Furious 7 opening sequence

analysis

Analysis
I am going to analyse the opening sequence of Fast and
Furious 7, I will be analysing the first set of titles, then
the brief transition to the second set of titles and then
the title of the film.

The Titles
In the opening sequence various titles are shown. In Furious 7 the titles in order include a
total of 19 cast members, then Casting by, then Music by, then Costume designer and
finally Visual effect supervisor. In Furious 7 there is a very large variety of important cast
members, these including about 6 of them being the main characters, the producers showing
this is very important as it gives the audience the insight on who is in the film and with such
a large number of important cast members it gives the audience the opportunity to recognise
some of these names and possibly know what to expect from them from knowledge of
previous work by these actors. With the remainder of the titles, some are quite smaller roles
such as music by and costume designer however I think that this has been purposely
because in the film itself costume is very dominant in presenting characters and also the film
has many soundtracks and songs therefore these people who worked on the film have been
highly credited.

The Narrative
The Furious 7 opening does in fact set and influence the narrative of the
film. For example due to its predecessor the audience will know that the
character lying in the hospital bed is in fact the antagonist from it and was
defeated and clearly fatally injured, the dialogue used form the conscious
character denotes they are family, he is his older brother, and from the
predecessor the man in the bed was an antagonist so we expect his older
brother
In
this shot
to be
the
too.
character threatens the nurses in the background that if
anything happens to his brother hell come back looking for them, this
piece of dialogue backs up the idea that he is going to be the antagonist of
the film as this is quite an evil thing to say and it implies that if something
was to happen he would most likely hurt the ones responsible.
Here, the audience is shown that in fact there has actually been pure
chaos caused for this man to be in that hospital ward. We know this as he
so easily and simply strolls back out of the hospital ward with not a
concern at all, this all suggests to audience that he forced his way into this
hospital and this must be because he is going to be the antagonist of the
film.

Typography
For all of the titles in the opening sequence the typography is very significant. For
example, the first thing noticeable is the way the title enters the screen, this is because
the titles enter the screen in a quick dash, shift like manor and then when exiting the
screen they zoom towards the camera to then disappear. This Is a very effective
animation because it very much presents the genre of the film, this being an action
thriller and a film quite revolved around cars. This animation suits the film very well as
this dash of movement of the title is a representation of a car speeding past and this
relates very much to the style of film. Also the font of the title is san-serif, it is bold,
blocky and has a metallic shine to it, this also reflects the type and genre of the film.

Camerawork, editing, sound

Camerawork in the opening sequence to Furious 7 is not too complex yet very effective.
The entire opening sequence is actually filmed in one entire long take, the take follows
the character of Deckard Shaw from the point speech he gives to his brother to following
him through the hospital. After the consistent mid shot of him speaking to his brother the
camera is positioned to Shaws back following him. This is very effective as this type of
camerawork is very unconventional to the thriller genre as most thriller opening
sequences involve a variety of shots with many cuts in very quick succession. However,
here because the whole first part of the films opening sequence has been filmed in one
whole single cut, this meaning little editing was actually used. The purpose of this style of
opening is to introduce the audience to this character, and it does this very effectively as
it almost shows his travel back out of the hospital through his perspective yet the
audience is able to overlook and understand everything around him and this gives the
audience the insight on further into detail how and what he did to break into the hospital.
It also indicates that this character must be skilled to have got through such strong
defence.
Most of the sound in the opening sequence is music , so non diegetic, however diegetic
sound is present in the sequence, this being the grenade explosion at the end of the

Mise-en-scene

Mise-en-scene is vital in this opening

sequence. This is because many of the
features of mise-en-scene that appear
in the opening sequence have an
impact on the narrative of the film.
Setting Is portrayed for example in the
establishing shot of London for
audience is automatically informed of
where the opening is set, also as we
see the man lying in the medical bed
with apparatus and then the camera
follows Deckard Shaw the audience is
informed the building is a hospital.
The prop of the machine gun is used
very effectively as it tells the audience
the character with it has the means to
get weapons like this, also the fact he
puts the gun on his brothers chest
impacts the narrative as it implies
that he will use it when he wakes up.
Lighting is presented in the opening
also, natural light is used from outside
through the hospital windows, also
there are broken lights across the

Costume is used effectively in the

opening sequence. Costume is
used to classify occupation and
shows people in more depth, for
example the dead people in the
hospital wear SWAT/FBI uniforms,
them being dead poses the
question of how this one man
killed them all. All of the features
of mise-en-scene in the opening
present the action thriller genre.

Enigmas and points of

interest
Mostly in the beginning of the opening sequence many enigmas
for the audience are created. One of these being the question of
who the conscious character is. Another major enigma that
becomes apparent is when he begins to walk back through the
hospital, this is because it is the first time the audience sees the
dead bodies and all of the destruction caused, it makes the
audience question how he managed to get past all of the
military/swat officers and how he killed them all. Another thing
that makes the audience question is who is in the black car
driving through the desert.

Editing
Just at the end of the opening titles of Furious 7 there is the most iconic and obvious
piece of editing. This piece of editing is a transition from the camera panning up to the
sky to then an upside down shot of a muscle car driving towards the direction of the
camera and at the point the car reaches the camera it flips to being level again. This
editing is very effective because the first shot here and the second are both clearly in
different settings and this is presented very clearly In this piece of editing because the
pan into the sky can indicate the sense of movement. It is clearly shown that the
second shot is in a different location as there is a huge contrast in the setting, the
setting has gone from an urban city environment to a desert like, seemingly
uninhabited area. The piece of editing itself can actually tell the audience that these
two things are happening at the same time in the world, so this character leaving the
hospital after causing the chaos is happening at the same time as this car is driving
through the desert.

Main film title

The actual title of the film is shown right at the very end of the opening
sequence, it is shown just after the director title is shown. The muscle car seen
earlier speeds down the road and across the shot and behind it leaves the film
title. The film title in a blocky, bold, metallic font, as the car drives past the
letters of the title appear one by one but in very quick succession due to the
speed of the car. All of this reflects the genre of the film because it is in fact
about cars.

Conclusion
All of what is featured in the opening sequence to Fast
and Furious 7 reflects the overall genre of the film. The
film is an action crime thriller, many of the conventions
of this genre of film are presented in just the opening.
For example, the action genre is presented by the use
of props such as guns, which are typical in an action
film, also costume such as the military/SWAT team. The
crime genre is also presented in this opening, for
example the idea that this character has forced his way
into the hospital due to him obviously not legally being
allowed, he has obviously injured and killed these