Corpse Bride Opening scene: Analysis Essay

Corpse Bride Opening scene: Analysis Essay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVTIUS5VS-I&index=28&list=WL

Movie information

Corpse Bride is a 2005 fantasy romance movie directed by Tim

Burton and staring actors  Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter. The movie was distributed by Warner Bros and had a budget of $40 million and made $117.2 million at the box office.

Target audience

The target audience for corpse bride is children who are 7 and above, or people who enjoy Tim Burton movies and/ or that particular type of movie. Tim Burton has an aurtur directing style which is why many watch his movies.

Opening scene

 

The opening scene starts off slowly and builds in intensity and emotion, this creates a mysterious atmosphere. Most of the opening scene is in black and white with hints of blue showing. The blue represents the cold bitter reality that the character (protagonist) lives in. The butterfly is an interesting use of proxemics’, the butterfly trapped in the glass is exactly how the protagonist feels, he lets it free and looks longingly at it as if he wishes he could be free too. Also the glass could represent an invisible barrier that no one else can see other than the protagonist. The butterfly is blue, but this time it is bright blue to show its innocence and to show how alive and precious it is in this cruel world that we see. The turning of the pages could refer to turning a new leaf or page; this could infer that the character wants to start a new  life. As the butterfly flies away we see the characters whereabouts unravel and get an idea of life the character could lead / live in (it sets the scene). The sound of the clock represents that time is running out or time is of the essence which is a theme shown through out later on in the movie.

Editing

In this type of movie to get the realistic animated effect they use clay models and took multiple pictures to make them look like they were alive. The lighting has most likely been tempered with

as it is dulled down and made black and white with hints of blue. As the shots change they tend to fade in and out to give a soft effect to the opening. This perfectly matched with the atmosphere the music gives off. Visual effects can be seen as the butterfly is cgi. The scene is linear and has no jump cuts. Through the scene the credits come up and the scene builds up into the main story. There is also an eye line match and the editing is in continuity.

Camera angles

There are few different shots used, such as extreme close ups, close up, long shot, establishing shots, reaction shot and POV shots. A lot of the shots used move which give the viewer a wider range of visuals. All of the shots set the scene in some way or another slowly revealing more about the character with every shot. The camera tracks the butterfly and also it tends to zoom in at certain moments. The camera also is filmed at both high and low angles. The low angle is most effective because it is intriguing to look at.

Sound

The sound gives of an atmosphere of curiosity, it’s very subtle but effective, and it also makes the character seem sad. The change in music when we see the town that he lives in makes the character seem different as the change of music gives of a harsh, slightly creepy atmosphere. There is both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds (this depending on whether you count the re-creation of realistic sounds as diegetic) some sounds could be classified as sound effects. There is incidental music and ambient sound throughout the opening scene.

Mise en Scene

 

 The location the main character seems to be in is a Gothic

styled town most likely in northern Europe. Its most likely Gothic to pair with the stories Gothic theme. The costumes are dark and gloomy like the characters personalities, however the main characters clothing is black whereas the other characters seen are all wearing grey apart from a man who can be presumed to be the anti-protagonist. In the credits you can see famous actors like Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, which often closely work with Tim Burton, to create Gothic styled films like this one. These actors are famous and can draw people to watch this movie. The protagonist sits up straight and is very composed whereas some of the other characters slouch which show the contrast and variety between the characters.