How do film techniques create meaning in the opening sequence? part 4.

>Music! This is a very important technique, as it adds a lot of meaning to the sequence.

The music is a very dramatic and fast paced theme. It helps to determine mood and genre for the film.
The pace of the music is one of the aspects that can change the mood, by changing the speed to a slower tempo, you can go from intense action flick, to lovey dovey romantic comedy. It is very important to have the perfect music in the opening sequence. The genre is set, and as with composition, transitions and camera movement, allows the viewer to understand the type of film they are going to watch, and either entice or put off the viewer, ideally the former.

The music of the opening sequence starts out quiet, but fast paced, with stringed instruments, a trumpet now begins along with the string instruments, creating a very intense feeling. The music gets louder as the opening credits reach the important screen shots throughout the sequence. Varying levels of volume and layers of different instruments are used throughout the sequence depending on the image or name being shown. For instance, and important screen shot of an important event from the previous film, for example, of Peter Parker standing in front of Ben Parker's grave, the music is quite intense and loud, as this is a very important theme and issue in the film. There are no lyrics in the music, which I think, adds to the dramatic effect and the focus of the images or credits showing during the opening sequence.
This music is recognisable as a Spiderman theme, because of the combination of instruments and the tempo and other factors in the music.


(Spiderman sountrack cover)



Spiderman 2 is an action/drama movie, and its opening theme has some of the typical points that most action films will have in all of their opening themes, the fast pace, cressendos, and changes in volume, that all match up with the images, or footage playing at the same time. All of these pieces put together creates the perfect opening for this type of film.  

>How do film techniques create meaning in the opening sequence? part 3

> Transitions and camera movement are somewhat similar, in the way that they both involve some kind of movement, but the transitions, or movement from one position to another, are a smaller part.
The transitions mainly occur in the apperance and disappearance of the images throughout the sequence. The images are 'wiped' from the screen by a black panel or colour block as mentioned in the composition blog.
This ensures that there is constant movement on screen, in keeping with the action genre.

By having the screen constantly moving and changing, the viewer begins to understand the mood of the film, and that there will always be something going on, it makes the viewer aware of the tone, and helps the director to set the scene, so that there will be less time wasted at the beginning of the film, establishing genre.

The transitions are used as a referance to the genre and theme of the movie, the director has made allusions to the constant movement and action in the film. By making transitions seamless and endless (one entire moving transition), the pace of the movie has been represented. This helps the viewer, along with other techniques, to understand the movie they are about to see, and its genre, before they begin watching the storline unfold.
This is similar to other superhero movies, because most of these movies are action or drama based films, often the opening sequence is similar in that, the speed of transitions and/or camera movements are fast paced and clean, to represent the genre.
The fast cutting and changing of the transitions carries on throughout the film, in many or all of the action scenes. The director has used fast cutting throughout the film, to enhance the idea of action. If an action scene was shot in one continous action, or in a few slower shots, it would not be nearly as exciting as a scene where there is fast cuts between points of view and characters. The transitions, we can see, reflect the action throughout the film.

This technique creates meaning by using the link between the action in the film, and the movement and transitions in the opening sequence, to establish genre, mood and tone. The fast paced movement, very similar, if not identical to the motion of the camera, and overall movement, recreates the action throughout the film, the above screen shot, gives a glimpse of the action.

>How do film techniques create meaning in the opening sequence? part 2.

>Camera movement, or the way the sequence moves, is an important part of setting the movie in a genre, and creating mood.
In the Spiderman 2 opening titles, the director has chosen to use fast, smooth motion, almost swinging from one focal point to another. e.g. going from an image with the producers names, to a screen with just the directors name.
This technique seems to make the credits look like they are on one large area, or piece of paper, and the camera is simply moving from one area to another, the speed at which the camera moves gives the impression of action and drama, setting the genre.

By using this combination of speed and direction, the genre is well represented, allowing the viewer to understand the type of movie they are going to watch. The genre of Spiderman 2 is action/drama. By looking at the camera movement, we can see this being linked. The movement represents the fast pace of the movie and the ongoing drama and action throughout the entire film. The director has chosen specifically to use this kind of movement to enhance the effectiveness of the opening sequence, by linking the movement to the genre of the film, we get a preview almost, about what the film is going to be like. Having seen the movie and watched the opening sequence countless times, it is safe to say that the director has done well to portray the action and drama of the entire film, in only 3 minutes.


The technique creates meaning in the sequence by recreating some of the movement made in action scenes in the film. We often see this kind of motion throughout the film, when Spiderman is fighting badies, or in some kind of action scene. Therefore, we can link the action in the film to the opening sequence by the movement.

>How do film techniques create meaning in the opening sequence? part 1

Choosing four of the most important techniques for the SpiderMan 2 opening sequence was pretty simple, because it is an animated sequence some techniques don't apply, but these 4 are all super important! Compostition, camera movement, transitions and music!

>The first mention is the composition, composition is basically the way a scene or sequence is COMPOSED, or set up,  the combination of elements, it creates meaning within the sequence which is SO important. The block colours, black panels, and illustrations, all look very similar to what a comic book would look like if it was animated. This links back to the story's origins. The whole SpiderMan franchise is based on the comic book series, therefore, a link to this is very important. Although many people realise this, it gives a layer of background information to the story.
The colours also relate to the story, the famous Spidey suit is blue, red and black, the colours of the blocks and panels.

