Juno Title Sequence

The open titles for Reitman's critically acclaimed indie-comedy film, Juno, where hand craften by Shadowplay Studio.
As the title sequence starts we hear the music, "All I want is you to be my sweet honny bee, and if I was a tree growing tall and green, all Id want is for you to shave me and be my leaves", the lyrics in the song already suggest to the audiance (for exmaple myself) that the film is going
to have a romantic touch to it, maybe with some problems along the way. We see Juno walking down, what looks like, to be a subberban street holding a large bottle of "Sunny D" in her hands, and then she walks through a group of boys running down the road in some sort of uniform. You
would think that being a film aimed at teenages it would be bright and colourful out, almost as if the titles had be edited to be perficly coloured,and bright and happy, but in Juno, you can tell that is is a sunny day out but its still dark in the back ground, which does not suggest that she is a good mood as she bowls down the road.

Juno, and the street that she is walking down then all turns into cartoon images, these again not being very bright, all dark and nutral colours, very monotone, and the only thing with shadding in the title sequence, is Juno. The intremental for the playing again in the background. Next Juno
is standing at a cross road, with foreshaddows that there will be a dissions that she will have to make, she takes a mouthful of the "Sunny D" that she is holding in her hands and then we see her fidgiting feet, which could be portrating that she is nurvouse about something or thinking.
Behind the feet we see a pair of legs, exactly the same as the ones which are Juno's, walking down the road, we then see her from the waist down
swinging the "Sunny D" bottle by her side. Next we see Juno again, bowling down a road, Juno being the only part of the shot which does not look like it has been drawn, there is still an element of realism in her, like she is a photograph on a drawn background. The lyrics to the song which we first heard in the beging start playing again, suggesting that there may be a relationship with her and a boy, and they are "in love" and "JUNO" is flashing beside her in hand drawn black letters. The camera then moves upwards to see the top of a telegraph pole and small hand drawn birds flying in the dull bluey gray, cloudless sky.

We then see a closs of shot of Juno's gray face smiling, and then to a close up of her legs and feet walking down an outline of a white chair and acustic guitar, this again foreshaddowing that they both play a large part in the upcoming film, with her "Sunny D" bottle still swinging at her side.
Then we just see Juno walking down a road past houses, then turning down another road to walk past some shops, the scenery still being very dull, not much colour to anything, everything is the same, as if the writer of "Juno" is telling the audiance that life is boring, or that what ever in the background is boring, you have to make your life colourful and exiting yourself. Then as Juno is walking past a shop, its outlining starts to dissapear, as if it is deteriarating, foreshaddowing that something bad is going to happen and that everything will then "fall apart".
When Juno leaves the shot there is nothing left of the shop that she has just walked past, apart from the dull coffe colour and a few lines. We then see Juno standing infront of this, waiting to cross the road, and then behind her another shop is draw on to where the other one was, as if it is portraying that even though sometimes is may seem like everything is gone and the world is about to end, you can build your life back up and everything will be okay in the end. Juno moves closer in to the shot, then all we see is a close up of her hand unscrewing her "Sunny D" bottle, and then close up of her drinking it as she walks, but all we can see behind her is the dull colour of the sky, the only colour in the shot is coming from her red jumper. Next there is a birdseye few of Juno walking down a beige pavement, and the dull colour of the sky/background surrounding that pavement, she then looks up at the camera and has a smerk on her face.
She walk out the shot and then into another one where she is walking along a park, the only colour being her, the dark green of the grass and then we see the boys in their running outfits funny along the grass, infront of the outline of white drawn trees. The shot changes to see her walking down the road from behind, and the boys running past her again, this tells us that one, of not more, of these boys plays a main part in the film.
For the next few shots they are the same as the first, Juno is walking down a very bland road, we switch from seeing her from behind, to her feet, to her
side, and then a close up of her face with a smirk on it, then back to seeing her walking down a road where all we can see is the out line of a boy on a skate board, a few trees and a shop, it all being the same coffee colour brown - the shot then changes to gradually being back to normal, but the last thing to change from being drawn into the film is Juno, we see a young boy and girl standing outside this shop and Juno walks in, still with her overly large "Sunny D" in her hand.

Se7en Title Sequence

Mese-en-scene - French for “Everything in the frame” 

"Seven," a dark, grisly, horrifying and intelligent thriller, may be too disturbing for many people, I imagine, although if you can bear to watch, it you will see filmmaking of a high order. It tells the story of two detectives - one ready to retire, the other at the start of his career - and their attempts to capture a perverted serial killer who is using the Seven Deadly Sins as his scenario. "

Today we watched the opening sequence for a 1995 American crime film “Se7en” directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker, oh yes I did my research! As the film starts Morgan Freeman, who plays a retiring Detective William Summerset, standing in his kitchen cleaning up after he made a coffee and straightening his cuffs. The camera then moves on to show Summerset carefully doing up his tie in front of his mirror, then picking up, in order, his belonging which are neatly laid out on the table in front of him, first his keys, then his detective badge, an old school pen knife and lastly a ball point pen, placing the knife and the pen in his shirt pocket. We next see Summerset in his bedroom with his suit jacket carefully laid out on the bed; Summerset checks the jacket for fluff, carefully picks up his jacket to put it on, then turning off his bedside lamp. 

