Film opening sequence analysis report sheet v for vendetta
1. Film Opening Sequence Analysis
*Comment on the following aspects in relation to your film opening title sequence choice
V for vendetta
Name: Adam
Grundy
My Analysis
Supporting Images
Cinematography &
Camera
Techniques
First we start on an establishing shot from the speakerphone on
a wet night. This sets up the beginning scene perfectly for the
film. It shows the viewer that the scene is going to be sinister.
This is a clever idea by the director because it shows the viewer
what is going to happen before it happens; you could also say
that dramatic irony could apply here due to knowing something
before the character does. Next up with have a close up, there
are multiple close ups in the particular scene, but all to do with
the same theme. Every character in this scene has a close up, so
all the thingermen (Antagonists) are about to sexually abuse the
protagonist because she had broken the law. This is good use of
close-ups because it lets the viewer see the reactions of the
characters, to see how they are feeling at the current moment;
The males are all in a positive mood whereas the female
protagonist is terrified so as you can see facial expressions are
an important aspect. There is also a close up on the male
protagonist, even though we cannot see his reaction due to him
wearing a mask, we could see that from the angle of his head
tilt that he was not impressed by what was on the mind of the
antagonists. Now this scene had multiple uses of tracks, first
was a track of only her and the male protagonist, this may have
been to keep the audience wondering who the male was since
there was only one female in the scene, it is unsure to know
who it was since there a few characters who were wearing long
coats. It may have been the masked protagonist to symbolise
that there are two protagonists without telling the viewer
directly. The use of the two shot was to show both the
protagonist and antagonist in the same shot, you see both sides
in the same shot. Two shots are good for establishing
2. Film Opening Sequence Analysis
*Comment on the following aspects in relation to your film opening title sequence choice
relationships between characters, here it shows the male
protagonist do a cease fire and the antagonist continue to fight
back but fail. This is cleaver use of a two shot because you get
too see both sides of this, in two different reasons; First as
protagonist and antagonist and secondly as someone who
wanted to stop the fighting and someone who did not, so it was
a clever decision by the director. Lastly is the use of the a high
angle shot as the protagonist throws the gun, this could be
interpreted as a Point a View shot because it would be at the
height of the protagonist but I decided to class it as a High angle
shot because that’s what it was, the use of a high angle shot
was used to make the throw of the gun look longer than it is,
which us believe the protagonist is strong and fierce. .
Visual Effects &
Colour Scheme
The visual scheme for this scene is dark; this is used to show us
something that you wouldn’t see in the afternoon. It also sets
up the antagonists in this scene too and shows us a much
darker and corrupt England. Though we only find this out from
the characters the establishing shot as their version of England
has a “Curfew” in which our version of England we have a
nothing like this. Throughout the scene it continues to be
gloomy with very little light from the dim lamps along the street
providing some light to this alleyway, As it is night we can guess
that it’s chilly as all the characters are wearing thick and heavy
coats. This adds to the scene to make it more it energetic and
powerful. The tone helps portray the setting, time and
sometimes just to create a feeling.
Genre
Conventions
The start of the film is with the speakerphone announcing that
the town/city is now in a curfew which shows that this version
is Britain is much different to our version. It also shows us that
this setting is much more stricter as the speaker on the
television is speaking about justice as if they are keen on their
3. Film Opening Sequence Analysis
*Comment on the following aspects in relation to your film opening title sequence choice
word but as we find out later on that they don’t live in an
equally fair Britain, and during the speaking he is speaking
propaganda which shows us that this is a fascist Britain which
also backs up the point of the “Justice” he was on about and
how he is lying to the population to get their beliefs up. Since
it’s set in a Fascist Britain it gives us the feeling that there is or
will be an uprising against the current dictator and that shows
us that the film is an action film, this is proved later on in the
Scene when the male protagonist starts to fight with the male
antagonists after they were about to abuse the female
protagonist. With that it shows us that the film will continue to
bring dark imagery throughout the film as they did at the
beginning. The film also comes across as science fiction as it is
set in a futuristic fascist version of Britain so though it is a made
up story, this can be classed as an alternate reality. I searched
something up and the book/film is based around the theory of if
is based around if the Nazi’s had won the war, so they created
their own political party called Norsefire and their own secret
police called the thingermen.
Narrative
Throughout the scene, the narrative is all based around
governmental and anti-governmental topics. With the
exception of about the antagonists speaking of rape, the
narrative of the antagonists shows us that they are not that well
educated unlike the protagonists. The speech with V, most of
the words begin with the letter V which gives the viewer the
idea of what his name is going to be. Though the main theme of
the scene is governmental so it sets up the theme of the film
and what is going to happen throughout
Editing Techniques
The scene consists of multiple editing techniques, first of all
during the interrogation scene. It doesn’t break the 180 degree
rule, while always staying on the left side and never on the
right. Though it does go on level with 180 degrees but that’s the
most it does in this scene. Also it looks like one straight cut, no
4. Film Opening Sequence Analysis
*Comment on the following aspects in relation to your film opening title sequence choice
roughness and no stops. Just one continues cut, which also
known as continuity editing. Directors use this to make sure it’s
a smooth scene and that it keeps it looking professional. You
can see it was filmed with multiple cameras as it shows us a
single shot from multiple angles. It jumps around also cross
cutting where it jumps between cuts.
Title Credit Design
No credits in this scene.