These components were chosen by the director, to recap on the previous film in the series, in an interesting and linked way, which is important, although it is better to have seen the first movie, the director wants anyone and everyone to be able to watch the film, so giving some insight as to what happened first, while at the same time linking back to the whole story's origins, helps this to be possible. The composition shows the comic book background because of the similarities between the image, and panels, and the small amounts of text on each frame, the director has chosen to draw a parallel here, to introduce and represent the beginning of Spiderman, so that people realise where it came from, and then credit is given to Stan Lee who was the original comic book creator.
The composition suggests themes for the movie by showing the important shots from the last film, and issues or situations posed, that may or may not carry through into this installment.
All of the composition relates to the story, and nothing is used without a secondary meaning, such as the red and blue in the suit, and in the blocks, the panels as the web, or comic book paneling.  This screen shot is a good example of the compostition throughout the sequence.

>SpiderMan2 Genre/atmosphere.

How does the director use film techniques to create a mood/tone and to set the film in a genre?
So, the camera movement in the opening sequence of the film SpiderMan 2, is very smooth, but fast.  long sweeping shots across the screen makes it seem natural. When I saw this, I immediately thought of the way Spiderman swings from building to building, fast and smooth, I don't know whether this was intentional or not, but it sure is effective!
Now, Because this sequence is animated, I can't say much about mis-en-scene, but the compostition, if you freeze the sequence,is generally going to be an image, with black panelling, and blue or red blocks of colour, with the titles, and names printed in black on top. These colours are a major part of the Spiderman franchise, the red,blue and black, being the colours of the SpiderSuit, which is obviously a huge part in identifying the film.
The transitions in this opening sequence are very well done. in time with the music, and just the right length of time, allowing the viewer to read the names, then look at the screen shot. The transitions are sweeping or wiping motions.
All of these points are important in creating the mood of the sequence, but without music, it would not be nearly as effective at portraying the tone.
The music of the SpiderMan 2 film opening is very dramatic, fast paced and suspenseful, the kind of thing you would expect from an action-packed, super-hero movie. The music sets the tone perfectly, and gives the first impression which is so important for all films. It sets the tone by almost describing the plot line, with cressendos, or climaxes, calmer, softer bars, like the movie!

The camera movement, compostition, transitions and music, all help in not only setting the mood and tone, but to set the film in a genre. It is important for the opening sequence to set the film into a genre, because the viewer is always going to want to know what they're watching, and what to prepare for.
At the beginning  of a horror film, you don't want to see love hearts and hear soft music, this will just confuse the viewer! The director has shown that the film is a comic book recreation action/drama movie, therefore, the viewer can prepare themselves, and know what they are watching.

>Movie opening sequence!

The movie I have chosen to study the title sequence on is.....Spiderman 2, directed by Sam Raimi!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSDU2tu7rpk

 

The basic outline of Spiderman 2 is based on  Peter Parker,  the typical average american early twenties-ish male, with super-human powers! The girl he loves is engaged to someone else, and he (or his alter-ego Spider-man) is being attacked by the local newspaper for being a bad superhero! He decides it is time to give up the lycra and the secret life to go back to being a normal citizen. But, when a new villain hits the town, he struggles wiht his decision of whether to stay out of the action, or get right on in there. It is an epic super hero action flick meets love story fairytale starring Toby Macguire, Kirsten Dunst and James Franco.

The opening is a dramatic sequence well drawn scene shots, looking vaguely like comic book illustrations, of Peter (Macguire), Mary-Jane (Dunst) and other major characters in various scenarious, cut together with a combination of blue, red and black coloured panels separated and framed by spider-web detail, which could be mistaken for comic book panelling (hint to Spider-man's beginnings in the comic book created by Todd McFarlane), accompanied by an hugely dramatic and suspensful theme tune (www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARUmZy0n6N4, apptly named "Spider-Man 2 (Main Title)" (3:21) in the Spider-Man 2 Original motion picture score) , the whole sequence sets you up for a action and adventure packed film.

The sequnce fits into the movie, because of the links to spiders/Spider-man/spider webs, also the colours (red,blue,black) are the colours of the epic and famous "SpiderSuit". Obviously the edited screen shots are given hints as to what happens in the new film, while giving reminders about the previous installment.

It appealed to me, because the music was so suspensful, the screen was never still, (giving a hint as to the speed and mood of the film ahead) and things were moving around, black panels pulling from one side of the screen, across an image to the other, revealing a second image, drawing my eye to different areas and important images on the screen.

The basic tone and mood  of the sequence is, well, dramatic, and...exciting. The main reason this is, is because of the music. It definitely sets the mood for the rest of the film, and gives an idea about what is in store, it's so effective!

The 'camera' movement in these 3-4 minutes is smooth, but fast. Which, when I saw, brought to my mind, the way in which Spider-man moves or swings in fact, from building to building using his fancy spider-web-shooter-thing. You are basically looking straight into a motion version of an edited comic book. There really isn't much to say in terms of mis-en-scene, or composition, the images are moved around, covered and replaced by black lines, coloured panels, and other images. Each image is only on screen for a few seconds, before it is replaced in a clean transtion, a wipe or cut for instance. As previously said, the music is perfectly chosen for this film, and sequence, even the beat of the music is balanced with the transtion of shots.

So, overall, everything is really well produced and cut together and chosen...it's just plain good!