"A Knight's Tale" Opening Title Sequence Deconstruction

1. Opening Deconstruction

2. Background Information

“A Knight‟s Tale” is an Adventure Comedy Film
released in 2001, based on the story of „William
Thatcher‟ – a peasant masquerading as a knight in the
world of Jousting. It follows him competing in
tournaments, and gaining friendships with historical
figures such as „The Black Prince of Wales‟ and
„Geoffrey Chaucer‟.
The Opening Title Sequence gives us various hints
towards the theme of the Film.

3. Production and
Marketing Companies

The first title to appear on-screen is the
Production/Distribution Company,
"Columbia Pictures", followed by the
two other Production Companies,
"Escape Artists" and "Finestkind ".They
are likely to be in this order because
'Columbia Pictures' is a very large, very
well funded Production/Distribution
Company, and were the main reason
for the Films success - however the
smaller Production Companies would
have been more 'hands on' with the
Film, because this would likely have
been one of the largest Films/TV Shows
either company had produced at the
time.

4. 
Names
The first big "name" to appear on screen is the Title of the
Film. This is common in large production films from big
companies. We're then shown a succession of Actor
Names, again following conventions by having the Main
Protagonist's name (Heath Ledger) first, which is in the
center of the screen - suggesting he's the most important;
and it's very clear to the Audience straight away.
Then there are more Actor Names placed in the center of
the screen, however they're not held on-screen for as long
as the first, and quickly come one after the other suggesting that they're not playing as big a role as
'Heath'.
Shortly after - as you'd expect - there are a few names onscreen together, showing that they're still important
(because they're in the Opening Title Sequence) however
they're not as important as the other Actors.
Then we're shown 'behind the scenes' names, among
which are the Casting Director, Costume
Designer(s), Editor etc. This is because without them, the
film wouldn't have happened at all - so they credit of
their own. The last of these 'behind the scenes' names to
appear is the Writer and Director - most likely because he
is the most important of all the other Crew Members
(harks back to the phrase, "saving the best until last").

5. Title Font

As you can see from the Screenshots, the Title Font heavily
links to the Theme of the Film.
It consists of a Yellow Colour in an almost "handwritten"
format. It strongly hints at the Viewer that the Font is in the
style of Medieval handwriting, reinforcing to the Audience
the Context in which the film is set.
You could also argue that the Editor has purposefully chosen
to use a Handwritten Font to engage the Audience into the
Film directly, as if the Titles are being written to them on
some form of Letter - which was one of the only forms of
communication in that era.

6. Narrative Clues

Throughout the Sequence we're shown portions of
Armor and Weaponry, which gives heavy clues toward
the Narrative in that the Film is likely to contain a lot of
fighting - which rings true because the Main Plot of the
Film is centered around Jousting.
Adding to this there are large amounts of crowds
'gearing up' for some form of Fight to occur, which
would have been common in that time period; whereas
in today's Society, fighting is generally seen as bad, in
those days, it was encouraged as a sport.

7. Target Audience and
Production Values

The Target Audience are likely to be younger males aged 12 - 17, as
the film has a lot of Modern Comedic values, despite the fact that the
film is set in a Medieval part of History. You could argue that this
Setting could be a way of educating youngsters some aspects of
Culture within Medieval times.
The Production Values of this Film are likely to be higher because it
has a very large, and very well known Production/Distribution
Company Marketing and selling the Film - as well as the fact that the
film has three Production Companies, it suggests that it had a lot of
backing and a large sum of funding. Furthermore, the Main
Protagonist was playing by a moderately well known Actor at the
time, thus appealing to the Audience and drawing them in - hence
why you could also argue that the Film was aimed at younger females
as well, because 'Heath Ledger' was seen as a "heartthrob" .