Analysing a fantasy films opening credits

Stranger Than Fiction



In this section I shall be analysing the opening credits of a fantasy film (video below), roughly the same as our own. Stranger Than Fiction revolves around the story of Harold Crick who is the main character of a novel created by Karen Eiffel. However, Harold exists and Karen is leading up to the end of her book, in which Harold dies. This film is similar to our own as it is a fantasy but is in a way set in a realistic world which has slightly been tweaked to fit in to the fantasy genre.

The scene uses naturalistic lighting to give the film a realistic touch and to give the impression that this film, even though a fantasy film, will somehow be grounded in reality. The opening credits give the feeling that everything that happens in this short section is happening there and then.

The mise-en-scene throughout this opening sequence is used to tell the audience various information about the protagonist. Several animations pop up throughout to coincide with what the narrator is telling us. This is both tell us about his past and that this daily routine of his is foreshadowing later events of the film.

The sound is portrayed through both diegetic and non diegetic sound. The diegetic sound is heard when Harold brushes his teeth and several shots on the street. The non-diegetic sound is heard through the soundtrack and most importantly through the narrator.

The editing in this clip is the standard continuity style of editing, to help the flow of the scene making it easy for the audience to follow. The editing follows the voice of the narrator who describes the protagonist. For example when she talks about his wrist watch we get a close up of it.

The cinematography is done in a way that allows the main character to always be included in the shot. All shots in this opening sequence either includes Harold himself or some sort of object relating to him. This is done to make the audience understand that this is the character we will be following throughout the film.

This opening sequence is like our own for the reason that this fantasy film is grounded in reality, this film is not an OTT fantasy set on another world this film takes place in the present day with only the odd fantasy element, kind of like our own idea.