Opening Sequence Analysis - Hannibal

The opening sequence of this film starts convetionally with the universal studios brand image and the mgm lion. We see a black screen and piano music starts playing a soft and slow tune. A black man's voice cuts in as a voice over as we continue to see a black screen. This makes the audience wonder who is speaking and why we are just seeing black? The non diegetic music doesn't get quieter as the man is speaking over it, instead his voice is just loud and booming. We then hear another voice of a white male so the audience is able to establish that we are hearing a conversation. As this new voice appears red letters listing the production compay and other credits start to appear. Red might have been used as it has the connotation of blood and death. As we watch the titles appearing and dissappearing a small screen shot becomes visisble and gradually gets bigger showing us the people talking and their location. This shot appears in the right hand side in the middle of the screen and gets bigger to fill the whole screen. Whilst this is happenig both the diegetic and non-diegetic sounds are continuing. As the shot gets bigger we etablish that its a long shot of what could be a library in a persons home. We can see three men two sitting opposite each other whilst the other one stands. We also see that one of the men is in a wheelchair and we wonder why. The mood of the room is quite dark and there isn't much lighting making the room look quite brooding.

The camera slowly pans round from right to left to have a straight shot of the men facing each other. The next shot is a CU of the white males face which is very very damaged. We can see he has no lips and permant scarring all over his face. We can also see that he has one eye and thin grey hair suggesting that he is quite old. We then cut to a medium close up of the black guy responding to what the other character has just said, a reaction shot. Then we cut back to the white male and then back to the black male before the shot changes to a long shot of the white male in the wheelchair and the 2nd white male standing beside him. This gives the audience the opportunity to see what both men are wearing and what they look like. We then cut to a long shot of the black picking up a pink box. We then have an extreme long shot from far off so that we see the profile of the black male as he presents the box to the white male in the wheelchair. The music in this exchage between the two characters has become softer and quieter and the diegetic sound has become more dominant. The camera zooms in on the white males face when the black male opens the box to show him whats inside. The voice of the white male is really raspy and we can hear his deep breathing in this part of the scene. We cut to see whats inside the box from the perspective of the white male in the wheelchair, POV shot. The audience is able to see that it is a mask inside. The camera zooms in closer and closer entering the box then the shot fades to black with the title Hannibal written in red letters. The music has become louder again as the voices are no longer heard.

Jennifer

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