Analysis 2 – Art of the title ‘Deadwood’ (2004)

The opening consists of flames which immediately infer to the audience a sense of danger.

The use of the montage of fire and water shows a juxtaposition which confuses the audience and sets an enigma code as the audience are unaware of the future of events of the film due to the stark contrasts used in the opening.

The horse used in the opening is a recurring motif of what may happen in the film.The horse is presented as if it is running away, whilst the montage used shows violence such as killing animals, blood and dirty men.

This montage is effective as it shows the audience an insight, which is killing animals, this creates a very disturbing and sad mood. The blood animation

which comes on screen after the scene of killing the animals is also effective as it signifies what has happened.

The use of the blood personifies to the audience danger and death.

The typography (font and colour) looks effective here as the background is dark so therefore the title is very evident to the audience and ultimately looks immensely authorative.

The typography on these montages aren’t very effective in my opinion due to the fact that they aren’t very big and engaging for the audience.

• Music –The music used throughout the opening has a country sound to it, due to the high tone. I would not use this type of sound/music in my film opening as I want music which will be more tense and low pitched, which will therefore ultimately create more tension and build suspense for the audience.

• Title – The title ‘Deadwood’ immediately infers to the audience that the film could represent death due to the title, this therefore automatically creates a scared and unsure mood for the audience.

Deadwood could be a horror genre due to the motif of the horse which could possibly resemble/personify the danger as other animals are killed (shown in the on going montage) and the horse is constantly shown to be running away.

Colours used are darks, which also helps set the mood as being scary, and builds tension for the audience. The montage and titles used are therefore very effective with the colours chosen as all these contributing factors build suspense and tension for the audience.