Catch Me If You Can Opening Sequence Analsis.

 1.   How does the title sequence attract an audience’s interest? 

There are many colours and you want to find out why he’s on the run.

2.   Describe what you think is happening in the clip. What seems to be significant about what you can see? 

There are lots of indications of transport, which suggests he is moving around a lot, perhaps linking in with the title and trying to run away from someone or a group of people who is chasing him.

3.   Describe the characters, their actions in the sequence and their relationships to one another.

The main characters seems like he is on the run, or people are chasing him, this makes the audience feel that the other characters may dislike him as he spends the whole duration of the opening sequence trying to hide or disguise himself. It looks as if he is trying to stay away from another character. The ‘main character’ moves very smoothly throughout the whole thing.

4.   How do setting, location, props and costume choices contribute to your interpretation of the sequence? Consider what information these convey.

The setting for the clip is not a real place, as it is an animation, but we know that he will be in various location around the world. The fact that he is wearing a suit gives you the impression that he’s a man of high importance or holds a good job. The man also is at the airport at the start of the clip, and animated planes suggest that he has just been on one; this implies that the man is always on the move for business. There is a man reading a newspaper, he then turns and looks at the main character as if he is spying on the man, this implies that the main character is being watched and followed, something which is also found out to be true in the film. The are hints in the opening sequence that this man is being followed, such as when there is a man reading a newspaper, he then turns and looks at the main character as if he is spying on the man.

The man seems to fit in and blend into everywhere, for example he is in a hospital and he then finds a doctors uniform as a disguise. He also seems to live a lavish lifestyle as at one point he is swimming in champagne.

5. How does the sound shape your responses to the sequence? Comment on dialogue, tone, incidental sound and any music you notice, exploring their impact on your emotional response to the sequence. 

The viewer hears the music (diegetic sound), which sounds mysterious this reflects the genre of the film. There is non-diegetic music used throughout the clip, it is a jaws like soundtrack but without the fast paced “da-DA-da-DA” it helps to build up tension, and when the main character turns his head (40 seconds) the music goes at a higher pitch, creating more tension, as it gives you feeling that the man is being followed. There is no actual dialogue or diegetic sound in the opening sequence, this helps add to the fact that they are living in a stick man world.

6.   How do lighting and colour affect tone and atmosphere? Explore lighting choices, including noticeable use of light and shadow, as well as considering choice of colour.

The colours used in the clip are very bright and vibrant, colours like light blue and orange; this makes the audience feel that the main character in the stick man scene lives a rich and lavish lifestyle. The characters in the scene are black stick men; this is of course because this is the normal blunt colour often used for stick men, but the fact that they are all black stick men gives some edge to the story and leaves unanswered questions as to why the director has decided to do this. The pink at 1 minute 52 seconds implies the feminist that is in the room, but again it makes the characters seem more upper class.

7.   How does camera technique contribute to the creation of meaning in this sequence? Consider the effects of camera position and angle, commenting on two or more examples. What is the effect of the handheld camerawork in the final shot?

The same shot length, medium/long shots are used throughout the whole opening sequence, and this is because there are often things happening in the back round, which the director wants you to see. Furthermore there would be no real benefit for using close-up shots on actors as they are stick men and they have no emotions on their faces. There are many tracking shots used to follow the main character, as he is always moving on to different places. The arrows under the characters names, pointing to the characters shows which actors are playing the characters, this will draw in an audience as they are top drawer actors such as Leonardo Di Caprio and Tom Hanks who are world wide famous. This is of course an un-conventional opening sequence as its stick-men animation; this is something, which I have never seen before for an opening sequence. It does still have some conventions however such as production logos as well as cast and crew info. In conclusion I feel that this is a very good opening sequence, and I really like the “stick man world” as it’s unique and very interesting. The fact that everything is like this implies that the whole thing is like a game to the main character. The opening sequence personally makes me want to watch the whole film, as it’s very interesting therefore I feel that that this a very good opening sequence.