense of mystery - at 1:01, the guns and knives fall to the ground and look like tombstones when the camera moves past, and the lighting of the scene, i.e. the light coming from the water surface creates a very eerie graveyard-type scene.
There scene turns red, and from now on has connotations with blood and violence, we see Bond shooting the shadows of people surrounding him at around 1:34. Adele's lyrics continue to add a sense of ambiguity to the scene, "Skyfall is where we start" and so on, intrigues the audience to discover what Skyfall is or represents. To further add to this confusion, we hear no diegetic sound throughout the entire title sequence, just the non-diegetic sound of the soundtrack. There are recurring themes of guns, particularly pistols, red colours in the scene and other images that can be associated with violence, such as the fires at 2:09. Special effects are used to good effect here as we see several Chinese Dragons flying around the scene, once again intriguing the reader as to why they were placed in the title sequence; they must bear some relevance to the film, but the reader is curious as to what. For the next several seconds we see a wide array of different images that are difficult to process, the camera moves through all of them at a fast pace, but we continually see images associated with death, such as the skull at 2:49. There are several matches with previous Bond title sequences, such as the iconic stance and gunshot, but this sequence is particularly unique. Where Bond shoots at 3:09, we see him mirrored several times around him, and then the gunshot breaks the mirror. This could suggest confusion within the plot and the characters themselves being mislead.
The music picks up towards the end of the sequence to reach, building suspense and anticipation for the start of the film itself, and the sequence finishes on a close-up to zoom shot on Daniel Craig's eye. The shot continues to zoom right through his pupil as the directors name is displayed, creating a sense of closure to the sequence. The sheer amount of
effects used and confusion created through the variety in mise-en-scene combined with the soundtrack has made the title sequence for Skyfall very well known.
"The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" Title Sequence Analysis (2 of 3)
The title sequence begins with a black screen and with the music building in a crescendo. A few seconds in, a heavy drum sequence begins, coinciding with text appearing on the screen, perhaps signifying the start of any action in the film/title sequence. Different images flash onto the screen in time with the kick of the drum sequence, and with the dark colour scheme it is difficult to make out these images. The pace is quickened with the addition of another layer of music, and the images now flash across the screen one after the other at such a pace that the audience struggles to keep up. A theme we can see here is running water or some form of black liquid in each of the shots, which in itself is typical iconography of a thriller film. The film title appears and is consumed by this black ooze. Here, we see contrasting images in what appears to be someone in armour, restricted by shackles, and a modern day computer keyboard. These images are placed one after the other suggesting they may be in some way related in the film.
The soundtrack plays a very important role in the title sequence. Each new image that appears coincides with the beat pattern of the song, i.e. on every drum beat. Although each image is difficult to see given the pace of the sequence, we notice the liquid in each shot clearly, signifying importance. There is a pattern of seeing unfamiliar objects with familiar objects in the sequence, such as the mysterious bulge of liquid and the cable-like structures. The woman's voice in the song is very mysterious and almost stretched, adding to the suspense built by the dramatic soundtrack. The few breaks in the black colour scheme are from the torch that spirals across the screen, which then seems to set things on fire. The images continue to alternate quickly so the audience is left dazed and confused as to what is actually happening in the sequence, heightened by the loudness of the music. The primeval type screams further add to this effect.
We see the image of a Phoenix appear half way through the sequence, which after several image alternations, flies upwards. The Phoenix has many connotations, even more so as it is standing out of the darkness of this sequence, of re-birth, hope and power. Whilst this Phoenix seems to be escaping, the man in the scene seems to be trapped by abnormal vine-like structures, hinting at a potential plot involving entrapment and escape, typical of thrillers.
The tribal-esque drums continue coupled with the eeriness of the woman in the song to engage the audience further and build suspense, as we see the image of a man emerging from underwater, which could also have many connotations, similarly to that of the Phoenix, of escape, whilst another figure appears to be drowning. This is once again centred around water, a key theme of this sequence and of thrillers in general, showing how this sequence conforms to thriller conventions. With the crescendo in the music, we see the first signs of violence in the sequence, first with a clenched fist, then with the destruction of the woman's statue like face, to show a clear contrast in vulnerability and power. This happens until the music dies down, and we see the image of a woman who seems to be covered in some black substance, perhaps the ooze from earlier in the sequence. Coupled with a well timed synth effect in the soundtrack, the woman looks up at the camera and opens her eyes, as the image flashes on and off repeatedly. This effect gives a real sense of abnormality and horror. The woman is then seemingly captured by several hands, as the song sings "Now you better start, and capture all your ruins". There is a struggle to remain free of these hands and other restraints, but as the music once again heightens, everything in the scene seems to collapse on itself, and it all happens so quickly that the audience is left dazed and confused by the title sequence. Similarly to Skyfall, there is just too much to take in at such a pace, but this only adds to the suspense built before the start of the film. The sequence finishes when one of the figures screams as she is finally captured, and the shot goes through her mouth then fades to black. This theme of escape and entrapment dominates the title sequence of "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo", as we see many typical themes and iconography of thrillers.
"Se7en" Title Sequence Analysis (3 of 3)
The sequence begins with a loud, non-diegetic sound to signify the action commencing, as the text begins to appear on the screen. The font of the text is notable here as it appears very unnatural, like something isn't quite right with it. As the image cuts, the text starts inverted, before flipping to the correct side, but the font is once again very eerie, the name seems to have been written by hand, and small details such as the overlap on the "K", make it seem out of place and strange, as typical title sequences have clear, easy to read text. These first few seconds of the sequence already intrigue the audience and put them on edge and cause distress. This theme in the text continues throughout the title sequence.
We notice several images on the screen that could be associated with a laboratory of some sort. Firstly, the hands on the table, which look very abnormal, and then several pieces of equipment that we cannot identify due to short space of time they appear in and that only parts of them appear in the image. A heart-beat like effect is created by the continuation of the non-diegetic sound in the score, which slows the tempo and builds suspense up to the title of the film being displayed. We also hear a noise similar to that of a type-writer as the text appears, but not quite, there is still a sense of things not quite being as they should be in the sequence. This effect engages the curiosity of the audience very well. Special effects are used well along as one image of the man writing is superimposed over the same image of the man writing, and then many different images flash across the screen, all with illegible numbers and letters appearing until a name appears in focus.
We continue to hear a wide array of unnatural sounds, such as a sound similar to scraping at around 0:55. As sound is clearly a vital part of this sequence, not being able to identify the sound further confuses the audience, intriguing them more and more until the opening scene commences. We continue to see several texts, some of them being highlighted, or perhaps censored, further suggesting this is some form of laboratory or research facility, hinting at potential plots of the film. The music picks up as more of these images of procedures are shown, as words are cut out and removed, film is cut, and so on, developing previous ideas and suggesting more towards censoring or extracting key information with regard to an investigation or target, i.e. in crime we see extensive research type boards where interlinking items of media are extracted and placed here so that they can be connected with pins and so on. This creates a very dark atmosphere that is present throughout the sequence, setting the mood for the film to follow. The sequence concludes as an indistinguishable phrase is spoken in the soundtrack.
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