In Depth Analysis of Deadpool's Opening Title Sequence

In this task I am going to do an in depth analysis on the film opening sequence of Deadpool to learn more about what's involved in a film opening and gather more ideas on what I could do when it comes to creating my own film opening. I chose to look at Deadpool as I think the opening sequence is quite intriguing and I like the ideas put into it. Its also a different type of sequence compared to the Skyfall opening I looked at previously so it gives me more of a variety of what's involved in successful films opening sequences.
 

Genre

As this is a mainstream film, you can immediately tell what the genre of it is during the film opening sequence. You can tell that it is an action film because of the mise en scene involved - there is blood, guns, sheds of glass, fire, and the lighting is quite dull / dark. Also at the end you can see the overall state of the situation where the car is in the air and looks like its about to explode, which also shows evidence of an action film. You can also tell its a comedy film because of the music which has quite a joyful tune and doesn't suit the situation (like its making fun of the situation). Also the titles have a sense of comedy because they make fun of the cast and crew as they don't day their real names but things like 'directed by an overpaid tool' which is quoted at the end of the sequence. Finally, during the sequence, mise en scene is also used to make the genre of comedy evident within the props involved as we see things like a People magazine of Ryan Reynolds as himself rather than the character he plays, a playing card of Green Lantern and a hello kitty children's lip gloss. As it is a mainstream film, the genres involved need to be obvious because that is one of the main properties people look for in films so this is a way of drawing in their target audience. Independent films don't normally have a specific genre as the target audience focuses on a niche audience so they look at different elements to grow an audience rather than the genre.

 

Narrative

The narrative of this film opening reminds me of a journey because of how the way it's been done which is that the viewer is taken on a journey throughout a frozen moment of time to see different aspects of the situation. The opening draws the audience into the film as it begins with lots of close ups so not a lot of the surroundings is revealed making it hard for the viewer to work out what's going on. Therefore, as the camera starts to zoom out and reveal more, we can start to figure out the situation so during the sequence, as there is so much going on and there is a lot to look out for, the opening immediately intrigues the audience. This is a very clever way to introduce the film because of the content involved and the way it's been done which makes the viewer immediately become a part of the universe of the film.

Character

During this sequence, it is made evident that the characters introduced don't have a big role in the story (excluding Deadpool) because of the situation shown as its likely they are going to be killed so we won't see them throughout the rest of the film. It is made clear on who the characters are because Deadpool is attacking them so they are random bad guys who work for someone who has conflict with Deadpool. And by the name of the film and all the marketing involved, people should have an idea of who Deadpool is and what he looks like so when we see him in the sequence, we have an idea of what's going on. The opening is partially being used to introduce the genre and to introduce Deadpool as a character by showing his courage to take on these people and the sort of situations he gets into.

 

Atmosphere

The atmosphere is quite dramatic and calm at the same time because in real life the situation going on would be a very big deal as people could get severely injured or killed. However, the non-diegetic background music is quite calming and doesn't emphasise what's going on. The setting is quite gloomy and dull as the weather is cloudy and a lot of dark/shaded colours seen which emphasises the idea of it being a deadly situation and also once we zoom out from the car, we see that the location is on the outskirts of a city which makes the genre of action more evident.

 

Themes

The theme of the opening mainly consists of low key lighting and action which suits the film opening as the genre is action and therefore it makes sense towards the narrative. It is quite terrifying as no one would want to be in that sort of situation but it is quite funny as we see the expression on the man's face at the beginning and we see Deadpool giving a man a wedgie who is flying out of the car commencing that sense of comedy towards the story.

 

Setting

The viewer doesn't see the location until the camera zooms away from the car as not a lot of the surroundings are revealed. Most of the film opening is set within a car that is in the air and is about to crash and then as the camera exits the car we see that the location is on the outskirts of a city on a motorway that looks like a bridge. The setting suits the genre of action because it is set in a city which is often were a lot of action films are shot because they are often capital cities which are well known in the real world and you can get a lot of good shots of the sky scrapers and famous land marks within the action scenes. The setting isn't completely introduced as it is revealed slowly throughout the sequence so as an audience we don't pay much attention to it but pay more attention to the car they are in (e.g. it doesn't begin with an establishing shot of the cityscape like in the opening from 'The Drive'). Therefore, the location isn't considered as important.

