Zombieland - So far I have deconstructed three film openings of their credits and if you look at those you can see that each genre has a different style of opening. For obvious reasons, 'Zombieland' has a lot of special effects due to the fact it's basically a zombie apocolypse, there has to be blood and explosions everywhere or else it would be boring and not fulfil the titles instant expectations, also because of the fact it is a thriller/spoof the audience expects there to be humour within the opening. Now 'Reservoir Dogs' is completely the opposite to that, there are no special effects, no need for a load of media make up or humour as it is just simply a bunch of men walking in suits, may not be as 'exciting' or 'fun filled' as Zombieland but it is a completely different type of film, it is still a form of a thriller but it is kept to a realistic, cool style. In comparison to these, well Juno just doesn't compare other in fact the only thing you could say is that it is completely and utterly the opposite to both of these films. It's not a thriller, however it is a form of a comedy so I guess I could contradict myself and say that it can relate to Zombieland, but that's be stupid as the opening doesn't convey any subtle forms of comedy and the plot is about a teenage pregnancy; unless the baby came out as a zombie and took over the world then we'd have something to compare it to: but it doesn't so the opening is different to both of the other films.
I plan on doing a thriller for my opening credits so I'm going to have a quick look at how the openings to some thrillers relate to their supposed genre...
One of the greatest thrillers, 'Pulp Fiction' starts in a similar way to 'Reservoir Dogs'. Characters are talking, this gives a setting, the audience a chance to get to know a bit about the characters; what they do, how they know each other, what their beliefs are etc but also informs the audience that there is a storyline and it's going to be a bloody good one due to the detail exposed and hidden.
Another great thriller, my all time favourite film 'Snatch' starring the likes of Brad Pitt, Jason Statham and Benicio Del Toro. The opening in this film is absolutely brilliant, it introduces the important characters by just having them on camera for a couple of seconds and saying there names, this is enough for the audience to work out that this isn't going to be a simple storyline, it's going to be a well thought out one. Now like Zombieland, this is a thriller which contains aspects of comedy, likewise in both of the opening credits the humour is displayed subtly.
A quick break down of the opening credits that I deconstructed...
Zombieland: The colours on screen contrast so that the credits are clear, it is filled with action to match the expectations of the title, each clip is only a few seconds long with each being a different scenario however each still keep to the storyline. All of the opening is in slow motion which allows the audience to take in all of the details contained from the opening which helps the audience to understand the storyline - no one can escape; even the rich. Each of the clips have a fading effect on them this helps the opening clip to flow, if it didn't have this the images would just jump from one to anothercausing confusion to the audiences eyes.
Reservoir Dogs: Simple opening credits. Background music to set the tone of the film; bad ass. The credits are just a plain orangey colour which contracts to the background so that the audience are still able to read them and see the footage in the background. There are a few reaction shots in it and a few angle changes but in all honesty there isn't a lot of stuff going on which is the great thing about the opening credits; it doesn't need a lot of action of special effects, you can see the plot of the film is going to be great without all the extras.
Juno: This was packed with special effects however it wasn't too much. The cartoony style effect over the footage was perfectly acceptable for the target audience and the genre of the film. The credits appear in the same style and imaginitive way which shows continuity. Although there are a lot of images in the opening they are all helpful for the audience to establish the scenery and work out bits about the characters life - not so wealthy.
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