Analysis of An Opening Sequence

Analysing The Opening Sequence of Monsters Inc

The opening of the popular 2001 film, Monsters Inc is mainly the title sequence and none of the film itself. However you can still get a lot from the simple set up of the sequence. The viewer knows that it is a mystery comedy because of the music and the image of a closed door, tells you that something is being hidden making it a mystery.

From the opening sequence not much shown yet it still tells the audience quite a bit about the narrative. The coloured doors give the film a mysterious element and some show monsters coming of them which shows that this film will be about monsters and they may be the main characters. The cheery, happy music also says that this film will be a light-hearted happy one and not too dark, the

bright colours represent this also.

The characters will almost definitely be monsters, as they appear in all of the title sequence, so there will be a main theme of monsters in the film. As this is a children’s film there will be children in it so they can relate to the characters more easily. A childlike scream in the opening sequence is a clue to back up this thought.

Fun is just one of the words that would be used to describe the atmosphere of this film. I derived this from the bright colours used in the clip and the upbeat music played throughout. The atmosphere was also comic, light hearted even though it involved monsters, and happy.

The only special effects present in this clip are animation of the doors, monsters and words. They move fluently across the frame and the movements they made went perfectly with the music, making the clip flow very well.

Most of the sound in this clip was jazz music, which was played throughout. It had a light hearted tune to it giving the clip a very cheery and jolly feel. The other sounds were one child screaming and a roar of a monster, these added and variation to the sound within the clip.

Linear editing was used in the opening sequence of monsters inc. and the words shown were in order and each one followed another in chronological order. Continuity editing was also present and made the clip flow brilliantly and made it easy and enjoyable to watch.

As this clip only showed the opening titles it consisted of just one frame all the way through so there was little camera movement until the end where there was a tracking forward shot. Again this added to simplicity of the clip and made it easy to watch, which is good for children as it would hold their attention for longer.

If I was to freeze one frame of this opening sequence, it would be called the mise-en-scene and within this I would se multicoloured doors, words and a cartoon monster. These would be very simple images with bright colour that stand out to the viewer and capture their attention. See below:

All in all just from the opening sequence of Monsters Inc the audience can gain many clues about the narrative of the film. This shows that a complex opening sequence is not needed to inform the audience, the more simple it is the more it will catch the audiences attention and get them guessing on what the film will be about and this is just what this clip does as well as being fun, enjoyable and interesting.