Wednesday 23 October 2013

Step Brothers Opening Scene Analysis

Step Brothers Opening Scene Analysis 

For my first opening sequence I will be analysing the film Step Brothers. The film was released July 25th 2008. It was directed by Adam Mckay, both Will Ferrel and John C.Reilly.
The film is about two men, 39 year old Brennan Huff (Will Ferrell) and 40 year old Dale Doback (John C.Reilly), who are two unemployed and self-centered men who still live with their parents. They have no intention of finding a job and moving out and behave childly. When Brennan's mother (Mary Steenburgen) and Dale's father Robert (Richard Jenkins) marry, Brennan and Dale are forced to live with each other as step brothers.

The genre of the film is comedy, it had a budget of $65 million and made over $181,807,642 (including DVD sales).


Opening Timeline


0:02-  "Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream." This quote is used to give an insight on what the film is about. In this case, family. This therefore links to the title 'Step Brothers'. 

0:06- The production credits of the film are arty and childish, this links with the characters within the film. Who are both immature and childish.

0:11- The typography  of the writing on the screen are simple (black and white). This is because the film's genre is comedy. So the typography do not have to reflect the theme/genre of the film e.g horror. 

0:28- A soundtrack kicks in. The song is upbeat and carefree to set the tone of the film. This links to the happy/funny theme of the film. Therefore it is very important for the opening of the film.

0:37-  Close ups and mid shots are used in the opening sequence is often set in this way so that the audience get to know the characters straight away. 

0:45- Medium sized titles informing the audience of who the actors are slowly fade in and out subtly at the bottom. 

0:56- We have now been introduced to all the main characters within the film. This is important within an opening sequence as the audience now know who is in the film.

1:13- A tilt and pan is used to set the scene of the room. From this camera movement we can see a representation of class as we can see nice possessions such as chandeliers and the quality of the life style they have. 

1:34- A shot reverse shot is used. This allows the audience to see each characters reaction to what is going on.