Textual analysis of Opening sequences

Textual analysis of Opening sequences

A prezi describing the opening sequence of 'The Silence of the Lambs'

Here is a soundcloud of the opening music to The Silence of the Lambs.



The music throughout the title sequence is sinister therefore depicting a psycho-thriller genre. It creates tension which is essential in a thriller as the uses suspense, tension and excitement as main elements. Thrillers heavily inspire the viewer's mood, it can give them high levels of anticipation, uncertainty, surprise, anxiety and terror. Films of this genre tend to be adrenaline-rushing and fast-paced. The opening music reflects the terror and anxiety thrillers hold.

Another film under the thriller genre I studied the opening sequence of was 'Se7en' starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman.

"A film about two homicide detectives' desperate hunt for a serial killer who justifies his crimes as absolution for the world's ignorance of the Seven Deadly Sins. The movie takes us from the tortured remains of one victim to the next as the sociopathic "John Doe" sermonizes to Detectives Sommerset and Mills -- one sin at a time. The sin of Gluttony comes first and the murderer's terrible capacity is graphically demonstrated in the dark and subdued tones characteristic of film noir. The seasoned and cultured but jaded Sommerset researches the Seven Deadly Sins in an effort to understand the killer's modus operandi while the bright but green and impulsive Detective Mills scoffs at his efforts to get inside the mind of a killer."

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114369/

Synergy

History of Title Sequences

Log line

Log line

A log line is a brief summary of a television programme or film providing both a synopsis of the program's plot, and an emotional hook to stimulate interest.

Some examples of log lines,

Logline 1 - The extraordinary story of a thoroughbred racehorse - from his humble beginnings as an under-fed workhorse to his unlikely rise and triumphant victory over the Triple Crown winner, War Admiral. Seabiscuits

Logline 2 - A 17th Century tale of adventure on the Caribbean Sea where the roguish yet charming Captain Jack Sparrow joins forces with a young blacksmith in a gallant attempt to rescue the Governor of England's daughter and reclaim his ship. Pirates of the Caribbean

Logline 3 - After segueing from a life of espionage to raising a family, Gregorio and Ingrid Cortez are called back into action. But when they are kidnapped by their evil nemesis, there are only two people in the world who can rescue them... their kids! Spy Kids

Logline 4 - Toula's family has exactly three traditional values - "Marry a Greek boy, have Greek babies, and feed everyone." When she falls in love with a sweet, but WASPy guy, Toula struggles to get her family to accept her fiancée, while she comes to terms with her own heritage. My Big, Fat, Greek Wedding

Logline 5 - A young man and woman from different social classes fall in love aboard an ill-fated voyage at sea. Titanic

 

Film Marketing

Film Marketing

Studios spend millions of pounds on letting audiences know about the film they have produced. Marketing a big movie is a very expensive business, especially when the product has a limited time at the cinema. Movies have to be a hit on their opening weekend, even their opening day. If this does not happen the film tends to disappear quickly and the production of the film will make a loss.

Most blockbuster movies already have an audience. The studio has a huge budget for the movie because they already know people will go and see it - often because it is based on a media text that already has an audience. This may be a previous film (e.g. Iron Man 2's audience consists of many people who are fans of the first movie), or the source material (the first Iron Man is based on the Marvel character of the same name created by Stan Lee in 1963). This is why remakes and reboots are so popular. Original movies like Inception and Avatar are the exception to the rule, and represent a huge risk for the studio backing them. Studios have a huge operating overhead, and put out a lot of flops that make no money at all, so they need a guarantee that a blockbuster movie is going to be make not just a small profit, but a comfortable one. After spending $100 million dollars on a movie they can spend 50% as much again (or more) on marketing.

New Media

 Modern film releases will go above and beyond using all modern technology. This is to ensure as many people as possible have knowledge of the film. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and QR codes on the films advertisement poster, links a related website to the film. This is all possible due to the use of new media and technologies. The film can now be identified where ever people are. All of these modern promotions like twitter help producers to attract a larger audience for the film than what they used to attract. In the Iron Man 2 poster above there is a QR code making the poster interactive with people who see it on the street or where ever it may be. From this people passing will be able to gain knowledge of the film, the plot, timings of screenings.

A code leading to a website with information regarding QR codes.

Media Institution

Media Institution

An institution is something in society that plays a major role in people’s lives. An example, someones family, school, the NHS are all ‘institutions’. The media plays a massive part these days in everyone’s lives .

When a concentration of media companies manufacture high quality media texts and products and distribute them widely and easily. These companies are called ‘media institutions’.

Most of the media is owned by just a handful of companies and individuals.  In the USA just five large corporations control nearly all the 'visual media' such as television and films.

Rupert Murdoch, News Corporation CEO

• Can you think of any well-known ‘media moguls’ who own a large share of the UK mass media industry – TV, film, newspaper, music, etc?
• Now being very cynical in your thinking, can you suggest why they wish to own such massive media empires?
• Now be far more objective an un-cynical and answer the same question!
• Where do you think the truth lies?

Critics argue that a concentration of media ownership offers an individual or a corporation a huge level of influence and power.

If one person owns a large deal of the media, they have the opportunity to limit  and manipulate the points of view the media depict to the public. Mainly to those that are sympathetic towards certain value and those values are likely to fit in with the ‘way things are’.