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