Titanic

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xtVyu-A3vkY

Titanic starts off with a slow transition fade from a black screen to a shot of hundreds of people standing on the dock as the RMS Titanic is about to leave. The camera slowly pans left and tilts up as it goes from the shot of crowd of people to the titanic. This can also be an establishing shot as establishing shots are generally the first shot. In this case, the movie indicates that it will be set on the RMS Titanic.

In the next shot we can see a medium shot of a man filming the Titanic as it departs. From his clothing we can assume he is a formal man as he is wearing a smart suit with a beret. From the camera he’s filming with, we can also tell that the movie is set in the late 1900’s because his camera is an old camera style where you have to manually turn the reel. Within this shot is also text in the top left which tells the audience the two film production companies that are associated with this film – ‘Paramount Pictures’ and ‘Twentieth Century Fox’.

The next two shots are a long and medium shot of people on the Titanic waving goodbye to their friends, families and loved ones. This could hint towards the movie containing some relationships and therefore romance. All of the shots above contain a strong yellow/orange hue to it. This makes the opening shots look warm and calm because orange and yellow connote warmth and being relaxed. All the sound from the shots above has been non-diegetic and there has been no diegetic sound from the shots. There has been a non-diegetic sound track playing in the background and the music is uplifting as it contains the piano and a female’s voice singing. This is suggesting that the movie will contain drama as well as romance.

The next shot is the title shot denoting ‘TITANIC’ and in the background is the ocean. This lighting in this shot, and the shots later on, are very dark indicating that something bad is going to happen during the film. This is what we’d expect in a romance and drama film – for something tragic to happen like a death of a close friend for family member.