Comparing Title Sequences

GREASE

In one of the opening titles ‘Grease,’ the genre is conveyed as a musical comedy. This is shown through the colours of the font being vibrant and bold. It is also animated and moves around which helps link the font to the more comedic side of the story. 

These movements are quite exaggerated and so are the size of the titles. Therefore, we can link this theme to musical theatre, which would make the film a musical. There is a specific moment in the opening when the characters are looking in the mirror their name appears next to them e.g Olivia Newton-John as Sandy, which is not normal with opening credits as they would often just put the name, not who the actor was playing. This layout is often used in programmes in a musical which once again supports the idea of the film being a musical.

Some key titles that appear are

John Travolta as Danny

Olivia Newton John as Sandy

Stockard Channing as Rizzo

Dances and musical sequences staged and choreographed by Patricia Birch.

Directed by Randal Kleiser

Tone is set through using bold and saturated colours in the titles which makes the film feel light-hearted. The tone is also conveyed by the soundtrack setting a musical and happy tone as the song is quite positive and fun. Like mentioned earlier, when the characters are introduced, they looked like year book pictures and the characters where highly stereotypical e.g costume,  which might play into the idea of the narrative being based around school and the stereotypical teenagers you will find there. This is further proven when the diegetic sound of the radio announces that it is the ‘first day of school,’ and seeing as the characters are portrayed as young adults we can assume that they are high schoolers.

I believe that the location/ background of this opening sequence is America in the 1950s/ early 60s. This is because, firstly the mise-en-scene the costumes used were highly fashionable in the 50s.

Also, there are multiple images of pop-culture shown in this opening title sequence. For example, Elvis Presley, Martin Luther King, the USSR/ cold war, are all shown which were all prominent pop culture references from the late 50s. Also, these references were all relevant to America and even though the rest of the world knew about these events, they were most relevant in American culture.

AMERICAN HORROR STORY SEASON 1

In the opening sequence of ‘American Horror Story’ season 1 the genre is conveyed as horror. Firstly, the transitions are fast and unpredictable, which is achieved through the editing. This makes the audience feel uneasy. Also, the music used in the opening sequence is highly disturbing and irregular. The soundtrack is parallel and synchronous to the clips, as the clip cuts to a different on in time with the music and both have unsettling themes about them.

This is because the clips use props such as jars with body parts and animals in them which look eerie and mysterious. Another way the horror is conveyed is through the use of symbolism. For example, there are multiple recurrences of photographs of children, fire, smashed glass, skulls. All things that imply danger or could be dangerous. We associate danger with the emotion of fear and anxiety, which we associate with horror as that is how the genre makes us feel.

Some key names in the title sequence include:

Connie Britton

Dylan Mc Dermott

Evan Peters

Taissa Farmiga

Denis O’hare

Jessica Lange

Created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck

 

The tone of the film is definitely mysterious and dark. This is portrayed though the use of camera work. There are lots of close ups on different objects that makes us unable to tell what they are for example the various objects in the jars. 

There is also no clear setting, time, location, or character which further adds to the mystery. The tone could also be quite gothic, as the titles reflect this through how they are very bold and thick, which reflects a gothic tone.

From what has been shown, I believe that the narrative will be about a basement as that is where the clip seems to focus on. I also believe that it will centre around how the basement is dangerous and possibly haunted as there are lots of old pictures of children and it is a horror series. 

I also believe that the series will have strong links to fire and murder, as fire is shown a lot in the opening titles. Also, the title of season one is called ‘murder house,’ which also link in with the horror genre.

Both are very good at establishing genre, narrative and characters, however I believe grease is a better title sequence. This is because, it gives us a clear indication of the characters, location, setting and narrative. However, I believe that American Horror story is better are establishing tone and genre because of the music and symbols used throughout. It is not as clear in Grease about whether it is a romance, comedy, or musical. It is definitely light-hearted, but it is hard to pin point the exact genre it is supposed to represent.