Sound

Throughout the whole film opening, the only sound we hear is the non-diegetic music. The impact this music gives on the film opening is a sense of comedy as it's got quite a joyful tune so it doesn't suit the situation. It is quite calming for such a dramatic scene but it works well because the situation is not taken seriously. I think the sort of music chosen for the sequence is perfect for the situation because it's a comedy as well as an action, so having quite a serious or dramatic tune wouldn't fit well the comedy aspect of the film. Also as the scene is a freeze frame, involving sound effects wouldn't work well as nothing is moving so there is nothing the make the noise.

Titles

As the film is a comedy, the titles quote funny ways to describe the cast and crew rather than say their real names which I think was a good idea as it doesn't take things seriously and makes the film slightly more funny. It begins with the institutions involved, then the cast, then the producer, writer and director, and then the name of the film. I noticed during the film opening that the placing of the title for Ryan Reynolds which quotes 'starring god's perfect idiot' is placed just before the People magazine showing a picture of him which works well as even though it doesn't say his name, it introduces him from the picture. The transitions used make the titles seem as if they are actually in the film and not edited in because they move with the objects in the shot as when the camera turns to a different angle, the text will stay where it's been positioned and then will disappear when something in the foreground moves in front of it or if the camera turns away from it so it moves out of the shot. I like how this has been done because it draws the viewers attention more towards the titles as they are a part of the shot and are moving across the screen and not kept in one corner, but they are also frozen with the surroundings in the shot like the titles are objects frozen in this scene too. The font is quite square-looking, the titles are written in capitals, the colour of them seem like an off-white colour so they are quite neutral and suit the action theme. The sizing of the font varies as they may begin bigger but as the camera moves away they get smaller.

 

Conclusion

To conclude, by doing this task I have learnt may aspects towards the film opening of Deadpool in a lot of depth to help me understand what's involved in the sort of film opening used in a recent mainstream film. This has helped give me some ideas of what I could use in my own film opening and how much a mainstream film can emphasise the genre in just 2 minutes. I also learned how music can impact the mood of the film opening no matter what's going on visually. Now I want to look at the aspects of an independent film opening to look at the differences and learn more about what they consist of. I could also look at a film opening made by students as well to see what they came up with and how it turned out as they wouldn't be working for an institution so they wouldn't have a big budget to work with.

Deadpool film opening:

Class Film Opening Analysis

Genre

In this film opening from Skyfall (2012) the genre of this film is quite explicit because of the many references involved. You can tell that it is an action film because it involves guns and daggers and James Bond shooting with a gun. There are also a lot of references to death as a couple shots zoom in through the bullet hole on the James Bond target and there’s a lot of blood, skulls and graves.

 

Narrative

In terms of narrative, at the very beginning a low angle shot is used on the protagonist in the water suggesting that there is a problem and something bad is happening. Following this, a huge hand of a woman pulls him down which connotes that women cause him issues and bring him down. The whole opening mainly focuses on his weaknesses and develops a sense of emotion and despair.

Characters

Not a lot of characters are involved in this opening. We see James Bond, women, and a shadow of someone. James Bond is represented as weak in this opening as there are many references of him being killed for example him drowning at the beginning or the bullet holes in the targets. The targets represent him as a target towards others – like other people a coming for him. It shows a lot of emotion towards him and it almost looks like its referring to James Bonds fears. Women are also presented in this opening but there is one in particular that stands out at the beginning and in the middle as you see her face and she is holding a gun so she may be a character we come across in the film. The women are represented as another one of James Bonds weaknesses as they bring him down and trick him. Near the middle of the clip we see James Bond shooting his own shadows. This could refer to the fact that he chooses to put himself in situations that would risk him getting him killed. This could also represent the unknown identity of who the criminal is and if it could even be himself. The opening also refers to this when he shoots his reflection in the mirrors near the end of the clip.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere of the Skyfall opening is very emotional and intense and it gives you an insight of what the rest of the film is going to be like. It produces quite depressing and thrilling atmosphere as it’s all about death.

