For this task I am going to analyse transitions used in the Fast and Furious 7 opening sequence. I am specifically going to look at the transitions between shots and titles to see what is used and how it suits the film. I chose to look at transitions because I haven't done any research towards this, so I think it will help me when it comes to editing the titles in my own film opening to make them more interesting. I chose to look at Fast and Furious 7 because its an action film which is one of the genres I may choose for my film.
In this film opening, I noticed that the whole first 4 minutes was done in one take so most of the sequence doesn't contain shot transitions. However, a very interesting/well done transition is used where the camera tilts up at the sky and keeps rotating to a shot of a car driving in the desert. As the camera tilts back up it follows the car which I think gives a really good effect as I focuses on the car and makes it look faster. This transition is only used once throughout the sequence which is good because it makes it more unique and if it happened too many times, it might make the viewer dizzy. I think they did it by doing a shot of titling the camera upwards so that you could only see the blue sky of the first shot, then doing another shot of the camera flipping in a full circle while the car drives underneath it, and then when editing, blended the sky of each shot together so that they would fade into one other to make it look smooth so that the viewer wouldn't notice the shots changing. This is the only transition used between shots in this sequence. As its switching between a shot from London to a shot in the desert, the transition could indicate something like the earth spinning or we are flipping over to another story as it highlights that they are two shots completely different from each other location wise.
Title transitions
There are a lot of transitions for when the titles appear and disappear throughout the sequence. It begins with the normal animations of the institutions behind the film. The first few titles use a transition where the letters spin as they appear and disappear. The idea of involving movement on the letters links to the theme of the film which is fast paced and involves a lot of motion therefore the titles portray it slightly too. I like them because they aren't too fast paced otherwise you wouldn't get to see the transition properly. Also they are basic but work well with the situation because at the beginning, not a lot of motion is going on. This transition is used frequently throughout the sequence. On the first shot, the text 'London, England' appears in the corner using a wipe transition. This isn't necessarily a title that has anything to do with the credits so using a different transition draws your attention towards it and indicates that it's something else. It then wipes back to disappear. The next few titles that appear have transitions that fly in from the side and fly towards the bottom of the frame. In this part of the sequence there is more action going on so they suit the situation. Also they are moving fast like a car, matching the theme of the film. I like the exit transition of 'Michelle Rodriguez' because it moves in the direction of the elevator doors as they open which I think works well. During this part of the sequence, as the titles exit the frame, the letters almost fall apart which matches the theme of action because it reminds me of debris flying from an explosion. When an explosion happens at 3:38, the title moves with the debris towards the edge of the frame, keeping a flow of motion. Another transition I like is at 3:50 whereas the section of the building falls, it wipes away the text. This happens a few times afterwards as well when the car moves towards the text which wipes it away. Then finally at the end when the film title appears, the wiping transition is used as well as the spinning of the individual letters which I like how a car is used to move across the road which the letters appear on to as it really emphasises the theme of the film and the title.
By doing this task I have learnt about the sort of transitions used for titles in the film opening for Fast and Furious 7 and how they portray the themes of the film. This has helped me understand that I could create a similar sort of thing depending on what the theme of my film opening is, instead of them just appearing and disappearing in the corner to make them more interesting and recognisable for the viewer.
Fast and Furious 7 opening sequence:
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