Zombie Land Opening Sequence

ZOMBIELAND: OPENING SEQUENCE 




I looked at examples of title sequences to have more of a understanding of how opening titles are presented and the certain order that one must be in. I chose the film zombieland as i felt the effects that they use to create the atmosphere of the film is very effective and the order that they put the titles in. A thing that caught my eye was the way that the titles would flow with the action that is going around them. one example was at the end when the title 'ZOMBIELAND' appeared the man used the bat smashing a window making the title disappear with the window.

Above is the opening sequence for Zombieland. 

                                     

                                                              Time: 2min 40seconds 

 Time : 2min 50seconds

Time: 2min 55seconds

                                     

                                      

                                                             Time: 2min 58seconds

                                      

                                                             Time : 3min 05seconds 

                                      

                                       

                                      
                                                               Time: 3min 09seconds



                                       

                                      
                                                               Time: 3min 14seconds 



                                       

                                                                   Time:3mins 21seconds

My distributor

The Dark Knight

The Dark Knight


I looked at the Dark Knight as it i felt the opening sequence would inspire my opening scene also i felt that as The Dark Knight is a thriller it would link to mine as I'm interested to use this genre. Things that i got from this opening sequence was the tense music and the costumes that would have the audience on edge, also they would use a gory element in order to keep the audience excited.

Above you see the opening sequence of The Dark Knight who class as a Thriller

the opening titles uses sound in order to build tension it almost sounds like explosions in the distance, or footsteps of something intimidating. It then fades out with the movie titles. The audience then hears a sound of a ticking clock followed by a low bass drum that could suggest that there is a certain amount of time that they have to complete something. the low bass drum could symbolise the intense action that they will go through.

In this screenshot you are first introduced to a man with his back to the audience. You don't a lot from this wide angle shot. only a mask and a hint of location. However the mask can be very symbolic to the audience as the camera then tracks into the mask. with a growing sound of synth mixed with white noise set to strings. Building the intense action of the scene.

You notice how the director has purposely chose the clown masks instead of the plain masks used in a generic bank robbery, but I feel he has done this in order to put questions in the audiences minds and add creepiness to the characters. As clowns can be frightening so the masks just add more fear for the audience.

 

Brick

BRICK 






The Opening sequence starts off with a faded in xylophone with a guitar followed with it. One moment especially the xylophone increases in sound when you get introduced to a man with a hidden face. Which builds up when the dead women is found on the floor.






The scene still uses the same instruments but when it gets to the end they use a sound bridge as the Music fades and then turns into a school bell.

You can see that the director purposely added mystery to this man to build tension with the scene as you never clearly see his face. This keeps the audience interested with the story as the camera shots puts questions into the audiences minds e.g. who this person?, what is he doing there? etc. But you see that he has something to do with this women on the ground as his mood is calm. Additionally you can see that the director uses a extreme close up to recreate the mystery of the character and the suspense of the scene and what he's looking at.




  

We then see a graphic match used in the opening sequences to show that the girl with the blue bracelet is the same person as in the the two scenes you notice the director has put all the audiences attention on the blue bracelets. also it is used with a close up to make sure that the audience is only looking at the bracelet as it represents the characters from both scenes. also you see that he has not change the colours or the way she wears it as he wants to make it obvious to the audience that its the same person.

Additionally the Mise-en scene of the man shoes and jeans is shown intentionally for the audience to also notice that he is the same person. At this point the director still hasn't shown the character, only the shoes and cuffed jeans which symbolise the character. You can also see with this shot that the character is wearing everything exactly the same intentionally for the audience to realise the mysterious character.



Wallander

Wallander 

  

The first thing I noticed about the opening sequence of Wallander was the sound, the sound was like a patio door, its open and the Wind is blowing into the house but once it closes the sound disappears like it was never there. It almost takes the air away from the audiences breath to add suspense.

               the sound used in the opening sequence, you feel the tension with the wind also you could see from the first few seconds that the genre of the series was a thriller/action as the mise-en scene was dull in a horrifying way, the sea was in ripples as a dark blue color having no light shining from it the location was isolated no one to be scene except to girls. you could see the fog in the distance and there was no animals, not even birds on the shore making there sounds. 

When you first meet the girls they are shown from the back so they seem harmless only one shown as more powerful but the plot could be anything at this point and it gives the audience questions e.g. who are these two girls?, why are they alone is such a isolated area?.

but as the camera is shown in front of them you can see they are a dominant pair, having blood over there clothes and a brisk walk showing they don't care, As the scene 





then after this it shows a dead man that you later on find out that he's a family man showing that they are harmful people that do not care. the opening sequence then ends with a knife that drops from one of the girls followed by a transition to the opening credits. 

Sweeney Todd

Above is the opening sequence of Sweeney Todd

The first thing i noticed from the opening sequence is that its quiet creepy, from the music and that its a sinister film. The Artsy opening is very different from your typical 'Horror as its more like creative with the film. i feel the Artsy vibe makes it more creepier as you don't know what to expect, i feel it like the nursery rhymes in a film but its used in a different context. i felt that the opening credits suited the music as the font that was used was shown in a disfigured fashion. suiting the genre of the film.

Bourne Supremacy

Above you see the Bourne Supremacy Opening Sequence

The first thing you get from the opening sequence is the music, the music reveals the genre, you could see from this already that this is a Thriller/Action film just from the music. The music sounds mysterious as it rises when the first titles come up.this is normally typical in a opening sequence as it wants a soundtrack that will catch the audiences attention. as the clip continues  you here a high pitch scream I feel the director chose this in order to build a climax for the audience as the next camera shot shows a close up of a man following with a gun shot ending the climax. You can see that the director purposely uses shorts cuts in a sequence in order to bring questions to the audience as you see snippets of characters that you can only see for a very short amount of time. Also you can see that it could be a violent film as the short cuts while shown have a violent whistle in the background, this could show the intensity that the film it has. When your first introduced to the main character you see that there is a close up to his face with sweat. this shot is after the short cuts making the audience realise that its his visions he seeing.  Additionally the opening sequence does have some things that are different. As the takes are short it gives the audience a sort of  cliffhanger making them want to know the past of these characters and more of the plot.