Themes

In terms of themes, the film opening involves themes of death, thriller and animation. When looking at the colours, a lot of red, blue and black is used. Red represents the love and danger within the film, blue represents the sadness and emotion, and black represents the dark/negative story behind it. Animation has been used for some of the parts of the opening like the guns and daggers floating down into the grave yard.

Setting

There isn’t a specific location involved in this film opening but a lot of it involves either underwater, in a grave yard or in a room with brick walls. The setting makes you as a viewer feel quite isolated especially in the room with the brick walls as it looks a bit like a maze that you need to get out of. The room is also very open, and as James Bond is the target, anyone can appear from any direction so it’s hard to hide from them. The shots underwater are quite daunting as it is a very dark, cold open space and somewhere you wouldn’t want to be. Also the idea of drowning and being pulled down into water is quite terrifying towards people. Also the idea of using a grave yard connotes that death is a main feature of the film and shows quite a personal perspective as well because the reason you would be at a grave yard is to visit someone who has died.

Sound

During most of the film opening, we hear non diegetic music which is ‘Skyfall’ by Adele which is the theme song made for this movie. It is quite a dramatic piece and suits the opening well as it sets quite an emotional mood. At the beginning we also get non diegetic sound effects of him falling into the water to make the scene feel more realistic which therefore makes it seem more scary and isolated. It then fades to black as he sinks down.

Titles

The first title that appears is ‘Albert R Broccoli’s Eon Productions LTD Presents’ at 0.16sec in, which is the company who produced the film. It begins with this film as they are the creators presenting it to the audience and they are the most important. Then at 0.20 ‘Daniel Craig’ appears who plays the main character in the film so as he is the main star, he comes next. It then says ‘as Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007 in’ at 0.24 and then ‘Skyfall’ at 0.30. So it introduces that Daniel Craig is playing James Bond in this film and then the title appears. I like how the titles lead on to one another rather than just being names appearing on the screen. It then goes on to naming the cast and crew and right at the end it mentions the director stating ‘directed by Sam Mendes’.

By analysing the ‘Skyfall’ film opening it has helped me to get some ideas of what I can do for my own and I have learnt how important it is than you set the mood and drew in your audience while not giving away the story at the beginning. I have also learnt that a film opening needs its own story to make it intriguing and to introduce the type of film the viewer will be watching and will want to continue watching it.

Similarities and Differences in Film Openings

For this task I will be looking at the similarities and differences in film openings so I can get an idea of what's involved in film openings. This will give me a general overview of what film openings consist of.

Opening Sequence Watched	Length	Genre	Editing	Titles	Setting	Narrative	Colours	Characters	Sound
Drive	2.34	Thriller, Crime	Fade to shot transitions, slow paced, continuous, pink hand written font	Main Actor at 0.06, Title at 0.16, Director at 2.26	In a car driving through a city and in an apartment	Not much of the story is given away as the main character is just driving most of the time and in the middle of the sequence he drops his bag off in his apartment but the audience doesn’t know what’s going on	Dark – Low key lighting – night time	We only see two characters throughout the opening -Ryan Gosling as the main character and a girl walking out a lift	There is no diegetic sound or sound effects included. However, it includes music the whole way through and within it, it contains dialogue.
The Shinning	2.59	Thriller	Slow paced, continuous, bright blue font in capitals	Institution at beginning, Director at 1.21, Main Actor at 1.26, Title at 1.36	Open spaced mountain area	The camera just follows a car so not much of the story is given away so the audience don’t know what’s going on	Quite light – day time – natural light & colours	We don’t see the characters during the opening	It includes non-diegetic spooky/daunting music throughout the whole opening which makes the view feel quite intimidated
Dawn of The Dead	2.34	Horror	Transitions of TV fuzzing & flashes to black, fast paced, discontinuous, red capital font that smears away as blood, old fashioned overlays and low quality to make it look like random footage found	Institution at beginning, Title at 0.10, Main Actor at 0.16, Director at 2.29	Public places where the is disruption and conferences	The opening shows the devastation that the situation has caused and shots of zombies, people shooting and speeches as conferences and news reports	Dark colours – red & black – flashes of light	Lots of people & no specific main characters -  the public, zombies, news reporters and the military	Upbeat music is used for most of the opening which says about being scared of something coming around. Diegetic sounds of people screaming and people speaking about what’s happening are used at the beginning, and throughout there are sound effects of people taking pictures, gun shots, and a TV fuzz sound.

