Title Sequence Clips

 Throughout watching the movie clips in class, I noticed many small details that I wouldn’t have noticed if I wasn’t looking out for them. Even in movies like the Lion King, which I’ve watched a multitude of times before, I noticed specific aspects that I hadn’t before. 

One clip that stood out to me, in particular, was the clip of the intro of the movie Scream. Being a horror movie, its goal is to build suspense and scare the audience when they aren’t expecting it. Scream began with a normal-looking scene: a woman in her home making popcorn at night. However, she got a phone call from a stranger and it became apparent that she was being stalked by this man. The suspense in the clip built as it went on, starting with the woman smiling and laughing and then documenting her increasing worry as she became less comfortable with the situation and by the end, was screaming (as the movie title proclaims) and trying to call the police. This accomplished the goal of a horror movie intro scene well. 

Another clip that stood out to me was the Lion King. I’ve watched that movie countless times, ever since I was younger, but I’ve never noticed the intro scene too much. It opens with the birth of a new lion cub, Simba, and the rest of the clip hinges on that idea of life and new hope. It shows the sun rising, which feeds into that idea of life, and shows African animals from around the kingdom join together at Pride Rock, where Simba is. The music in the background, talking about the circle of life, ties all these themes together, cementing the main idea for the beginning of the movie. 

One clip that struck me as different from all the rest was the Space Odyssey intro. Unlike all the other movie clips that portrayed a clear story or anecdote, the Space Odyssey intro was little more than a black screen with music for over a minute. This accomplishes the establishment of a certain simplicity in the beginning and conveys the concept of empty, dark space. 

The Dazed and Confused intro clip was another one that interested me. The scene opened on the last day of high school in the 1970s. Although it was set around fifty years ago, and aspects such as clothing, technology, and language were different than today, the clip’s portrayal of the energy of the last day of school was almost identical to today’s. The excitement and feeling of summer were captured perfectly and rings true to today. 

Finally, the clip of Pulp Fiction interested me because instead of building suspense and tension throughout the clip, the mood changed almost instantly halfway through. The clip began with a seemingly normal couple eating a meal in a diner, with the mood seeming happy and safe, when the couple all the sudden began discussing robberies, and within a few minutes pulled out a gun and attempted to rob the diner itself, where they’d sat so peacefully moments earlier. This flip between moods was interesting, and it added to the shock factor of the movie. 

 

About the Portfolio Project: When the class first learned of this project, I was leaning towards the magazine option rather than the movie option, but after seeing all of those clips and the details and meaning behind them, I’m more open to doing the movie option. Right now I'm somewhere in the middle, but its definitely something I'm thinking of.