Be Kind Rewind - Film Opening

Be Kind Rewind (Michel Gondry, 2008)
Budget: $20m
Gross: $11.2m  £3.5m






trailer:



Length of opening sequence: 4:14

The idents shown before the film were Pathe, focus features international and partizan films, but on the trailer they also include new line cinema. The titles get gradually shown throughout the opening sequence. The first one to be shown is the directors which says 'A film by Michel Gondry'. The main actors and actresses names then start to follow but they do not have an introductory title before their names. Other titles mentioned include music supervisor (then name), music by (then name), editor, production designer, director of photography, co producer, executive producer, produced by and director again. They are stated in that order gradually. 



opening shot of map

The first shot in the film is of a black and white map. 

The start of the film shows what seems to be very old footage as it is black and white and not very good quality. The shot of the map is also helping establish where the film might be shot or that the place being shown is of some significance to the film. The next shot (0.50) is still in this old fashioned style and is a medium shot of a man in old fashioned clothes, as this footage seems to be old the audience would presume that this isn't the main character. There is a voice over throughout this first section. 



0.50 old footage



0.58 3 shot

1.12 cardboard cars

The next shot (0.58) is a 3 shot. It is a medium close up of all three of the characters but in this shot they do not seem to look as old fashioned as the previous even though the style of editing and filming has not changed. This is when the voice over ends and you hear the characters in the film talking. This is also linking the characters.



At 1.12 you notice that the cars in the scene are made out of cardboard, this makes the audience think whether the footage is actually old or whether it is just being made to look like this as every shot seems to look less authentic



1.35

At 1.35 it is clear that they are focusing the opening section of the film on this individual character, possibly the main character. He seems to be acting out his own comedy sketch or something else along those lines. This is a medium shot as he is sat at the piano. 



2.22 'modern day'

This comedy sketch continues until 2.22 where the filming changes from black and white to colour and what we are led to believe as the modern day. It is an establishing shot of a city slowly zooming in to a certain area. A bit like the map at the very beginning but this time it is a contrast as it is filmed literally. There is gradual humming in the background that as it zooms in further it starts to get louder.





3.03 establishing shot

The next significant shot is at 3.03. This is an establishing shot of graffiti which two men are painting, we have already seen these to men in the older looking footage looking the same age which you can presume they shot in modern day and just wanted to look old. This is an extreme long shot of them and this is where the main dialogue begins and you get a proper indication that the film is likely to be based on these two characters. 



4.13 transition into main film, film title

At 4.13 the screen fades to black and the title of the film is in the middle. This signifies well the end of the film opening and after this is when the film gets into real detail and the plot begins.

other links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Be_Kind_Rewind

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Black

http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/02/22/movies/22rewi.html?_r=0