Drive

The Shinning

Dawn of The Dead

By doing this work it has helped me get an insight of what different films include in their opening sequences to introduce the type of film it is to the audience. I have learnt that there isn’t an exact, specific way of making a film opening as they all appear very different to each other in terms of narrative, setting and editing. Yet they almost all involve these features so I must include them in some way when it comes to creating my film opening.

Differences Between Film Openings and Trailers

For this task I am going to be looking at the differences between film openings a trailers so I know what a film opening consists of and to help me avoid creating the aspects of a trailer.

Trailers

·        Shows a montage of clips from the film by using fragmented narrative and discontinuous editing as they are trailers so they will include the most important/best shots to show off the film whilst giving a brief look at the story to grab the audience’s attention.

·        Between shots, transitions are often used which mainly involve fading to black.

·        They include non-diegetic background music and sound effects to set the mood and establish the genre. For example, in an action film a trailer may involve dramatic music and sound effects of guns and explosions but in a horror film trailer there may be creepy music to build up tension and sound effects of voices or footsteps. They may also have a voiceover to introduce the film and describe what’s happening.

·        They often briefly show the storyline so it’s enough for the audience understand what the film is about without spoiling the whole story which convinces them to watch it as they want to see more.

Example - Fast & Furious 7 trailer:

 

Film Openings

·        Continuous editing is used as it introduces the film.

·        It doesn’t give away the story whilst introducing it.

·        It includes the film’s title.

·        Not much dialogue it included but contains non-diegetic music.

·        It informs the audience with content shown on the screen which involve names of institutions, cast and crew. They often have the directors name at the end.

·        Transitions are sometimes used to make the shots flow.

·        It is meant to draw the viewer into the universe of the film.

·        They represent the theme of the film and set the genre as they often indicate the place and the types of characters involved (mise-en-scene).

Example - Fast & Furious 7 film opening:

Doing this research will help me when creating my own film opening as it has enabled me to look at all the properties of a film opening that I need to take into consideration when making mine and all the properties of a film trailer that I need to avoid.

Preliminary Task - Evaluation

For our preliminary task, we began with planning out the pre-production involved within creating the storyline of our opening scene. We needed to gather ideas on the type of film it’s going to be, what’s going to be involved, what the sets going to be, what the characters are going to be, what the storyline is going to be, etc. We began with choosing our genre which was crime and horror which we chose because we thought we could base a good storyline round a crime investigation while making it suspense and extra ordinary as a horror. We then created the storyline around this idea and completed a script and shot list. We the shot the film and begin post production which included editing and finalising our scene.

