The infamous story of Benjamin Barker, known as Sweeney Todd, played by Johnny Depp. He sets up a barber shop in London and this becomes the basis of a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant Mrs Lovett, it is based on the hit Broadway musical.The opening sequence of the film is not one full of action that grabs your attention as such but it puts you on the edge of your seat eager to watch the film. It sets the tone and allows the audience to adjust to what is due to come next.
SOUND: Firstly I focused on sound both diegetic and non-diegetic. Throughout the whole opening sequence there is some form of music over the top. It is eerie, yet still upbeat in some points it changes to more sharp and high pitch. The high pitch sounds of violins almost sound as though someone is rubbing metal against metal. The sounds are very aggressive and could suggest to the audience that it is going to be a violent film, someone could die by the use of a sharp object, to go along side the sharp sound. The background track is not smooth it is jumpy and quickly changes tone and pitch. The organ ranges from high to really low sounds that create a tense atmosphere telling the audience that it is a horror film. There is also a lot of range of volume used as well, at some point is it really loud and other points you can barely hear it but it is still there in the background.
Then there is the digetic sound, this is the sound that you would hear if you where there. You can hear the sound of the clogs turning and as if someone is pulling levers, this has the effect of eeriness and spookiness. You can hear the blood dripping, this tells you that it is definitely going to have some horror and gore in it, also helping establish the genre. Uproar of fire and crackling of something burning, this sounds dark and cold yet the fire that you can see is warming. The fire could be seen as good to keep people warm but yet it could connote violence and something burning or dying too. Then comes the slamming off the oven door with the fire still crackling away underneath but not as loud, the slam of the door shocks the audience as it is louder then the sound of crackling fire. The way the door shuts very fast and the booming noise that it makes reminds the audience of the violent and horror that is in the film. By being able to hear running water, with blood mixed in, lets you know that you are going to be somewhere else when the film starts as you have traveled with the water. The noise is quite distracting and makes people feel on edge as the rushing of water is frantic.
EDITING: The blood that runs throughout the whole of the opening sequence has been edited, it has been saturated making it look unrealistic. It is bright red and does not look real at all. There is only one reason for this, they do not want people to take it too seriously, by using blood that doesn't look real it could show that it is meant to be comical. The brightness of the red also contrasts with the rest of the scenes being so dark. The blood looks gooey and moves extremely slowly, when it does change pace it is linked in with the music and as the blood runs faster the music becomes faster too. This re insures the idea that the blood and the shrilling sounds could connote someone being killed. The credits are all in white, contrasting the dark backgrounds behind, this makes them stand out and are therefore easier to read. The main title of the film is in the same red as the blood as shown below.
SHOTS:
There is an establishing shot that allows the audience to locate where the film is set. It also then moves to a shot that makes you feel as though you are in the film, it is looking out of a window and you can see the rain falling. By doing this you immediately feel as if you are connected to the movie before it has even started and introduced a character. The wide shot, to establish where you are, that then zooms in to look through a window and focuses on a central piece makes sure you know that you are supposed to be looking at the central piece, the chair. The camera then does a tracking shot of the blood throughout the whole time the blood is running, by doing this it reinforces that the blood is the main focus and the genre is horror or crime. There is one shot where it is tracking the blood and then the floor drops, this means for the camera to carry on tracking the blood is must drop too. By tilting the camera down as the floor opens you feel as though you are following something into the ground. It has put you into the film and feel connected before you know anything about the characters. There is a close up of the mincing machine with what looks like minced meat coming out of, you are not sure as to what the mince actually is but you can tell from the shot and the way the mince is coming out that it is disgusting. This is true as later on in the film you are told that the mince that you see is actually a human. The shot that is looking through the oven door at the fire and the pies is a really good shot to make you, once again, feel as though you are there and know what is going on. It is almost like you are the camera and if you where there that is what you would be able to see. There is then a shot where you are at the end of a tunnel and the blood and water is gushing towards you. Then it drops underwater and you are back to the same sky that is in the establishing shot at the beginning of the opening sequence.
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