Find Nemo Analysis

Analysing The Opening Scene Of Finding Nemo

I have chosen the opening clip of the children’s film ‘Finding Nemo’ to analyse. This film is completely animated and uses CGI (computer generated imagery) extensively. It was very popular with younger children because of its enticing storyline.

I looked very carefully at the camerawork during the 2:04 minutes opening of this film and it introduces the setting with an establishing shot that takes the form of a pan of the surrounding area, which in this case was a coral reef. Surprisingly there were many shots in this short scene with just two characters in it. One of the most commonly used one was a two shot of the two clown fish having various conversations. The clip also included other shots such as: long shots, mid long shots, point of view shots and also an over the shoulder shot which was very effective as it showed the point of view of that particular character so the audience could see what they were seeing. I didn’t think that it would be used in an animated film. The clip ends very suddenly with a abrupt blackout.

The sound in this particular clip adds to creating a calming atmosphere as the music is very mellow and peaceful. It creates an ambience that you would expect under the sea, in a coral reef. I think the instruments in the piece include a flute and a piano. Accompanying the music are sea sounds such as bubble and watery sound effects, these help the viewer to see that this film is based under the sea. There seem to be different sound effects for every movement that the character makes. The body and mouth movements in this clip are very synchronous which makes it se much better quality. Most of the sound in this clip is diegetic apart from the music which is non-diegetic. About a quarter of the way through the clip there is a sudden silence in the music creating tension. This is when the whole mood of the clip changes and the music begins to play again but it is eerie and unnerving music which causes the viewer to expect something bad to happen, which does so this shows that it generates the right effect. In this part a shark enters and as it attacks, the music changes yet again to a very dramatic piece and the sound effects are very sharp to coincide with the vicious movements of the shark. This piece ends very dramatically and as it does the music and sounds slowly fades out.

The editing in this film clip is linear meaning it is very straightforward and easy for the viewer to understand, chronological order. Linear editing is very important in a children’s film because they need to be able to understand it, to be able to enjoy it. The cuts are very good from shot to shot as you hardly notice they are happening. The film has continuity editing which is extremely smooth making the clip easy and enjoyable to watch.

The only obvious special effect in this clip is CGI which stands for Computer Generated Imagery which is the animation so this is used throughout the whole film. This particular CGI is of high quality therefore makes the film better in the eyes of the viewer.

Mise – en – scene is everything in the frame, when analysed it is of a still image so this makes it quite difficult to analyse the mise -en- scene in a film clip. I was to freeze the opening image of the clip in the scene would be part of the coral reef under the sea, and the two clown fish.

This film clip is a very good opening as it introduces the setting and the main plot of the storyline. The variation in it is excellent and the fact that it has such a dramatic change. The music used in incredibly appropriate and the synchronisation is also of a high quality. I like this clip very much and think that the film would definitely appeal to children of all ages.