Research: Movie Opening - Credits Comparison

Media Studies – Two Movie Opening Comparison

The Goonies, 1985

-          First off unlike most movies, it does not show the companies name at the start of the movie at all. It also starts off with a scene without any form of opening titles, and starts off with an establishing shot too.

-          It first states the names of the film stars, starring in the film in alphabetical order with their character name listed after theirs. It then proceeds to saying who was the film editors, the producers, co. producers, etc. – but always had the Director’s name presented last for remembering reasons.

-          The film also starts off on showing and presenting the characters as they appear. For example, it first shows a scene of the criminals escaping prison whilst covering the prison’s outside in oil (which was later then lit alight as soon as they started going). After the small intro scene, we then see their displayed names on screen, labelling who’s playing who and who is starring in the film too. It also then further develops to show what the kids are like (whilst still having themselves labelled in the opening titles) and how they behave (i.e. Chunk being lazy and Mikey being mischievous).

-          Dramatic, non-diegetic music is also played as soon as the criminal’s ‘great escape’ goes to plan. We also see the movie start on an epic, wild car chase around town which will already excite the audience and get them engaged into the movie.

-          Although we hear non-diegetic music in the backdrop, we can also hear diegetic and iconic gun shots being fired by both the police cars and the criminals who escaped. So whilst they have a chase, we see all the main characters being introduced and tied into/ interlinked into the intro scene of the movie.

The Shining, 1980

-          Unlike The Goonies, we’re able to see the company’s name and logo ‘Warner Brothers’ so we know what type of movie we’re about to watch.

-          At the start of the movie, we see a hallway for a hotel with weary music in the backdrop getting louder and louder in the process. Blood then comes out of the door filling the hallway with red blood stains all over whilst the opening credits come up and proceed into the next scene. This also introduces the movie title ‘The Shining’ with the company name at the start; making the audience aware they’re watching one of their films.

-          The next seen then continues with a birds-eye view of a car driving by around a mountain/ cliff. This brings tension to the scene since we are unaware of what will happen as the movie progresses with diegetic and iconic sounds in the backdrop whilst more movie opening credits appear.

-          As soon as the driving scene appears, we’re able to hear non-diegetic music which also brings tension into the scene which makes us ‘active audience’ question what’ll happen next (and even then, we still hear creepy and iconic music in the background before the main opening titles/ scene).

-          When the movie titles come up, we see them fade in from a blue font (believed to be a Sans type font). And unlike The Goonies, the director’s name is placed first and not like (unlike many other movies too). It’s then followed by the main star’s names, and then the name of the movie itself. However, the font ‘The SHINING’ is written in isn’t different from the opening credit titles which most directors don’t do nowadays.