The lighting and the coloring of Summerset flat are both very dull; the darkness of the flat suggests it could either be early morning or early evening, whilst setting an eerie atmosphere. The color scheme throughout the flat is a series of creams, beige, browns and greys, this shows us that everything is just used for its function, the kitchen is just a kitchen, no socializing would be done in there, and it is simply used for breakfast, lunch and dinner – just serving its purpose.The next scene shows a dead body laying on the floor in a pool of blood, in a badly lit gloomy house, keeping the dull and eerie atmosphere running throughout the title sequence, the camera moves along the body and then straight to Summerset who is walking through the house, each pace the same, with his hands in his pockets, looking into each room, you can also see a dimly lit light hanging from the ceiling behind him. Summerset then walks into the kitchen and see’s children’s drawings on the fridge and asks another detective the other end of the hall to him, asking if the child saw anything, the reaction from this man, whom I will name the Sloppy Cop, replies to him “what kind of a question is that!?” We’ll be glad when we’ve got rid of you Summerset” this shows us that the cop only really cares about the result, finding out who did it so that he gets paid, nothing else, but on the other hand, Summerset does a good job, he reads between the lines and is almost worried about the child, he wants every piece of information there is to do the job properly – old school almost. Showing us that Summerset has everything he does, is done with efficiency, this is from the way he decorates his home, to the how he dresses to how he does his job. Behind the cop who is speaking to Summerset we can see, no in plain view but behind, as if it is just an everyday thing, a blood splattered blind which is most likely from a gunshot to the head, this makes the viewer also worry about the child, would he/she have had to go through such a terrible ordeal? 

Next Bradd Pitt who plays the rookie detective David Mills comes rushing up the stairs, late to work, chewing gum, unshaven and not as smartly dresses as Summerset, “Detective Summerset? I’m Detective Mills” This is not how someone should address someone formally, Mills says this in a very cocky way, he also cocks his head to one side almost as if he knows everything, already fighting to be above Dective Mills. Next we see the body being taken out of the house, covered up and being taken to have a post mortem done on him. The rain is created outside for the impending doom of the underbelly of New York, still carrying on the gloom and despair of what is the down town part New York and you can also hear sirens in the back ground and the flash of the paparazzo camera’s, the public who walk past Mills and Summerset as they walk down the street talking are all dressed in black, again showing the dullness which surrounds them all. As Summerset and Mills walk down the street talking Summerset keeps his same pace, walking with his hands in his pockets, just letting the world almost past him by, he also talks in the same tone, everything about this man is officiate, everything is done with the same amount of purpose, where as Mills walks at a different pace, having to slow down and turning to face Summerset as they talk. 

It is clear that they are two completely different people, and that it is like Mills is constantly fighting to have the same status as Summerset. As well as this, when Mills is talking to Summerset he cannot completely face him, and never keeps his eye contact, almost as if he has something to hide, he is not sure of Summerset or that he is just being wary of him. Near the end of the conversation, Summerset turns to face mills, face to face, and Mills then crosses his arms, showing annoyance, impatience and contempt to what Summerset is saying to him. 

Summerset then walks off leaving Mills standing with his arms crossed, showing his true annoyance. Next we see Summerset, laying in bed, in a badly lit dull room, used simply for its purpose, sleeping in and for getting dressed – nothing else. Summerset sets a metronome, an old school timing device which is used normally by pianists to keep them in time, in the background we can hear everything that Summerset can hear, both outside his home, and in his head, there are; police sirens, dogs barking, the hussle and bussle of the city outside, shouting, the loud sound of the metronome and then a loud burst of thunder which leads into the titles. It could be that Summerset sets the metronome so that he can try and forget everything that he has seen and heard during his life, these may have something to do with noises outside his home which he can hear, he also goes to sleep with two bedside lamps on, this shows his paranoia of the dark, being alone and the bad things that happen in the underbelly of New York.

The titles sequence shows us what could be the serial killer in this film, everything is shot in black white, this represents the way in which the serial killer thinks, there are no shades of gray, everything is either black or white, your are either a sinner or a saint. This also relates to Summerset, although his home and his clothes are dull colors, he does have grey, browns and beiges, which shows us that to him there are shades of grey, that you have to read between the lines, no everything is as it is on the first look. Also we only see this man’s hands, no face, and no torso. The music that is played during this titles sequence has the sounds of chains and zips, high pitches screams but this is almost as if it is all on a cerset-tape which is being rewound, creating a since of confusion and fright, as if you would come out in cold sweats listening to it. 

Throughout the titles we can see the serial killer clearly and precisely lining out words in books and newspaper clipping in a black marker, he also lines out a young boys face and nearly and carefully writes out codes on lots of pieces of paper which he bines himself into a book using an old needle and string. The serial killer is also seen looking at old brain surgery pictures, pictures of dead people and murders, he cuts this pictures out and keeps this is a note book, we also see him carefully cut out the word “God” out of a dollar bill with a scalpel and tweezers, this suggests to us that the murders he commits are religious based.

The New York Times Magazine called the title sequence Kyle Cooper created for Se7en one of the most important design innovations of the 1990s.