Enola Holmes
The opening of Enola Holmes features the history of Enola from birth and growing up.
Media Language
From the language used, audience would expect a lot of adventures and action in the movie as the opening shows a lot of things/activities Enola learned since young. The time setting of the movie is 1800s in England. Other than the fact it is explicitly told in the movie, we can also find out through the accent, outfit, technology, settings and such. Starting with the beginning scene where she rides the bicycle, the bicycle used looks very antique and not like bicycles today. The outfit she used is also like a gown dress with some sorts of padding like layers below, which more seem to be the outfit people used in the old ways. The actor of Enola Holmes (Millie Bobby Brown) is also a British actress hence having the accent which further amplify the setting of England. The transition between scenes or just the scenes itself shows shots of vintage scrapbook style to highlight certain informations such as the year or place or important pictures to be explained through voiceover. Audience can tell Enola Holmes has been taught to do a lot of things from the cuts of for example the different books when she was talking about reading, the jump cuts in science and sports and exercises. They also use a lot of cuts and different shots to show their mother-daughter relationship and immense chemistry and bond.
Representation
From the opening, the first thing that is most obvious is the representation of British people which is seen most in Enola’s accent in dialogues. There is also a representation of England during the 1800s which is a lot of green land, very barely lit rooms and houses which is mostly powered by natural lights or candles, the form of transportation which is a horse carriage. This opening also represents young girls who are deemed to be more active and adventurous because here, Enola learns stuff that girls, especially during her time wouldn’t do.
Audience
The target audience for this movie is probably teenagers/young adult with age range of 16-25. This is determined by the age of the main actor, Millie Bobby Brown, which she was 16 when she played the part. Another possible target audience is from the fans of the actors of Enola Holmes; Millie Bobby Brown (who played in “Stranger Things” and “Godzilla vs Kong”) and Helena Bonham Carter (who played in “Harry Potter” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”). The opening also interacts with the audience in ways that they consider the audience to be there which is shown when Enola delivers her dialogue as if she is talking to us. This opening can also drive curiousity as they would want to know what happens and how the plot will relate to her and possibly her mom.
Industry
The scenes uses a lot of set pieces and a more unique and possible custom-made pieces to complete the setting. For example, the books, archery set, candles and the details of the room when they were playing badminton, using all these details helps producers achieve the vibe they are aiming for which is more of a rustic, vintage vibe throughout the opening. For the editing itself, there are a lot CGI and green screens involved, especially in the scrapbook shots, it is heavily on editing section which plays a fundamental part in animation, to have a smooth scrapbook style scenes. There are also a lot of cuts used to deliver the necessary and possibly more information in the opening. It also helps to highlight and drive focus towards the mom-daughter close relationship.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
The opening features the history of the ten rings and how the power was used by the main character’s father in war.
Media Language
This opening from the get-go exposes full action especially as it shows the fight scene revealing their main property which was the ten rings which is made to be the symbol of the movie itself (Roland Barthes 5 codes). This opening also highlighted a few cultures which can be seen most through the clothing and the voiceover at the beginning which was in Mandarin and the oriental music (non-diegetic sound). The main character in the opening (Wenwu) is constantly kept in the center of the frame and was shot in a lower angle which expresses the power he has and that he is on top of his hierarchy, the close-up shots focus more on his expression which shows confidence and arrogance of what’s to come, this is followed by the extreme wide shot which shows the 2 sides of war, approaching the war itself, producers used 360 shot for the fight scenes to show how Wenwu is surrounded by the enemies and showing the control he has over the fight. There was also a dolly out scene to show his base (home) where it shows him on a throne and his army.
Representation
The most obvious representation shown in the opening was the Chinese culture, especially ancient Chinese mythology. This is a different take of Marvel’s superhero choice because they incorporate a lot of martial arts to represent the fights instead of the usual full blown normal fights other heroes tend to have. We can also see this representation through the actor, Marvel used actual East Asian characters to play the important roles which also includes the main character of the opening Wenwu, played by Tony Leung Chiu-wai. Like previously mentioned, another factor that adds to the Chinese representation of the opening credits include the oriental music they used and the costume which was the mostly the Chinese armour. They also illustrates the olden days of China which also further highlight the ancient Chinese culture, starting from the use of horses as transportation and the traditional weapons used other than the 10 rings and properties such as the flag carried in war and the style of practice they show which is all not commonly seen in modern times where although these cultures is seen to be mixed with more modern ways as well.
Audience
The target audience of this movie is probably teenagers to young adults, probably age range 15-30 years old. Another possible target is Chinese people or those who are interested in Chinese culture which is shown by the factors in the movie; the actors, media language, representation. The actors used can also attract the audience, the actor of Xu Wenwu, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai who also played in “Chungking Express” and “In the Mood for Love”. According to Bulmer and Katz’s Uses and Gratification Theory, the audience are likely to consume this text for diversion and surveillance (adding more knowledge in what they know about Chinese culture).
Industry
This movie involves a lot of CGI and special effects, especially off the fighting scene, to show the powers of the Ten Rings. It is also possible that the scenery in beginning (mountains, field, castle) is also using a green screen in order to have to save money so they don’t have to actually transport to the location and shoot there. As this movie is produced and distributed by Marvel, it already have high expectation on the movie.