We came up with the story by basing it around the interrogation of a crime that was set up by someone and blamed on another person but we were showing the actual part of the crime. We wanted to develop it by adding a theme of horror towards the story so we decided that the detective who does the questioning of the investigation is actually some sort of ghost who is behind the set-up of the crime. We thought this twist to the story would be good as you wouldn’t expect it to happen therefore it makes the audience more intrigued. I think the story flows well but it’s quite hard to understand until the end when you realise that the detective is actually the criminal and you release he is a ghost. However this puts you in the position of the suspect because she doesn’t have any idea of what or who he is either and she doesn’t know what’s going on. The scene helps to introduce the detective’s character for the rest of the film and it shows you his personality and what he is capable of without giving away too much detail of what could happen in the rest of the story. The brief storyline we came up with during pre-production has kept the same but there have been just a few more shots added during the story and afterwards just to develop the scene slightly more. We didn’t remove anything from the initial story because everything we originally came up with was relevant. Character wise, we began with only having three but as we developed the story we included one more character as a small part looking through the window into the interrogation room to leave a sense mystery on who the person is and if they are behind the crime too or if it is just some police officer watching the interrogation. The story is based on a closed narrative storyline because it is meant to be for a film so it needs a beginning, middle and end.

The first shot which is a tracking shot worked well as the beginning because as you follow them into the interrogation room you begin following the story and you know nothing about what happened before the scene like what the crime the suspect was set up for and who the suspect even is.

 

One of our objectives was to include match on action which we did as the policeman and suspect walked through the door from one room to another. It flowed really well with the previous shot but I think it was just slightly out of proportion between the lengths of time it took for them to walk through the door in each shot. However I am pleased with how it turned out as it fitted in well with the storyline.

We used the 180 degree rule which was another objective we had to include which was portrayed throughout some of the questioning and a range of shot lengths which worked well and made it clear that they were in the same room and communicating to each other. Within this we used a shot reverse shot which was our final objective and it flowed nicely in the scene creating tension as the suspect wouldn’t respond to the detective’s questions. Throughout the filming we had to try and not make ourselves visible when we weren’t meant to be and we had trouble with this as the window would show or reflections but we managed to film by slightly rearranging the position of the camera. We used a tripod to keep the camera in position so it would be still and not shaky.

We also used the tripod in the way of a monopod to film the bird’s eye view shots. Another aspect we struggled with when filming was that the room we filmed in was quite small and the camera wouldn’t zoom out very far so we didn’t get the perfect shots we wanted. A shot that didn’t work so well was the long shot when the policeman had fallen to the ground after being shot. We planned to have the policeman visibly on the floor in the shot but we couldn’t fit him in when he was on the ground so we decided to make the suspect dramatically look down at the floor and gasp just to show that we was on the ground at that moment. We wanted to film it all on the same day so then the characters would be wearing the same clothes, so we spent around 2 hours filming. Overall it was quite hard to film in the location we were in but we managed to work ourselves around it while still making the story flow and having a good use of shot lengths and camera angles.

It took about 3-4 hours to edit the film and it turned out to be a length of 2 minutes. We included non-diegetic and diegetic sound throughout the scene. Examples of diegetic sound that’s involved are the voices of the characters, footsteps, opening the door and the policeman falling to the ground when he was shot. We overlapped the first line from the detective in two shots to make it more clear on who he is talking to as he says the suspects name as it shows her. Examples of non-diegetic sound that we included were buzzing noises of a fuse, a light switch, gun shots and music. When the lights were flickering we added in non-diegetic sound of a buzzing noise to create a more realistic impression to it as they weren’t flickering in real life. This helps to build up tension to the moment of the shooting. We added the non-diegetic sound of a light switch flicking to off so that when the lights go out it is more obvious that it meant to show the lighting turning off. However during filming we made a mistake as not actual lights or on during the interrogation and we are just using natural lighting so the lights weren’t on anyway so improve we need to consider the lighting a bit more whilst filming. We then had the non-diegetic sound of the gun shot in the dark when the policeman is killed and when the suspect is killed. The gunshot sounds were relevant to the film otherwise it would not make sense as to what’s happening as the policeman dies in the dark and the suspect gets shot by characters off camera. Finally we had the sinister music at the end to create a creepy atmosphere when you find out the detectives true identity and it acts as a theme tune for the detective as it represents him. Overall I found it quite easy to edit the film and I think having the storyline planned out helped us to organise the clips so we knew what order they went in and didn’t make any mistakes.

