Camera Shots

Tim Burton uses camera shots to emphasis and reflect parts of Sweeney Todd life. For instance this can be seen where he uses shots such as a close up of Sweeney's chair and the extreme close up of the blood on the cogs of the chair, to show the main symbol of his revenge. Also the close up of the Victorian silhouette pictures of Sweeney Todd and his wife which emphasises the reason behind his revenge.
 
The close up shot of the blood on the chair is extremely important because it both foreshadows the fact that Sweeney will use it to kill his victims, also in a way, it is a symbol of how blood-thirsty Todd will become as the film progresses. This foreshadowing helps to connect the whole film together as when the viewer goes to watch the film again they realise that in fact that in the opening the director doesn't just use random images because they are actually depicting the plot of the film.

The close up of the Victorian silhouette pictures of Sweeney Todd and his wife helps the viewer to focus on the relationship of the two characters and to show why Todd did the things he did. The fact that they are drawn in blood helps to illustrate the destruction of the both characters from Sweeney's revenge. This also helps to emphasis the feelings of viewer towards Sweeney as they find out that he is not entirely to blame for his madness and accidentally killing his wife. This provides the viewer with a psychological problem as they understand why Todd did those things but he is condemned for it. The close up of Sweeney and his wife together at the opening further implies that everything was perfect until the judge came, this is symbolised with the pictures being painted in blood.

Sound

Sweeney Todd was originally written as a musical, so the director, Tim Burton, had to add to sounds to the music so to adapt it to Sweeney Todd. He managed this well, through the use of amplified diegetic sounds.  Deigetic sounds are sounds which source is visible on the screen such as voices of characters or in this case, sounds made by the objects in the film. Here it can be heard as lightning and creaking cogs.

The lightning is the first deigetic sound heard in the film, at first all you can hear is the musical introduction but when the lightning strikes it brings a sense of reality to the film. This way, it makes the viewer see the film not just as musical as it was always seen. In a way, the deigetic noises are part of Burton re-inventing the film for television.

The creaking cogs also add to this and also makes a more dramatic scene as it sets the viewer on edge. By doing this, the viewer expects something bad could happen at any time which helps to set the genre of horror. As they sounds are stereotypical of the horror genre and are used typically to build up suspense other horror movies.

Music

The well known original score, composed by Steven Sondheim, is heard through out the opening. However, the music is an instrumental version of the choral song that opens the musical. This helps to not distract from what is happening on the screen as that is what is mainly setting up for the film. Nevertheless the use techniques such as shrieking, high pitched violins and the contrasts between the brass section and flute solo, are used by Sondheim either set the genre or to reflect on parts of the film.

The use of the shrieking, high pitched violins is stereotypical of the horror genre, as it has been used in the famous shower scene in "Psycho". This helps the viewer to instantly identify which genre they are watching and enables them to know what to expect. For example the feelings of fear, alarm and suspense are often included into this sound, once the viewer hears this, they get the same emotional response and therefore get more involved with film.

Another technique heard in the use of the high pitched flute solo. The flute can be heard from a picture of Johanna’s mother, this shows the innocence of both the mother and the daughter as they are going through dark and unhappy times of Todd's revenge. This reflects parts of the film as it shows Johanna's innocence which helps to balance out the darker side of the film and helps the viewer to understand Johanna and the problems of her life. That then contrasts to the louder and stronger brass section which comes in afterwards. This represents the way that Sweeney Todd comes in and unintentionally invades their lives, with him killing Johanna's mother and almost killing Johanna. The aforementioned acts as foreshadowing to make the ending seem less of a shock.

Genre / Atmophere

Tone

The overall tone of this film and opening is that of something disturbing. The director, Tim Burton, achieves this by using symbols such as blood to reflect the horror genre and Sweeney's revenge. This also means that everything has a second or hidden meaning, making it even more sinister. For example the blood starts off with just little drops of blood amongst the rain which shows the way Todd builds up through the course of his revenge. From there the camera cuts to silhouette pictures of Sweeney Todd and his wife which are dripping blood, this symbolizes the way Todd's happiness with his wife is destroyed by the judge sending him to prison. The camera then follows a drop of blood running down Todd's barber chair on to cogs, then runs down the floorboards to form the title and then into the sewers. The amount of blood increases until the sewers are full of it and it runs out to sea. This symbolizes the way Todd gets more and more blood thirsty during the course of his revenge until he is killed.


Mood

The mood of the opening is that of anger and sadness which can be seen in the music and lighting. For example the use of the solo organ introduction gives the feeling of anger as it is loud and in a minor key. From there the sense of sadness is heard with the high innocent flute line This shows the overall sadness in Todd's life from being separated from his wife and daughter. It is also used to tie the opening sequence with the rest of the film as it is a reference of the plot. The use of lighting in the opening is dark, dull colours, even the blood which still stands out more compared to the others. This makes the mood more sad which increases the feeling of sadness.

Sweeney Todd

This film is about a barber called Benjamin Barker (aka Sweeney Todd), who was arrested on false charges due to the fact that the judge of  his trial had an obsession with Todd's wife. When Sweeney returns to London, he decides to take revenge on the judge and kill him. While practising killing others he has to find a way to hid the bodies so the woman that he is staying with (Mrs Lovett), suggests that they turn the bodies into pies. Sweeney Todd is a film fully about how taking revenge, the destruction of innocence and how it can take over your life and destroy it. This is proven at the end when Todd is killed.

This is the link to the film opening:
http://www.megavideo.com/?v=YIOX0LFZ

Film Opening Ideas

I have thought about which title sequence to study and I have decided to do Sweeney Todd. I like this opening sequence more than the others that I have watched, due to the fact that it sets the scene and uses techniques such as music and sound extremly well.

It starts off with a solo organ introduction, and then you see a pan of chimneys and then a close up through a window of a barber’s chair. From there it cuts to a painted silhouette of a young man and woman with blood running down from it. After that a drop of blood runs down the chair, through the chairs’ cogs and down a trapdoor to form the title. It then cuts to meat being pushed through a mince maker, which then turns into blood. Next you see flames and as the camera pulls back there are pies cooking in an oven, the camera pulls back more and then moves forward to follow a drop of blood down a sewer, which is full of bloody water.

I found that this fit into the rest of the movie well due to things such as the overall symbol of blood which is used consistently through the opening sequence, is carried through the rest of the movie. Another point is the way the colour is very dull and dark through the whole movie as well as the opening.

I found that this opening sequence was more interesting to study due to the fact that the music and sound techniques play a major part of the introduction which I find interesting. Another was the fact that its is also my favourite movie and I saw it live on stage, which I thought could provide a different view point since this was originally written for stage.