Analysis of an Opening Sequence

Analysing The Opening Sequence of Matilda

Matilda is a well known children’s film made in 1996. It’s a fantasy film. The opening sequence consists of mainly the film itself and little opening credits. Although it was made thirteen years a go it is still remembered and liked today.

From the opening sequence you can gain quite a lot about the narrative. The clip has a narrator which introduces the film in a friendly way which would be attractive to children. From the first shot you know that one of the films main characters will be a child, this child being Matilda. The two parents of the child are then introduced and a sense of unloving and little care can be felt by the audience. The child is left in the back of the car as the rest of the family enter the house which just shows how much they feel for the baby. As most of the shots and the story so far have been based around the baby then you can tell that the film will be about her and her life. Nearer the end of the clip the baby writes her name herself so the audience can then see that there is something special about this baby and engages them into the film.


Two of the main characters are introduced straight away as the mother and father of the baby. As soon as the audience meets the father it is apparent that he doesn’t care about his new born baby and is more worried about the money she will cost. The mother seems to care more looks and well being than the baby’s so again doesn’t really show much compassion towards her newborn daughter. From their appearance these two characters come across as very materialistic, selfish people who wouldn’t appeal to children at all. I think that the target audience would see them as the villains of the film. However in their actions the characters to appear quite humorous which adds a light hearted feel to the film.

The atmosphere of the clip seems very rushed and frantic and keeps the audience interested as it has a fast pace to it. You can feel this frantic atmosphere from the quick abrupt movements of the characters and the immediate camera transitions.

Most of the sound heard within this clip was the music which plays almost all of the way through. It contrasts with the frantic atmosphere as it is calming and happy making the film quite enjoyable and easy to watch. The other sounds heard are the dialogue spoken by the characters and the sound effects such as screeching of car tyres.

The editing was very smooth and linear and continuity editing was definitely used as the clip was in chronologic order making it was simple to watch and it flowed really well and smoothly.

The camera work contributed to the flow of the opening sequence of Matilda, these are some of the shots used:
· Extreme close up (establishing shot)
· Tracking backwards
· Mid shot
· 2 shot
· Long shot
· Close up
· Pan

All of these were linked very well and as an audience it would be very difficult to spot the changing of shot.

If i was to freeze a part of the opening sequence and analyse everything within in that frame it would be called the mise-en-scene. I have does this and within this particular frame I could see the interior of Matilda’s house, lamps, two sofas and two of the main characters were also in it. This scene would have taken place ion the living room of the house and you can see this from the surroundings and props used. See below:

Overall I think that this opening sequence tells the viewer a lot about the narrative in a very simple way because it is just filming with no special effects. I think it’s an effective introduction to the film as it introduces most of the main characters and the story itself in a short space of time.