Juno (2007) Analysis
The film opens to a black screen, and a drawing animation of the word "Autumn" is shown. The black screen then fades out into a long shot that shows a large house with a girl standing looking at a chair. The "autumn" animation is "erased" and there is a straight up to a closer long shot of the girl drinking from a jug still looking at the chair. There is another straight cut to a close up of the girl and a voice over, from the girl the audience is seeing, begins. Stating, "it started with a chair," cueing non-diegetic music and a flashback. Using a straight cut, a two shot is used showing legs, in standard focus, and underwear falling to the floor with a shirtless man sitting in the chair the girl was looking at earlier. A push in camera movement is used when the legs in the foreground begin to walk toward the man sitting in the chair. There is a straight cut revealing the girl from the beginning, whose legs were shown earlier in the scene. She moves closer to the camera, resulting in a close-up shot. A straight cut is used to show an extreme close up of the girl's lips as she leans close to whisper in the man's ear, moving behind his head, only allowing the audience to see his lips and her ear that he is whispering in. The scene straight cuts to a close up and over the shoulder shot from behind the man as she leans in closer to him.
The flashback ends with the sound of a dog barking, cueing the flashback to end. There is an over the shoulder shot from behind the dog looking at the girl as she snaps back to reality and stops thinking about the flashback. There is a cut reverse cut from the girl and the dog we now know is "Banana" as she tells him to stop barking. A voice over begins again from the girl and cuts to an over the shoulder shot of the girl looking at the chair. There is a straight cut to a close of the girl drinking from the jug of "Sunny D". Non-diegetic music starts up again cueing a cut to the girl walking down the sidewalk using a panning camera movement that turns into a trucking movement once she is in the center of the frame. As the girl walks past a tree, the scene turns into an animation style, the same as the "Autumn" animation shown at the beginning of the opening. This starts opening credits and title cards featuring animations of the girl and her surroundings.
The film emphasizing the chair before the voiceover said, "it started with a chair.", subtly tells the audience that the chair is important to the plot/ to the girl staring at the chair. The flashback scene is filled with close ups and orange and yellow lighting. The combination of closeups and orange and yellow lighting give the scene a very intimate and memory-like feeling to the audience. The bluntness of the girl telling Banana to "shut his freaking gob" gives the audience insight to the girl as a character and her personality. The voice over being from the girl lets the audience know that she is the main protagonist of the maybe and leads the audience to assume that the girl is Juno. The animation sequence of the opening credits and title card gives the film a lighthearted and playful feeling.
The flashback ends with the sound of a dog barking, cueing the flashback to end. There is an over the shoulder shot from behind the dog looking at the girl as she snaps back to reality and stops thinking about the flashback. There is a cut reverse cut from the girl and the dog we now know is "Banana" as she tells him to stop barking. A voice over begins again from the girl and cuts to an over the shoulder shot of the girl looking at the chair. There is a straight cut to a close of the girl drinking from the jug of "Sunny D". Non-diegetic music starts up again cueing a cut to the girl walking down the sidewalk using a panning camera movement that turns into a trucking movement once she is in the center of the frame. As the girl walks past a tree, the scene turns into an animation style, the same as the "Autumn" animation shown at the beginning of the opening. This starts opening credits and title cards featuring animations of the girl and her surroundings.
The film emphasizing the chair before the voiceover said, "it started with a chair.", subtly tells the audience that the chair is important to the plot/ to the girl staring at the chair. The flashback scene is filled with close ups and orange and yellow lighting. The combination of closeups and orange and yellow lighting give the scene a very intimate and memory-like feeling to the audience. The bluntness of the girl telling Banana to "shut his freaking gob" gives the audience insight to the girl as a character and her personality. The voice over being from the girl lets the audience know that she is the main protagonist of the maybe and leads the audience to assume that the girl is Juno. The animation sequence of the opening credits and title card gives the film a lighthearted and playful feeling.
The Perks of a Wallflower (2012) Analysis
I could not find a 2-minute video clip showing the opening sequence of The Perks of Being a Wallflower, so I will just use the 10-minute video and stop at 2 minutes. Unlike Juno, where the opening credits are shown later on in the film's opening, The Perks of Being a Wallflower shows the opening credits immediately at the start of the film. The film opens up with the opening credits in front of a black screen with the sound of a typewriter in the background, tying in with the font of the opening credits that looks like it was typed on a typewriter. Non-diegetic acoustic music begins with the display of the title card. There is a fade into a shot of what looks to be inside a tunnel or under a bridge with yellow and green lights, while also showing the road, with more opening credits displayed on the screen. This shot causes the audience to assume that the camera is attached to a car or vehicle of some kind. There is a straight cut to the camera showing only directly under the bridge instead of showing the rear POV of the vehicle where you can see the street along with the underside of the tunnel/bridge. There is another straight cut only displaying the side of the tunnel with the yellow lights flying by in a blur, showing the audience that the vehicle the camera is attached to is going very fast.
There is a panning camera movement to the opposite side of the tunnel and slightly down. This movement tells a lot to the audience because it causes the audience to wonder if that movement is from the POV of a person or if the movement was just a creative decision. There is a straight cut to a POV shot of the rear end of the car looking back at the exit of the tunnel. With another straight cut, the shot now changes to looking up at the underside of a large bridge with streetlights passing by. Another straight cut shows a POV shot of the rear end of the car and then a pan up movement to fade into black as the non-diegetic music fades out. The reoccurring cuts of the inside of the tunnel and the surroundings lets the audience subtly know that that tunnel and that area will be a part of an important moment in the film.
There is a fade into a panning movement, and a pull-out movement shows the reflection of a boy, that seems to be writing something, in the window he is sitting in front of. A voice over begins from the boy we see where he is reading a letter he is currently writing to his friend. There is a pull-out movement to reveal more of the boy and his surroundings. The audience can now see that he is sitting at a desk in his room. The voiceover reveals the timid and awkward way the boy speaks, giving the reader insight into his personality and his character. The rest of the boy's surroundings are dimly lit, and there is a bright overhead light above him. This adds emphasis to him and lets the audience know he is the voice in the voiceover and the main protagonist of the film.
There is a panning camera movement to the opposite side of the tunnel and slightly down. This movement tells a lot to the audience because it causes the audience to wonder if that movement is from the POV of a person or if the movement was just a creative decision. There is a straight cut to a POV shot of the rear end of the car looking back at the exit of the tunnel. With another straight cut, the shot now changes to looking up at the underside of a large bridge with streetlights passing by. Another straight cut shows a POV shot of the rear end of the car and then a pan up movement to fade into black as the non-diegetic music fades out. The reoccurring cuts of the inside of the tunnel and the surroundings lets the audience subtly know that that tunnel and that area will be a part of an important moment in the film.
There is a fade into a panning movement, and a pull-out movement shows the reflection of a boy, that seems to be writing something, in the window he is sitting in front of. A voice over begins from the boy we see where he is reading a letter he is currently writing to his friend. There is a pull-out movement to reveal more of the boy and his surroundings. The audience can now see that he is sitting at a desk in his room. The voiceover reveals the timid and awkward way the boy speaks, giving the reader insight into his personality and his character. The rest of the boy's surroundings are dimly lit, and there is a bright overhead light above him. This adds emphasis to him and lets the audience know he is the voice in the voiceover and the main protagonist of the film.
I think that going the Juno route by having some more character centric scenes with the opening credits would be more fitting for the path we are looking to take with the film opening. I want our film opening to be lighthearted and bright like Juno and not serious and dark like The Perks of Being a Wallflower. In the next post, I will be doing research on color theory in film. See you in the next post!
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