In the opening sequence of This is England, the first clip is of Roland Rat which is a British television puppet character which first aired in 1983. We then see images of the computer game, Space Invaders which was released in 1978. Images of the band Duran Duran were also shown, as they were first formed in 1978 and were then considered the genre of 'new romantics' which were another youth sub-culture at the time of the skinheads. These clips set the time period of this film, which is 1983. We also see images of news articles and clips of important times that shaped history in this country from the 80s. This is accompanied by 'ska' music, which is associated with the skinhead movement popular at this time. The flashback images are clearly trying to show a strong sense of patriotism, especially in the image of three skinheads holding the flag. We also see many images of the royal wedding between Prince Charles and Lady Diana which occurred in 1981, showing the time period and patriotism to be important to the characters in the film. This introduces the themes of the film to the audience within the opening credits. We also see images of soldiers from the Falkland War which is another influence to this film and clips of Margaret Thatcher as she was an important role in politics in the 80s and had an effect on people's lives. This again hints at what possible topics may be tackled in this film.
Typography:
The typography used in this opening sequence of This is England is quite rough and gritty, definitely not smooth hinting towards darker undertones contrasting to the quite upbeat and patriotic opening to this film. As you can see the letters seem to be broken in places, perhaps preparing the audience for a more serious atmosphere as the storyline is much more serious and intense than the opening credits make out. 0:05:
This first credit shows the films co-production companies, FilmFour and the UK Film Council who invested in this film. This shows the film to be British, as FilmFour tend to invest in films by UK Directors and the UK Film Council is funded by the National Lottery suggesting This is England had a low budget. 0:10:
0:16:
This production company shown on its own in this credit makes the audience assume it was the most important investment in the film. Warp Films is an independent production company and have worked with the director of this film, Shane Meadows a few times after the success of this film. This suggests that Warp Films and the director, Shane Meadows had a quite tight partnership when making decisions on this film. 0:21:
This production company shown to us again on its own in this credit is Big Arty Productions. This company is partly owned by Shane Meadows who is the director of This is England.
0:23:This credit is shown straight after the last, showing the director's own production company and then the director's name.
0:34-0:39:
This credit shows the film's title on an image instead of black screen. It also lasts a longer than the other credits, while the title starts of small, and slowly gets bigger while the image shows a block of flats that looks quite rough introducing us to the location the film is set and hinting at the social class of the characters.
0:42-0:45:
This credit is the first actor introduced to the audience. This means that this actor is the main character in this film. For this film, Thomas Turgoose plays "Shaun" who is the main character of This is England.
0:49-0:52:
The next actor introduced to the audience is Stephen Graham, who plays "Combo" in this film. He is also a very important or main character in this film hence why he is one of the first actors to be introduced.
0:55-0:59:
The next credit introduces the actor Jo Hartley who plays "Cynth," Shaun's widowed mother. Her character has a direct relation to the main character, making her role very important also.
1:05-1:07:
The next credit introduces two actors together, meaning the importance of their character's role in the film has started to decrease, and perhaps shows that the actors shown before received higher amounts of money for their involvement in the film. Andrew Slim plays "Milky," who still is quite a main character in this film, and Vicky McClure plays "Lol."
1:11-1:14:
This credit again shows two actors together. Joe Gilgun who played the role of "Woody" and Rosamund Hanson as "Smell."
1:28-1:31:
This credit introduces three actors, again showing the bottom of the hierarchy for character roles in this film. Andrew Ellis plays "Gadget," Perry Benson plays the role of
"Meggy" and George Newton acts as "Banjo."
1:36-1:39:
Again three actors are shown to us in this credit. Frank Harper who played "Lenny," Jack O'Connell as "Pukey Nicholls" and Kriss Dosanjh who played "Mr Sandhu."
1:42-1:45:The three actors shown to us in this credit include, Kieran Hardcastle who played "Kes," Chanel Cresswell as "Kelly" and Danielle Watson as "Trev."
1:48-1:52:
The next three actors introduced to us are Sophie Ellerby who played Pob, Hannah Walters who is just listed as "Shoe Shop Assistant" on IMDb, this shows that this character isn't as important as the others and this is again shown for Michael Socha who is known as the "Bully" on IMDb. 2:07-2:11:
The opening sequence then tells the audience the people that worked behind the scenes and camera. The script supervisor is shown to the audience who is responsible for maintaining the internal continuity of the film and recording the daily progress. The audience is told who is in charge of casting, which is a pre-production process where actors are selected for a character role. We are also told the hair and make-up supervisor in this credit. They oversee the make-up and hair and ensure it is appropriate and are mainly responsible for continuity in the look of the characters.
2:14-2:18:
Next, we see who the costume designer was, this means they designed all the costumes for the production. This means it had to be appropriate to the themes they were representing in the film. We also see who the hair and make-up designer was. They are responsible for the whole make-up and hair department and are responsible for the overall design, application and continuity of make-up and hair throughout the whole production. We also see who the production designer is. They are responsible for the whole look of the production and they work closely with the director as they have to select sets that visually tell the story.
2:24-2:28:
We next see the music supervisor in these opening credits. This person would combine music with visual media. They are in charge of all musical aspects of production. We also see who composed any original music in this opening sequence. In this case, it was Ludovico Einaudi who is and italian pianist/composer.2:34-2:38:
In this next credit, we see who the Director of Photography was. They are in charge of the camera and lighting crews in production and are responsible for artistic and technical decisions related to the image. This is on its own in this credit suggesting it is considered more important than the ones mentioned before. 2:44-2:48:
The name Chris Wyatt is shown to the audience who is the editor of this film. This is the creative part of post-production as the film editor has to select shots of raw footage and combine them into sequences to create a final motion picture. This again is shown on its own, showing it as a more important role. 2:53-2:57:
3:01-3:06:
Next, the audience would see the names of the executive producers. In this case there was three people and they were not in charge of any technical aspects of production and not involved in day to day production.
3:15-3:19:
After all the different types of producers, we see "Produced by: Mark Herbert."This is the main producer, so is in charge of all the different producers and oversees the whole production.
3:25-3:33:
In this final credit, we see who wrote and directed the film, in this case, Shane Meadows. This is the most important role behind the scenes, as it was shown last.
This film's opening credits appear in the order:
-Various Production Companies
-Director
-All Actors (small cast-actors start of with level of importance & how much they feature in film)
-Script Supervisor, Casting, Hair and Make-up Supervisor
-Costume Designer, Hair and Make-up Designer, Production Designer
-Music Supervisor, Original Music
-Director of Photography
-Editor
-Various Producers
-Main Producer
-Writer and Director
What will I take from this?
This film's opening has shown me that the production companies and directors shown at the beginning of the film are put on a black screen rather than on top of the clips and images like the actors and crew. I have also found that there are many ways an opening sequence can be used to make the themes of a film clear to the audience. This film did not jump straight into the main part of the film, but used flashbacks, articles and images of things popular in the 80s to set the time period and hint at what the film may be about. I have also learnt that there are many different roles that need to be credited in the opening sequence which I will be sure to use this breakdown as a guide when creating my own opening sequence. This opening sequence has shown me also that music is an important part of an opening sequence, as you want something that is related to your film but not overpowering for the audience.
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