Analysis of Napoleon Dynamite Title Sequence

Institutions

Fox Searchlight Pictures, established in 1994, is an American film distribution company within the Fox Entertainment Group, a sister company of the larger Fox studio 20th Century Fox. It specializes in US distribution of independent and British films, alongside dramedy and horror as well as non-English-language films, and is sometimes also involved in the financing of these films.

Paramount Pictures Corporation is a film studio, television production company and motion picture distributor. It has distributed several successful film series, such as Transformers, Mission: Impossible, the Marvel Cinematic Universe series. It is the world's fourth oldest continuously-operating major film studio, the third being Universal Studios, the two oldest being the French studios Gaumont Film Company and Pathé.

Audience and Genre •Like Juno, Napoleon Dynamite is also a comedy film. You can tell this film is a comedy as there is high focus on use of bold, vibrant colours within each frame which creates a brighter and happier atmosphere. You can also tell it’s a comedy as the titles are made out of food and other random objects which automatically tell us that the film takes a less serious approach. •The target audience for Napoleon Dynamite is teenagers. They have targeted their audience by using bright colours and bright lights. The abstract style of title sequence also targets a younger audience as stereotypically, most adults wouldn’t find the title sequence appealing as it doesn’t have a mature style or flow. However, teenagers would find this sequence relatable, the title sequence isn’t serious, it has a comical feel and uses props such as the condiments to bring a childish and playful tone to the sequence.

NarrativeThere is little use of narrative portrayed within the opening titles. The majority of the titles are presented in food, or other basic objects that could easily be found lying on a bedroom floor of a messy teenager. The audience aren’t being clearly told what will happen in the film, but it gives the idea that the film is rather random and portrays elements of the comedy genre. On the other hand, the items featured in the sequence could link to elements of the storyline, for example the drawings that are shown could be connected to the main character or represent a love that he has for doodling.

The first shot of actor credits that we see in the sequence is a point of view shot. The name of lead actor Jon Heder is presented on an ‘insurance’ card and strongly implies the comedy genre. This is a prime example, as it contains irony and the supernatural. This point of view shot is only used to introduce the main character in the film and the only time we see his face is the shot straight after the actors credit. Whilst I like this use of point of view shot, it doesn’t allow the audience to be excited for the rest of the film. Diegetic sound is also introduced here. The sound is soft indie style music and connotes a gentle tone and upbeat style. It is very similar to the music used in the Juno title sequence and seems to be a common choice for comedy films. With this in mind I aim to use this style of music in my own final piece.

Editing

There is very little, basic editing used within this title sequence. Every shot shown in sequence uses a jump cut. Whilst this is effective and could possibly represent how the character jumps through life, skipping from one event to the next, I feel that more could have been done to experiment with the use of editing to create a more emotive piece. When applying this to my final piece, I will aim to use some jump cuts to go from frame to frame, however, I would like to be more experimental with my use of editing. Even if I just experiment with using more advanced editing for the titles, I want to aim to show more skill and experience when it comes to editing each frame.

The mise-en-scene in the sequence also helps to create the comedic and light-hearted genre. The lighting throughout the sequence is ambient, which allows the sequence to appear as if it is happening in real-time and is naturally unfolding. I will also use ambient lighting in my title sequence, so to hopefully create the same effect. This shows that the genre is comedy as the focus of comedy films is to make the audience relate the events to real life. In my title sequence I will use natural lighting as this will create a relaxed atmosphere and show that it is a rom-com. If I come across an issue with lighting when filming the piece I will use the editing software to change the exposure of the shot and hopefully still achieve the same effect

Mise-en-scene

Representations

It’s hard to pick out specific representations from within the title sequence as we never see the main character. However the props that we are presented with allow us to make judgements on what sort of message the director is aiming to portray. For example the use of childish imagery such as the toy cars and cartoon drawings represent the characters maturity. These props connote stereotypical attitudes of male teens, the food used signifies how much teens are supposedly thought to eat and represents the image of a ‘growing boy’.

The drawings shown also represent doodles, we assume that have been done by the main character and portray a nerdy personality as they seem to represent fantasy warrior characters that are associated with the geekier, less cool characters that are commonly presented in most American films.

Order of CreditsIn keeping with my research into title sequence conventions, the order of the credits in this title sequence appears to follow the standard order. It is becoming increasingly noticeable that the final credit in every title sequence is always the director. Their credit is always very eye catching and makes a statement on the screen. This is an important factor to take into consideration when looking at the order of my own credits. After the institutions have been named the main actor more often than not is then credited, followed by the separate departments of the film and then finally the director.