Wednesday 14 January 2015

Title Sequence Analysis: Feel-Good Drama


Case study 1: Forrest Gump (1994)


Genre: Drama, romance


Plot: Forrest Gump is a simple man with a low I.Q. but good intentions. He is running through childhood with his best and only friend Jenny. His 'mama' teaches him the ways of life and leaves him to choose his destiny. Forrest joins the army for service in Vietnam, finding new friends called Dan and Bubba, he wins medals, creates a famous shrimp fishing fleet, inspires people to jog, starts a ping-pong craze, create the smiley, write bumper stickers and songs, donating to people and meeting the president several times. However, this is all irrelevant to Forrest who can only think of his childhood sweetheart Jenny Curran. Who has messed up her life. Although in the end all he wants to prove is that anyone can love anyone.




This title sequence follows a feather which floats around town to different places also connoting what the narrative is about as it is all about his life story, like he is ‘floating through life’.


What I like about this title sequence is how simplistic the sequence is as conveys the genre of a feel good drama with an orchestral soundtrack and soft lighting.




Case study 2: Tamara Drewe (2010)


Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance


Plot: Once the ugly duckling in the Dorset village of Ewedown, Tamara Drewe returns to sell her late mother's house, now a glamorous journalist with a life-changing nose job. She awakens feelings in sexy old flame, Andy, the decent odd job man at pretentious author Nicholas Hardiment's writers' school and in Nicholas himself, a serial philanderer who cheats on his loyal wife Beth. But Tamara has a new man in her life, Ben, an obnoxious rock drummer whose marriage proposal she accepts, to the dismay of local girl - and Ben's biggest fan - Jody. Jody's efforts to sabotage the engagement lead to Tamara, on the rebound and finding Andy in the arms of another, allowing Nicholas to have his wicked way with her, and also allowing it to be photographed and sent to a distraught Beth. Beth's secret admirer, American writer Glen, confronts Nicholas out in the fields, but Ben's dog Boss has got loose and has caused a local farmer's cattle to stampede towards them, an event which will shape the futures of everybody.




This title sequence is of a British country side with shots of the county and a man cutting wood with text coming up around him. This follows Morrison’s technique of film sequence as the sequence shows little of what the film is about, only the setting.


What I like about this sequence is how little of the narrative is revealed in the titles and how the use of warm colours from the setting connote the genre of a feel good drama.

No comments:

Post a Comment