Melodrama: Research into title sequences

Title Sequence: Submarine.

This film opens with a pan shot of a bedroom. We can guess that it is a boys bedroom, due to the colour scheme and the things it contains, such as a fake skeleton, a toy soldier and toy planets. The only noise in the background is the ambient sound of seagulls, which suggests that he lives near the seaside. The lack of noise could suggest the loneliness of the character. This is a very successful way in starting a film, as a bedroom can tell us a lot about a character without giving too much away. We can guess the gender of the person, their interests and their age.  

Inbetween these pan shots of the bedroom, the titles flash up. There is still silence in the background when these are displayed. This is quite an old fashioned way to present the title sequence, as it reminds me of a silent movie. 

After the camera has finished panning the room, we see who's bedroom it is. He is a teenage boy, which we could guess from his bedroom. He is sitting in the corner of his room, and looking out of the window. A high angle shot is used here, which makes him appear small. This is done to show that he feels lonely and insignificant. He is sitting crossed legged with his hands resting in his lap. This portrays him as an awkward and shy character, rather than arrogant and boisteorious. 

The room is very dark, which may show that he is rather unhappy and isolates himself from the rest of the world.  He begins to speak, and says: "Most people think of themselves as individuals, that there's no one on the planet like them." We can see from the grammar and vocabularly in his opening sentence that he is intellegent and well spoken. He continues to say: "This thought motivates them to get out of bed, eat food, and walk around like nothing's wrong" This is a very negative perception on life, which shows he is quite pessimistic. He is very similar to our lead character Lola. He then introduces himself. This gives the audience a personal connection with the character. 

We are then shown the outside of his house. This is filmed in extreme long shot, which is used to remind us that he is so small in comparison to the rest of the world. This makes him seem more normal and insignificant. We are then shown a series of photographs of the area in which he lives. These include a seaside, a field and a lake. This is very British scenery so we assume from the pictures and his accent that he comes from the UK. The pictures of the beautiful views completely contrast with how Oliver views the world, which reminds us of how negative and dark his personality is. However, he is very likeable as there is something very relatable about his mundane and realistic view of society. 

After viewing the picutes, the title of the film shows up. The background is of water which relates to the film title 'Submarine'. The music playing in the background is a song called 'Stuck On A Puzzle' By Alex Turner, who is in a famous indie band named the Arctic Monkeys. This relates to the films independence as the band were also on an independent record label. Alex Turner wrote the entire soundtrack of the film, which will have also attracted a large 'Indie' audience. 

At the end of the sequence, Oliver is facing a beach. This is filmed in long shot. Although he is in the centre of the frame, he seems so small in comparison to the rest of the beach. The fact he is not facing the camera and we can only see the back of him again highlights his depressive state.