We used many editing techniques throughout the piece.  We used a transition at the beginning which was a fade in from black to slowly enter the audience into the film and to flow with the tracking shot. We used a transition that involved going straight to black multiple times to create the flickering of the lights as it wasn’t possible in the room we were in because there was too much natural lighting. The moment when the light actually turns off and stops flickering creates a very suspense moment as it is black and you don’t know who has been shot until the lights turn back on. The scene involves continuity editing because it only involved one story for the opening scene and nothing else outside of it need to happen for it to make sense. We used eye line match between the shots of the dead policeman and the detective because they are both equal to each other in a sense that they are both dead as the detective is a ghost but this happens before you find that out so it is a small hint to that occurrence at the end of the scene. The editing at the beginning is slightly fast paced to get straight into the action and during the questioning it is slower paced as they are in conversation and to build up tension with silence.

In terms of mise-en-scene we included props and costumes purposely to make the set of the story more suited to the story. The location we chose involved a window that we couldn’t see through which we purposely chose for that reason so it would look like an interrogation room.

We didn’t use handcuffs because they weren’t needed as it wasn’t important and we could just make it look like there were hand cuffs– the suspect just held her hands behind her back. We had the usual arrangement of a table and two chairs in the layout and on the table included a microphone and a brief case.

The microphone was included as a recording device which is what’s normally used to record the conversation and the brief case which is for the audience to decide what’s inside it or who it belongs to. It could contain weapons or samples from the crime scene or something else. The gun was originally going to be a knife but we couldn’t get that as a prop and we wanted to use the gun shot as a sound effect so we used a gun instead and it worked really well except that you can tell it’s just a toy gun.

The lighting we used was just natural lighting as we didn’t have much choice on doing anything with it in the location we were in but during the long shots in between the close ups of the gun as the detective takes it out of his pocket, the lighting looks a bit blue which wasn’t intended and we are not sure why that happened.

 

The group worked really well as we didn’t get distracted and managed to quickly finish the film in a short amount of time. We communicated well with organising the scenes and telling the actors what to do and how to act and got a good result from it. The characters all represent certain types of people in the film. We have the villain which is the detective who is the disruption in the story, the innocent suspect who has been set up as a criminal which creates as sad atmosphere when she dies at the end for no reason, the policeman who is also innocent and is on the good side but thinks opposite to the backgrounds of the detective who he thinks is good and the suspect who he thinks is bad, and finally the mysterious person who we have no idea about what position they are in the story.  We expect the characteristics of these characters to remain this way throughout the rest of the film as that is what part they represent in the story. We chose to have these types of characters to create mixed emotions throughout the scene of the innocent people (suspect & policeman) and the people we don’t quite understand of who and what they are (detective & person behind the window).

The film is aimed at mass audience because it’s not made for a specific group of people and a wide range of different people would watch this type of film and be interested in it. We chose to aim at this type of audience because we want a wide range of people to be interested in it and for everyone to be able to follow along and understand what is happening.

Overall with a few changes, the film went to plan and turned out quite successfully. Mostly everything worked out how I wanted it to except from the idea of having the police visible in the long shot when he was on the ground but we managed to work our way round it and still make it flow. Some of the decisions we changed worked out even better for the film for example like using a gun instead of a knife. We didn’t make many mistakes other than the lighting but it didn’t mess up the flow of the story so it wasn’t too much of a problem. We managed to meet all our objectives and expectations.

Preliminary Task - Video

Preliminary Task - Filming Our Piece

When filming our piece, we used a variety of shot lengths, angles and movements such as a tracking shot, panning shot, birds eye view, eye line match, etc. In the location we were in, it was quite difficult to film shots that involved long or medium shot lengths because we were limited to the amount of room we had and the camera didn't zoom out very far. However, we managed to work around that problem by slightly changing things up for example like we couldn't film the shot of the police on the ground and the suspect and detective still in their seats so we made it obvious he was on the ground by making one of the characters look down at him and act surprised and did a bird's eye view of him in the next shot. Overall it took about 2 hours to film and it was easy to organize the shots and we worked well with the group.