Don't Look Now- Nic Roeg Opening Sequence Analysis

We have been looking at the opening sequence for Nic Roeg's Don't look
Now. Nic Roeg directed art based films and has a background of a being artist and also of being a cinematographer so when we looked at the sequence we focused on: the use of colour and how he used his shots.
The first scene we saw was set in morning time in what appears to be a country wooded location.

In this shot we can see a white horse in the dark background. White is and colour of innocents and it  being in the dark suggests/fore-shadows something dark could happen to something innocent. In the centre of this shot is a little girl wearing a bright red coat. The surface of the coat is shiny , which give a look of blood and the girls hair is Blonde, which blondes are stereo typically used of the role of damsel in distress. The girl in, who is in the foreground, where the lighting is bright walks into the background where the lighting is dark therefore she is walking into the darkness. One of the props in this scene is the wheel barrel, which again gives us more information on the location, suggesting this could be a farm scene.

The next character we are introduced to is a little boy. We realise this little boy is the little girls brother as he is watching her to check how she is or what she's doing. The boy is riding a dark blue bike and all his clothes are dark colours aswell. This is to drawn the attention of his and on to the little girl who's wearing bright red, this lets us know the sister is the main focus of this scene.

This shot is really key to the storyline because it shows us even more about the setting. We see the little girl's house, which is very far away from where she is playing. The girl is on the more dominate side on the screen, however we are more drawn to the house as its in the light. This again shows the girl in the darkness. The girl is close to the water and far from the house which put the audience on edge as we know this could be dangerous. 

 

The camera then zooms in to the water and the shot changes to a shot of a fire. Water and fire are opposite and don't mix therefore fore-shadowing something that was not suppose to fit together could in the future, which could be dangerous, the elements are also both dangerous separately.

The next scene is inside the house, where the Father and Mother of the children are. They are both quite content on their own activities, therefore are not paying their children outside much attention.

 



 
   
    Back outside something has already gone wrong. Here we see the brother who has fallen of his bike. The brother attention is now taken by fixing the bike, when before he was looking out for his sister. The little girl (his sister) is playing with a doll and a red ball. The ball continuing the theme of red this sequence has. The red shows us the theme of danger, blood and deaf this sequence has.

One of the ending shots is the father hugging and crying about the dead girl. The proxemics of the characters are close to show that the father wants to be close to the little girl but is too late now the attention has come to late.
To conclude through out this sequence we are given clues to the ending danger. We are given these clues by the use of dark lighting, closeness in character placement and the colour red, which connotes danger.

Romeo + Juliet Opening Sequence Analysis

The first characters we are introduced to in the opening sequence to Baz Lurrmann's Romeo and Juliet are the Montague boys, who are driving a bright yellow convertible and are wearing very colourful Hawaiian shirts. The  colours that characters wear symbolize many thing and  in this case all the colours are bright so give the viewers the feeling the Montague boys are very fun, exotic characters. The colours are also very 'comic book' like, which gives the audience an insight that this scene may be full of high action like a comic book.

The next thing we see is the Capulets driving into the  petrol station. We already see a difference from these boys to the Montague boys, as they are wearing dark clothes, which are also smarter and slicker looking then the Montague's outfit. This may symbolise that the Capulets care more about representing themselves and also to fit in with their Latin ethnicity.
Mise-en-scene; The first shot we see of the first shown character from the Capulet family is a low shot of the characters shoes. This shot gives us a air of mystery and make us (the audience) want to know more about the character as we want to be able to see the face that matches up with the feet. This shot also makes whoever the character is, seem powerful and important because with the shot just being forced on his shoes it seems as if we are bowing to his feet. The text on this shot 'The Capulet Boys' is on the left on the screen, which is the more dominate side of the scene, whereas in the shot where we are introduced to The Montague boys the text is on the right of the shot, which could foreshadow that the Capulet boys could be more dominant characters in this scene.

 
 

 
The scene is set at day time and the location is a petrol station. Throughout the scene we get different shots of text.  'Phoenix' is one of these words that pop up, which relate to fires as phoenixes are mythical birds that rise from the ashes of a fire. Another shot of text is one of a sign saying 'Add more fuel to your fire'. With all these references and the setting being a gas station, we are on edge during the scene because we feel uncomfortable that there may be an incident with fire.

 

 
More on colours- The sign symbols on both the Capulets and Montague are quite alike, which could show they share something in common with each other, however the colours are very different as they are red and blue which are opposites on the colour spectrum so suggesting that the Montagues and Capulet could be very different. The other colours are golds and silvers, which shows their wealth and riches.


Extra on Mise-en-scene

Setting- Day time,

 Location- Streets of a City (New York), but different to a everyday street as we see smoke and fire in the background, suggest this isn't a normal day.

Lighting- All though its day time, the natural light is quite misty and dark implying something is wrong.

Costumes- All the Characters are wearing different coloured outfits showing they all have different characteristics.

Character Placement- The characters are all in close range of each other, which shows they are together/ on the same side

Props- The props we see belong to the characters as their weapons (Hawk-eye and bow), these props are more like part of the characters star image as we recognise the characters communally with them.