Cruella
The opening scene of Cruella gives a mysterious and fun vibe towards the movie. It features Cruella as a child and how troublesome and mischievous she is towards other kids. Billie Gadsdon and Tipper Seifert-Cleveland did a great job portraying young Cruella’s personality of being a girl boss and a girl who doesn’t care about the rules and other people’s opinions especially as other people was the one teasing her first, this may align with Bulmer and Kat’z Uses and Gratification Theory of diversion and personal identity. She also mentioned her 2 names, Estella and Cruella which may give an idea of alter ego which may align with Roland Barthes’ 5 codes, hermeneutic code and her symbolic half black half white hair. The music used is more punk and rock style hence giving a more freedom, rebellious tone. Audience may determine the content of this movie to be a lot of rebellious actions, fashion from how she alter her uniforms and the scene where her mother was trying to teach her how to sew and a lot of emotions as well. What I like most of this opening is the music choice and the cuts i feel like is a very good expression of the tone of the whole movie itself.
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
1980, Lucasfilm Ltd
This opening scene is relatively simple, because it mostly uses words as in the title and a very simple synopsis of the movie as an animation which is also something unique Star Wars has that makes it stand out from the rest. The movie itself starts in space which is iconic toward Star Wars as a lot of the Star Wars movie sequel starts in space which could also help attract audience. The opening scene sets a more adventurous and mysterious tone which can pique audience curiosity to watch. We can tell in the movie there will be a lot of adventure and action as the movie starts with actions already, this movie can also attract audience using genre theory of sci-fi so those who likes watching sci-fi may be interested in watching. There are a lot of CGI and special effects that maybe involved as it was “shot” in space which could be done through editing of CGI, other locations such as the snow land could also be done the same way, the animal-like characters could also be done through special effects. In my opinion, the beginning part with all the words animation is a very simple and realistic style to do an easier opening which could be something I would do although it will hard to achieve the same impact as Star Wars because they are already known to doing that style so I’m afraid it will be seen to be too simple.
Black Widow
2021, Marvel Studios
This is a different take of Marvel’s opening scene, it is much darker than others and it has a very controversial topic: human trafficking. I feel like this opening is much more impactful from how it is edited as it uses like an old camera footage making it more realistic. It is also a great representation of the current issue of human trafficking and brainwashing, it is said to be a very realistic take and as the villain is seen to be someone with high power which is said to be some sort of politician, as some shots actually shows politicians in red circle indicating they are the target. This movie will already be attracting Black Widow’s fans as this is released after other Marvel movies where she is featured in, another target audience are fans of Natasha Romanoff who plays Black Widow as she also did a great job expressing the tone of the movie which from the scene, we can see it’s more darker and ominous and even possible unsettling. Audience can guess the plot of the movie will be a lot of actions and maybe a revenge plot. What stands out the most from this scene is the amount of representation and how well they represent the issue and victims, although it’ll be really hard to do something similar, it is still something I look up to due to the amount of impact it gave towards the audience.
Whiplash
2014, Blumhouse Production
This movie focuses more towards the music/diegetic sound which is why it started with a blank screen making audience focus on the sound as the whole aim of the movie is about drums. The tone of this movie is seen to be more serious and unsettling due to the quietness of the opening other than the drums and the dialogue, there are no more noises. This can attract audience who likes drums and those who are a fan of the actors shown; Miles Teller (“Divergent” and “Fantastic Four”) and J.K Simmons (“La La Land” and “Spider-Man: Far From Home”). There is also a hint of plot where both characters meet and audience can sense that there could be a lot of psychological and emotion involved as the drum player in white T-Shirt seems to be a good listener of the trainer in black suit. This can also be a code of hierarchy between each characters. The slow dolly in also shows the tense atmosphere of the surrounding. What I like most is the simplicity visually of the scene hence it’s probably easier to shoot than other opening scenes, I like the focus in sounds hence audience can focus in one part increasing the impact in individual factors of the scene.
Baby Driver
This opening features a robbery from the bank and it is mostly focused on the driver of the bad team. The main diegetic sound was the music coming from the driver’s Ipod which he sang along to giving the scenes tone to be more comedic yet action as they get chased by the police drivers. This also put audience on their toes as they get more curious on what strategies they will use to get away from the police. Here audience may expect to see a lot of action in the movie, specifically on the road, giving highlight on the driver. Specifically, they may want to see more crime actions such as the robbery itself. It is also clear that they are from one team as their outfit was uniformed and they already had plans and strategies to go through as well. A lot of type of shots are used but nothing too frivolous nor fancy to make sure audience focus on the escaping actions. Audience would consume this text as diversion from Bulmer and Katz’s Uses and Gratification Theory. What I like from the opening is the shots used to highlight the action as well as the angles, there is nothing I don’t like in particular but I don’t think I’ll do this style as it would be harder to achieve the amount and style of shots.
Matilda
1996, TriStar Pictures
This opening scene features Matilda from when she was a baby and how she was already been neglected by her family since birth. This is very clear from how they hold her baby carriage and how she’s placed in the back luggage area in the car. The music itself sounded very retro and upbeat which indicates the tone to be more funny and light. There are also a lot of different camera angles used such as the close-up shot on the boy’s kid who tries to “entertain” Matilda, it focus on his very ignorant expression. This is a representation of egoistic parents as they weren’t very kind to people outside of their care. From the beginning they already show how Matilda is an extraordinary child as she can write her name when she was just a baby. Audience may expect a lot of movement from Matilda, from her brilliance to maybe how she grow up with the neglectful family hence the genre could lean more towards comedic. What I like from this opening scene is the use of voiceover, it really makes the backstory clear and understandable.
(500) Days of Summer
2009, Dune Entertainment
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