Analysis of Dredd Opening

1. Joshua Parkinson Analysis of Dredd opening 12H
The film begins with the production companies and other companies involved with making of the film flashing up
onto the black screen in bold red font. Non-diegetic music begins to play, at first it is just a heavy bass but later on in
the opening it develops into louder music. The black screen then fades into a long shot of a city, in the foreground
there is a vast space consisting of literally nothing other than the dried up ground. The sun is shinning directly at the
camera, a slight orange tint is also added to show the heat intensity of the scene. The camera begins a very slow
zoom on the city, more non-diegetic sound plays, this time the voice of a narrator, he gives a little backdrop on the
plot of the film “whole of America is radiated wasteland, one city in whole of America” .
The camera then cuts to a moving birds eye view shot of more wasteland, the narrator carries on with his speech,
continuing with giving information about the setting of the film. You notice that there is a lot of debris and a couple
of ruins on the ground, this shows that anywhere outside of the city truly is deserted. The camera then reaches a
wall, you can assume the wall is massive because as the camera continues to move forward, you can see that the cars
on the other side of the wall are minuscule. The wall is extremely dirty and worn with paint chipping and possible
rust, this shows the audience that it has been in place for many years, which in turn implies that the city has been
around for a long time.
The narrator then mentions that the city stretches from Washington DC to Boston, this gives the audience a sense of
scale on how humongous the city is, it also shows the audience that the film is obviously a science-fiction because
there is no city in America at the ridiculous scale just mentioned. The camera cuts again to a fast pan of a section of
the city, you notice that there are hundreds of tower blocks and the many streets are filled with traffic, this shows
that the city is possibly overpopulated, this would make sense because as the narrator stated previously, it is the last
standing city in America. To empathise the fact of the city being extremely overcrowded, the narrator mentions that
there are “800 million people living in the ruin of the old world”.
There is then another sharp cut to a shot of the city again, this time at a higher angle to show the scale of the
megablocks in which people live in. Diegetic sound is played, it is a sort of humming sound coming from the drone
you see dart into shot. This is a genre signifier of the film being a sci-fi because drones/droids are usually related as
something only possible in the future. Once again the sun is shinning into the camera, this time it is not direct to
allow the audience to examine the massive city, but it is shinning in the top right hand corner to remind the audience
of the heat in the scene. You can also notice a slight haze, it is most likely smog, this gives the impression of
pollution being very high in the city.
Another cut is then used, but now there is a HUD on the screen, once again, another signifier of the genre since the
HUD looks very futuristic. You can assume that the camera is looking through the eyes of the drone you previously
saw in the last shot, the camera is moving at a fast pan and is also slanted to show that the drone is on the move.
More diegetic sound is heard in this part of the opening, computer noises are played to make sure the audience
knows that they are looking through the eyes of something robotic. The camera cuts to someone wrapping medical
tape around their knuckles, this is an action code to show that whoever is wrapping their knuckles is preparing for a
possible fight later on in the film, the person then clenches their fist to show that they have some sort of pent up
anger inside.
Cut again, this time to a street filled with debris and aggressive people either taking cover behind a clutter of objects
or throwing rocks into the distance. This scene is once again quite hazy to empathise the fact of pollution being high
in the world that the film is set in. The camera cuts to a muscular shoulder, you assume that this is the shoulder of
the person who was previously wrapping their knuckles. The person pulls a heavy leather jacket over their shoulder,
the audience knows that the jacket is leather due to the diegetic sound of squeaking that leather usually makes.
There is another cut to a news report of more aggressive people throwing objects at a police force van. On the
bottom of the screen there is a headline which reads “Win a trip to central parks - the vacation the radiation can’t
spoil”, this is some what of an ironic headline to have rolling due to the situation of the news report. Also, it gives
the audience an indicator that the film might be quite comical at points because, as you can see the headline is rather
comical it’s self with the line “the vacation the radiation can’t spoil”, this is comical because it is ironic to think that
people are living in a world where radiation is everywhere and pollution is at its peak, yet people are still planning to
go on vacations.
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2. Joshua Parkinson Analysis of Dredd opening 12H
The camera then cuts back to the person who previously was putting on a leather jacket. This time the camera is not
focused on one particular body part as in the previous shots, but now the whole upper body of the person. At this
point, the audience can now make out that the person is male due to their broad muscular build, the camera has yet
to show the mans face because the man has his back to the camera. This leaves the audience with the enigma codes
of who is this man and what does he look like. He puts on some sort of heavy body armor, the audience can tell it is
heavy duty due to the diegetic sound of the clunk it makes when it hits his shoulder.
Another sharp scene change occurs, back to the drone , more aggressive people are rioting, the HUD is back and it
seems like the drone is focusing on one person in particular. The audience knows this because there is a green
square around a mans head. There is a fire built of of random objects, this emphasises the rage in the aggressive
people, it’s as if the fire reflects the peoples thoughts and feelings. The montage continues with another cut to a
group of more angry rioters, once again the drone focuses on one rioter in particular, this creates and enigma code of
why the drone keeps focusing on certain people amongst the rioters.
The non-diegetic music begins to build into loud drums. The camera begins to move up a tall black tower, this tower
is different to the others since it is not so run down and dingy. It is immaculate and sort of portrays purity in a city of
such dirt and disaster. The camera finally reaches a hologram of a logo, it is an eagle with stars across it’s chest.
You assume that this logo and building belong to a higher power in the world of the film because it is so out of place
compared to the rest of the scene. Another shot of the back of the man, this time he is in full armour, at this point in
the opening the audience can assume that he is the protagonist of the film since the camera continues to focus on
him exclusively. The man then picks up a weapon, most likely to be a handgun due to it’s small form factor.
A close up of an LCD screen is then in shot. It reads “DNA CHECK” in bold capitals, the audience can assume that
this LCD screen is on the side of the mans firearm. Once again, this is a genre signifier, notifying the audience that
the film is a sci-fi and set in the future, this is because in the day we are currently living in, DNA activated firearms
do not exist. The screen then reads “I.D OK” this shows the audience that the character is at some level of
legitimacy and possible authority due to all the professional looking body equipment and the high-tech firearm.
The audience then sees the back of the back of the characters head as he puts on a large helmet, finally you see the
character in full shot although his actual face is still a mystery. The title of the film then comes crashing in, in an
extremely aggressive manner, similar to the begging of the opening sequence, the font used is red and bold, both
these characterises of the font emit very destructive and threatening vibes which implies the film is going to very
rather violent. The shards of debris also increase the aggressive tension in the title.
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Titles
Lionsgate: 00:17
Reliance Entertainment: 00:24
DNA: 00:39
Lionsgate And: 00:44
Reliance Entertainment Present: 00:46
In Association With Im Global: 00:48
A DNA Films Production: 00:50