Hello again! In this blog, we will be reviewing the title sequence for the 2019 film, "Code 8," which we obtained from the "Art of the Title" website.
We will be responding to six questions to help us analyze this movie's opening below:
What titles are displayed during the opening sequences?
As the title sequence plays, they credit the companies and people who were involved in the creation of the film. This includes the main studio company and its associates, as well as other film companies that were involved in the production process. It displays the names of the executive producers and non-executive producers, along with the names of the designers for costumes, music, story, photography, and visual effects, and, of course, the editors. The names of the main cast members are also presented on screen and, at the end, the director's name and the film's title are shown. These titles were not embedded and were written in white, changing to adopt a new set of names with a glitch effect as it moved around the screen.
What images are prioritized in the opening sequence?
The images used are put together in a montage-like format, with a large compilation of news reports that display the effect that people with superhuman abilities have on society as a whole. Some of the most notable examples of this included the destruction being caused in the city, the arrests of individuals with superhuman abilities, people fleeing from the city and running around in panic, and emergency responders rushing in to provide aid wherever necessary. There were also flashes of seemingly random images, which the audience would soon come to learn, contribute to the plotline, such as eye drops being dripped into someone's eye or laboratory testing taking place.
What connotations do these images carry?
When these clips are put together, it gives the opening an appalling, “shocking news” type of feeling. Since the clips are relatively short and quickly change to show different events occurring, it gives the audience the impression that a lot is happening at once, which makes sense as it would imply that the people with superhuman abilities are likely fed up with their mistreatment and are beginning to act out. At the end of the sequence, the montage of clips is abruptly interrupted by the title of the film. This leaves the audience in suspense and gives them a moment to think about what they had just seen on screen, allowing them to take it all in without feeling overwhelmed because they have a break, something that the people within the film aren't given the luxury of having. This, in turn, encourages the audience to continue watching the entirety of the film to answer the many burning questions that the opening left them with.
How does the film establish a feeling of the genre from the outset?
The science fiction thriller genre is evidenced during the entire opening. The thriller aspect of the genre is created by the slow and pounding non-diegetic music in the background, whereas the science fiction aspect of the film is brought to life with the actual visuals of the film, particularly with the news reports. One example of this is a clip where a woman is holding a baby that is making objects levitate, presumably through telekineses. During the news report montage, there are also numerous people who spoke up to complain about people with otherworldly abilities. That is not to say that the use of visuals was used solely for the purpose of putting a science-fiction twist on the film, being that they also helped move along the thriller genre, like when some of the clips showed the people with superpowers growing violent and causing destruction and chaos in public, something that aims to engross the audience.
What strategies are used to ensure the film appeals to its target audience?
The target audience of the movie would primarily be people who are interested in films about individuals who possess supernatural abilities, but would rather see a fresher take on the subject by having a darker twist this time, as the protagonist turns to a life of crime rather than one of selflessness and good deeds. This movie has violence and harsh language, meaning that its best suited for a mature and older audience. To ensure that this specific audience is engaged, the director chose to base his opening around the news, something that typical adults watch on a daily basis. Seeing the subtle differences that slowly grow to be more noticeable as more reports of individuals with powers arise is something that intrigues any audience. As I've mentioned before, this film relies of both visuals and sound to make it as immersive as possible, by using fast-paced clips to keep the audience on their toes and reinforcing the information they may have missed in the videos with slower dialogue.
How has technology been used effectively with regards to camera angles, transitions, and editing techniques?
Technology was used a lot for this opening sequence because of the editing and transitions that were so prominent within it. Camera angles and shots were hard to point out and decipher because of the short screen time for each clip. However, I will say that I did notice a huge difference in the shots, with them having started as medium close-ups and then gradually shifting to long shots, which represents how individuals with superpowers had gone from being respected members of society to gradually being treated as the scum of the earth after having been pushed so far away from any sense of community they had, that they were no longer even being considered real people. Between each title and each clip, a glitching editing effect was used, which allowed the audience to distinguish between different aspects of the opening, and also gave the clips a vintage look, almost as though the audience were looking back on these past events as if they had occurred decades, years, and months ago as the videos progressed. Given the number of clips shown and the rapid pace they were displayed at, the audience begins to find that for people in this universe, it was almost as if time had blurred by.
To end things off, I'd like to say that it's "...closing time..." for this blog, see you in the next one (Semisonic 1998)!
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