Madegascar Opening sequence analysis.

This movie is a populer childrens film and is shot entirly in CG (computer generate imagery). The film begins with an extreme long shot of a sunset. The mis-en-scene also includes a wide expance of grass and trees framing the sunset on either side. A zebra swings across the shot on a vine, and the shot cuts to a close up of the zebras face, and tracks him as he swings. The shot then cuts to a med-longshot of the zebra jumping from the vine and flying through the air. The shot is angled upwards to the give the impression on extreme hight, and while the zebra is moving in slow motion, the title of the film slowy fades over the screen, and then fades out. Also, just before the title fades, there is a tracking shot of the zebra landing (from the same position of the long shot), and the title moves with the shot before fading. once the Zebra lands (on a bed of penguins), the camera stays in the position that it tracked in, and the Zebra (in slo-mo) runs towards the camera, and the shot finishes with an extreme closeup of the zebras moving feet. The shot then cuts to a high angled long shot, revealing that the zebra is actually running towards a large chasm, and as the zebra runs and jumps, the shot switches to a medium shot below the zebra, showing his stomach etc as he jumps across the chasm. As he flies through the air, again, the shot tracks with him. Once the zebra is nearly on the other side, the shot cuts to an extreme closeup of the zebras feet as he lands on the ground, and then quickly cuts to a slightly low angled medium shot in which we see the zebra run towards an unknown destination. the zebra runs very close to the camera, turning it into a close up, then an extreme closeup untill finally he runs out of shot. the camera has been slowly tracking backwards as he as been running, and continues to do this after the zebra is out of shot. The shot stays for a few seconds with showing the chasm the zebra has jumped over, and then from the hedges to the side of the shot, a lion pops out. the shot cuts to a closeup of the lion licking his lips, then cuts to an extreme longshot from up high, showing the Zebra running away from the camera towards what looks like an oasis. the lion then sneaks into the extreme long shot. once the lion is about halfway to the zebra, the shot switches to a medium shot from the side showing the zebra running, and after a few seconds of this the shot slowly zooms out to show the lion sneaking up right behind the zebra. The shot cuts to a closeup of the zebra looking joyous, and then cuts to a POV shot of him seeing the shining oasis. Suddenly, the Lion jumps into the POV shot shouting "suprise!". The next shot is of a closeup of the zebras shocked expression, and while the zebra continues to be itself and the narrative flows, the surroundings suddenly switch to that of gray buildings, showing the audiance that the whole thing was somkind of day dream sequence. As the Zebra keeps yelling in suprise, the shot cuts to a low angled long shot of him and the lion, and the shot also shows the zebra falling over in his suprise, and shows us the surroundings of a zoo, with tall gray buildings in the back ground. The entire openings sequence is around 1 minute 30 seconds.

I think that it is a good opening sequence for a childrens film as it begins peacefully, with a nice establishing shot that sets up the entire film as child friendly, but it then introduces mild peril and excitement in the form of the lion, but then quickly twists it to show that the lion and zebra are friends, again a very child friendly theme. Despite all this however, the dialouge within it is rather complex and fast paced, and so it also appealing to adults, and while this is largly a good thing, it can also make it harder for children to watch, and although this is true for the rest of the movie, it is not evident in the opening sequence itself.

Fil.