~Textual Analysis~
In the first few minutes of this film a lot of the plot is introduced. Right at the start we're shown a picture of a tree with a wanted sign posting that they want the supposed 'criminal' dead or alive. The voice over comes in saying 'this is the story of how I died' which is both comical and revealing in the sense we know the voice over is most likely the wanted man and that he cant be dead because he is talking. He then goes on to laugh and say 'don't worry, its actually a fun story'. This confirms the humour and lets the audience take a liking to the friendly voiceover through his calm and reassuring tone and question why he may be wanted seeing as he doesn't appear to have criminal characteristics from what we can see to start with. From this we can take a guess that the plot will contain the story of how this man became wanted and that this would be more towards the beginning of the story because you would watch it all unfold from start to finish. His name is Flynn Ryder and he tells us that it's not his story and instead is about a girl named Rapunzel which would make us assume that he and her may have some form of a friend/relationship if he knows her story well enough in order to narrate it.
Flynn tells us that the 'story starts with the sun' which is the most important fact for us to know because without it, there wouldn't be a story. He tells us that a magic drop of sunlight fell from the heavens and from this drop of sunlight, a magical flower grew that had the ability to heal the sick and injured. At this point we see the plot may be based around this magical flower and because of the magic element, it shows us it is more of fantasy film that's aimed at a younger audience and possibly a family.
An old woman in a dark cape who looks as if she may be trying to hide, comes towards this flower and before the scene cuts, Flynn tells us to remember her because she's an important character, making the audience believe she may be the villain of the film. Flynn continues to give us a background story saying that centuries had past since this drop of sunlight had grown into a magic flower and tells us that a beloved king and queen were expecting a baby. The land that is shown whilst Flynn is telling us about this is light and beautiful with a bright blue sea surrounding the kingdom where the palace is the center of it but as he says the queen fell sick during her pregnancy the lighting becomes dark and everyone's facial expressions turn sad and gloomy. The scene turns to many people from the island searching in the dark looking for a miracle to cure her. This tells us the royals were well loved and made people happy. When an audience is shown such people they start rooting for them, hoping that the best will come to them. To me, this would suggest that the underlying plot of the story is helping the King and Queen and that even though they may not be at the forefront of the plot, they are the basic bricks of it and the story would end with them just the same way as it started, except on a happier note.
After centuries, we see the old woman returning to the flower and realize that she is a selfish and evil character when we find out she has hoarded the flower to make herself young again by singing to it, we are shown this transformation as she sings the lyrics 'bring back what once was mine'. This suggests she feels cheated by life and that young appearance has been taken and robbed from her when in actual fact she has lived for so long now because of this flower that she knows if she stopped using it she would probably die - she is scared and vulnerable and this is causing her to be the evil character she is portrayed to be. The magic of this flower is emphasized as in total darkness it is the only thing to bring light. As the old woman runs to hide from the people of the kingdom, she accidentally reveals the flower and as she sees they have found it a close up of her eyes, squinting with hate is shown, which tells us it wont be the last of her, she will get her revenge and this revenge and jealousy will most likely play the biggest part in the plot.
We are shown, as expected, that the magic flower healed the queen and we see that a happy baby was born with golden hair even though her parents are brunettes and that this was because of the sunlight in the healing flower. We also see the strong, loving bond and connection the baby has with her parents and see a crown being put on her head making it clear she is Rapunzel - the princess.
We see this family's popularity among the people and their love for each other when the King and Queen release a lantern into the sky to celebrate Rapunzel's birth as crowds gather to witness this event. As the sunlight and happiness of this event fades into the darkness with only the light of the moon to see, the narrator says that everything before that moment was perfect, giving us the idea that the majority of the storyline would be problematic and upsetting. We see the old woman return as expected however she attempts to sing to the baby in the hope her youth will be restored and as it's the baby's hair that glows like the flower once did. She tries cutting just one piece for herself but she soon realizes this is not possible and she needs uncut hair as she sees herself turn back into a crippled old woman. She panics and snatches the baby for herself and it is at this point when the main plot of the entire story is revealed; a baby princess was kidnapped and the story will most likely evolve by showing the baby grow up and eventually find her way back home.
Overall, a lot of the plot is revealed, we can assume what the story will entail and would definitely know if it would be a film we would want to carry on watching. We can also assume the story wont be about the old lady physically hurting the child but will instead be about her using Rapunzel for the magical powers her hair has. The amount revealed, in my opinion is very good as it doesn't spell out everything that is going to happen and isn't predictable throughout even though we may make assumptions, as there are still unanswered questions such as Flynn and Rapunzel's relationship and why Flynn was arrested and maybe even how Rapunzel (if she does) finds her way home.
All of the main characters are introduced in the opening except for Flynn, who introduces himself through the wanted poster and his voice over. I believe its good that all the important characters have been introduced because it means when the audience are watching later throughout the film they are fully aware of who everyone is as they've all been given a clear introduction, especially due to the voiceover, making everything easy to understand. This is a good thing especially because its a film aimed at families and a younger audience and therefore making it simple to comprehend is important.
There is no dialogue except for the voice over. The only other diegetic sounds we hear is the crowd cheering and the leader of the search party shouting that they found the magic flower, this is important because they both signify the most important elements throughout the film; love and determination. Especially due to the fact its aimed at a younger audience, I think its suitable that there was a voice over explaining everything as like I said its 'child friendly' and usually all ages enjoy watching these genres of film because they aren't hard to fathom.
