Stephen Daldry, 2000 (BBFC 15)
# OF IDENTS + OPENING DURATION: 2 4:41
- PRODUCTION: BBC Films, Tiger Aspect Pictures, Working Title Films
- DISTRIBUTION: Universal Pictures, Focus Features
BUDGET: £3m; BOX OFFICE: UK £73m US $22m World: $109m
LINKS: Wiki; YT trailer; IMDB; boxofficemojo. Universal site. WT page. WT musical page. Guardian.
1: IDENTS
1st: Universal. 20secs
The classic ident. Notably longer as the parent company of WT/StudioCanal. Orchestral music, especially brass. Quite sophisticated CGI for revolving globe. Prominent URL. Fades in/out.
2nd: StudioCanal 15secs
Missing the usual audio. Relatively simple text FX only. Fades out.
Notable that the actual main production company (WT/WT2) gets no ident
2: AUDIO, MUSIC
DDD
3: TITLES
See below (1st SHOT) for the opening intertitle, a small, plain sans-serif font, all upper case and white on a black background, clearly connoting serious drama rather than comedy, and perhaps an odd choice if a young audience is really the core target audience. That young audience are unlikely to grasp the significance of the 'Durham Coalfield, North East England, 1984' - placing the film in the midst of the bitter miners' strike which saw a right-wing government (Thatcher) seek to brutally smash the trade unions.
Titles appear in this order. Timing is irregular: there is a lengthy gap between titles 2 and 3.
WORKING TITLE FILMS
AND BBC FILMS
IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE ARTS COUNCIL OF ENGLAND PRESENT [over 3 lines]
A TIGER ASPECTS PICTURES PRODUCTION
4: 1ST SHOT
We 1st get an inter-title anchoring the time + place, for 6secs
 |
| Immediate social realist conventions. Older UK viewers would recognise the time and place as linked to the miners' strike |
 |
| When the hands come into focus the short nails are evident |
We fade in from 0:42 to an incredibly long take of a CU of a record player and a pair of hands picking up an LP and sliding the (T. Rex, 70s glam rock, so likely the boy's parents' record - and the sleeve is well worn to denote it as an older record) record out, putting it on, and bringing the needle over - initially to the wrong place. Diegetic sound only until this take finally ends, though while we can see the legs jumping there is no clear diegetic sound of any trampoline/bed or simply jumping and landing, so we effectively end up without diegetic sound once the record has started playing.
 |
| The framing use of focus creates ambiguiety over gender identity: we can't see shorts or skirt, or footwear, clearly enough |
The only initial signifier of gender is the very short nails, though the shallow field of focus means the character's legs and clothing/footwear are difficult to distinguish when the unidentified character dances. The use of the T Rex album cover reinforces the impression that androgyny is being connoted, glam rocker Marc Bolan being quite an effeminate figure.
 |
| The record sleeve is worn; its a 70s record (so the boy's parents'); Bolan was androgynous... |
 |
| the androgynous 70s glam rocker Marc Bolan |
 |
| shot 2: very tight, shallow focus |
Shot 2 gives us a slo-mo CU of his face with a very tight, shallow focus on his face, the slo-mo helping to create an immediate link between dancing and pleasure for this character and perhaps signifying he is a bit of a dreamer. The song lyric, I was dancing when I was 12, again suggests dancing is a key theme - and the focus will be on the young boy as the central protagonist, a smart means of providing this exposition.
The tight physical space of the room also denotes a working class home, as does his simple short, back and sides haircut.
The take continues to 1:23, an unusual 41sec opening take.
5: MISE-EN-SCENE
FOR EXPOSITION
6: NARRATIVE/PROTAGONIST
7: AUDIENCE + REPRESENTATION
8: GENRE SIGNIFICATION
9: TRANSITION TO MAIN FILM
10: EXCEPTIONS/UNCONVENTIONAL EXAMPLES
