Napoleon Dynamite

In today's lesson we looked at different title sequences on the website, 'The Art of the Title', where we analysed the running time of a title sequence and what was featured in a title sequence i chose, 'Mission Impossible' and I have previously posted a blog on the timeline i created for it. In class we looked at the title sequence for 'Napoleon Dynamite' we had no information for what the film was about and we had to make judgements of what the film could be about from the clues and images from the title sequence.

Analysis of Napoleon Dynamite

The opening image the audience sees is a old fashioned red fur carpet, hinting to the viewer that it is going to be set in 70's or the 80's. A plate is then placed by a hand in the middle of the close up shot of  a carpet with ketchup writing on it which is telling us the production company for the film 'Fox Searchlight Pictures' with some chicken nuggets included in the middle of the plate. At this point no real clues are given away of what the film is about what a clue to when it could be set. 

The plate is then taken away, leaving us a view again with the dark red carpet, we are now nine seconds into the title sequence.Then the picture changes to a white fur carpet shot where a turquoise and white plate is moved into the centre of the carpet again, this time it tells the viewer that 'Paramount Pictures' is involved also in the film. In addition this again is seemed to written in mustard and again a food is included on the plate.

The plate is then taken away and another brown plate with eggs dotted around the edge of the plate is placed by a hand on a blue carpet.  The colour and design of the plates hints to the film being sent in the past and different varieties of food links back to my original thought of it being based in the 70's or 80's. Furthermore writing is included on the plate i think now written in mayonnaise, telling the viewer who was also included in the making of the film, ' MTN Films'. 

Then hands enter the shot and we are shown a wallet and a 'U.F.O Abduction Insurance' card is removed from it, telling us who is starring in the film and this probably the main charcter. This also hints that the character is boy who is a geeky because he is interested in aliens.  Furthermore after this shot we are shown another card being removed from the wallet this time reassuring my thoughts of that the main character is a boy, his name is 'Napoleon Dynamite' which sis the title of the film, and he is geeky becuase of the pictures shown on the card. Also we are told that he is a student and attends,  'Preston High'. At twenty three seconds a song begins to play and then the viewer is shown the same shot of the dark red carpet from the start of the title seqeunce. The song seems to be a up beat song but with a calm feel to it maybe hinting that the film could be about someone who is calm a person but is fun.

As the song continues to play we here the 'I can tell we are gonna be friends' which is famous song by 'The White Stripes' hinting that,Napoleon Dynamite does not have many friends and that he wants to maybe be more sociable with people, which hint that the genre of the film is a teen drama comedy. 

We then are agains shown different old fashioned carpets with different food carrying and writing is carried on being shown, which tells us of different cast members in the film. One of shots the viewer is shown changes slightly instead of a plate we are shown a silver tray which includes a silver tray with a corn dog placed in the middle. This tells us that the film is set in America. 

The title sequence ha snow been playing for one minute and fifteen seconds a ninja weapon covered in silver foil is shown close up to the camera, this shows that he is a bit off the wall and is childish for his age.  After this books are shown a floral blue carpet carrying on with the old fashion hints, when the books are opened we are shown that these are library books, representing that Napoleon Dynamite, is interested in reading and again carrying on his stereotypical American geek boy. 

The image above from the title sequence now being with the people who made and help create the film, ' Casting by' and also telling us what sort of books the main character enjoys reading, "Bigfoot and Me" which adds to our judgement of his obscure personality and interests.  The same song is still playing and we are shown different objects with written include on them from the team behind the film. At two minutes in the title sequence we are shown a drawn we presume done by Napoleon Dynamite, which tells he enjoys history as well by the drawing of his viking shown he has a wild imagination. However he is keeping up his stereotypical geeky and smart ways. The drawn also tells us who is the director of photography.

Now the title sequence is nearly coming to an end we shown the main people who have an important role in the film but they still shown through things the main character is interested which is a clever way of presenting it which keeps the audience interested. There are 3 little toy cars shown each one with a producers name underneath. Also is tells us that the boy is immature and has childish ways because he is roughly going to be aged around 17 - 19 years old because he attends high school and it unusual thing for someone that age to play with toy cars. 

The picture above is another shot which tells us of  the Napoleon's of his interests is of the maths equipment shown on the table telling the viewer who the film is written by. The last shot we see is a cream old fashioned plate with burger and chips, with the directors names written in mayonnaise, 'Jared Hess'. Which is highlighting to the viewer that Napoleon is a huge stereotypical american geeky high school student and his favourite food which sterotypical american meal. the last lyrics played of the song are 'I can tell that we are gonna be friends' and the burger bun top being pushed hard down on to the top of the burger maybe hinting that song is juxtaposed to the action shown.