Overall I feel like this is a very effective film opening as it really entices the viewer and its graphics + visuals are to a very high quality and standard. One thing in particular that was enticing was the fact that the last word in the opening was 'gone' as it leaves behind a sense of mystery, it is a clever technique because it resembles a cliffhanger but rather than having to wait till the next week to see what happens next (like in most tv programmes) all you have to do is wait a few seconds and watch until the end of the film.
Basic conventions of a fantasy/animation film are that something unrealistic occurs and that they are often aimed to be children/family films. The glowing hair accords to the fantasy conventions because its unrealistic and 'magic', it also conforms to the fact it is a children's genre due to the brighter colours and the magic involved that would captivate a young child. It doesn't really challenge any of the usual elements to fantasy/animation/romance/comedy in the parts it includes, it is a take on a classic fairy-tale including elements of comedy that will make the film more enjoyable. The only real difference or challenge to conventions this fantasy films genre's has, is that it is a musical. Musicals are usually formed around realistic stories, such as Hairspray or Mamma Mia, however Disney has recently incorporated music into their animated films.
After centuries, we see the old woman returning to the flower and realize that she is a selfish and evil character when we find out she has hoarded the flower to make herself young again by singing to it, we are shown this transformation as she sings the lyrics 'bring back what once was mine'. This suggests she feels cheated by life and that young appearance has been taken and robbed from her when in actual fact she has lived for so long now because of this flower that she knows if she stopped using it she would probably die - she is scared and vulnerable and this is causing her to be the evil character she is portrayed to be. The magic of this flower is emphasized as in total darkness it is the only thing to bring light. As the old woman runs to hide from the people of the kingdom, she accidentally reveals the flower and as she sees they have found it a close up of her eyes, squinting with hate is shown, which tells us it wont be the last of her, she will get her revenge and this revenge and jealousy will most likely play the biggest part in the plot.
We are shown, as expected, that the magic flower healed the queen and we see that a happy baby was born with golden hair even though her parents are brunettes and that this was because of the sunlight in the healing flower. We also see the strong, loving bond and connection the baby has with her parents and see a crown being put on her head making it clear she is Rapunzel - the princess.
We see this family's popularity among the people and their love for each other when the King and Queen release a lantern into the sky to celebrate Rapunzel's birth as crowds gather to witness this event. As the sunlight and happiness of this event fades into the darkness with only the light of the moon to see, the narrator says that everything before that moment was perfect, giving us the idea that the majority of the storyline would be problematic and upsetting. We see the old woman return as expected however she attempts to sing to the baby in the hope her youth will be restored and as it's the baby's hair that glows like the flower once did. She tries cutting just one piece for herself but she soon realizes this is not possible and she needs uncut hair as she sees herself turn back into a crippled old woman. She panics and snatches the baby for herself and it is at this point when the main plot of the entire story is revealed; a baby princess was kidnapped and the story will most likely evolve by showing the baby grow up and eventually find her way back home.
Overall, a lot of the plot is revealed, we can assume what the story will entail and would definitely know if it would be a film we would want to carry on watching. We can also assume the story wont be about the old lady physically hurting the child but will instead be about her using Rapunzel for the magical powers her hair has. The amount revealed, in my opinion is very good as it doesn't spell out everything that is going to happen and isn't predictable throughout even though we may make assumptions, as there are still unanswered questions such as Flynn and Rapunzel's relationship and why Flynn was arrested and maybe even how Rapunzel (if she does) finds her way home.
All of the main characters are introduced in the opening except for Flynn, who introduces himself through the wanted poster and his voice over. I believe its good that all the important characters have been introduced because it means when the audience are watching later throughout the film they are fully aware of who everyone is as they've all been given a clear introduction, especially due to the voiceover, making everything easy to understand. This is a good thing especially because its a film aimed at families and a younger audience and therefore making it simple to comprehend is important.
There is no dialogue except for the voice over. The only other diegetic sounds we hear is the crowd cheering and the leader of the search party shouting that they found the magic flower, this is important because they both signify the most important elements throughout the film; love and determination. Especially due to the fact its aimed at a younger audience, I think its suitable that there was a voice over explaining everything as like I said its 'child friendly' and usually all ages enjoy watching these genres of film because they aren't hard to fathom.
Overall I feel like this is a very effective film opening as it really entices the viewer and its graphics + visuals are to a very high quality and standard. One thing in particular that was enticing was the fact that the last word in the opening was 'gone' as it leaves behind a sense of mystery, it is a clever technique because it resembles a cliffhanger but rather than having to wait till the next week to see what happens next (like in most tv programmes) all you have to do is wait a few seconds and watch until the end of the film.
Basic conventions of a fantasy/animation film are that something unrealistic occurs and that they are often aimed to be children/family films. The glowing hair accords to the fantasy conventions because its unrealistic and 'magic', it also conforms to the fact it is a children's genre due to the brighter colours and the magic involved that would captivate a young child. It doesn't really challenge any of the usual elements to fantasy/animation/romance/comedy in the parts it includes, it is a take on a classic fairy-tale including elements of comedy that will make the film more enjoyable. The only real difference or challenge to conventions this fantasy films genre's has, is that it is a musical. Musicals are usually formed around realistic stories, such as Hairspray or Mamma Mia, however Disney has recently incorporated music into their animated films.
I believe this opening is very good and easy to watch, it contains a lot of information and puts many questions in the viewers head and that is exactly what a good opening should do.
This was a professionally made film.
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