List of films I looked at with narration at the beginning.
True Grit - western
Fight Club - drama thriller
Kick-Ass - Action Adventure Comedy
Raising Arizona - comedy crime
Litmitless - mystery thriller
True Grit:
In 2010's True Grit
(further analysis in to the titles here) the film begins with a narration by an older version of the young girl Mattie Ross. She explains how her father has been killed and how at the age of 14, she went out to try and find the man who killed her father. After the narration, the film follows the story of Mattie at the age of 14. Because the older Mattie narrates the story at the beginning it is obvious she survives the story to be able to tell it.
START: 'People do not give it credence that a young girl could leave home and go off in the wintertime to avenge her father’s blood, but it did happen'
END: 'you must pay for everything in this world one way or another'
Fight Club:
The narration in Fight Club 1999 uses the flash forward technique. As the film begins, the narrator explains that he is the character who is seen tied to a chair with a gun in his mouth by another character. He explains other parts of how he got there but not enough for the audience to thoroughly understand - this is part of the Enigma Code which is used to entice the audience into wanting to know what happens in the rest of the film. The narrator mentions names and places and then the story goes back to another time where the narrator continues to narrate.
START: 'People always ask me if I know Tyler Durden' ....
Later on in the film, this scene is revisited and the narrator comes back.
Later on in the film when the scene is revisited in it's chronological form, the narrator says 'I think this is about where we came in'. This technique is a form of humour for the audience which helps them relate to the character but it also makes clear the structure that the scenes are in for the audience.
Kick-Ass:
Comedy Action Kick-Ass which is based on a comic book, uses a very basic yet effective opening sequence. The film begins with the institution names in the clouds above as the camera sways past them and then it establishes the setting of a city. As the camera continues to pan down, it stops behind a character on top of a building in a costume. This is when the 'narrator' begins to talk.
START: 'I always wondered why nobody did it before me...'
END: 'In fact, in the eighteen months since my mother died, the only epiphany I had was realising that, like it or not, life just goes on.'
The narrator explains how he became a superhero. The character the camera is focused on drops from the building to fly a cut to show the people on ground level watching in astonishment and the point of view shot of the character falling.
The character falls and crashes into a taxi. This is part of the comedy element Kick-Ass has. The narrator then explains that the character who was just seen is not the person talking 'That's not me by the way. That's some Armenian guy with a history of mental health problems'
The camera moves round the crushed taxi to show a number plate which is the title of the film. The narrator then explains that he is the titled character, 'Kick-Ass'
While the opening credits roll onto the screen (actors, writers, producers, soundtrack, costume, director, etc..) the narrator introduces himself as a teenage boy at school and explaining his life. This is a very simplistic but realistic opening title sequence. This way, the audience fully understand big events to the character's life before the movie and they have an idea into what their daily, normal life consists of. The audience also relate to the main character quickly and already side with him because they know more about him than any other character so far.
Raising Arizona:
Even though I have previously looked at the opening scene of Raising Arizona, here I am going to discuss the narration. The narration for Raising Arizona begins over black
START: 'Hi my name is H.I McDunnough'
END: 'and the answer to all our prayers'
This introduction narration is in the form of a cold opening. It roughly lasts 10 minutes long and it introduces the main character, how he came to meet his wife and how they are in the situation they are currently in. The narration is used for the audience to get a sense of the characteristics of McDunnough as he is a main character and to help move along the cold opening. Other than the narration, the cold opening follows the same procedure as any other type of opening scene of a film because it lasts 10 minutes.
The narration explains how McDunnough was a criminal who was always in jail, until he met Ed. He tells how he was often found back in prison and explains how he got out, married and found a place to live. It then goes on, with visuals and scenes to grasps an understanding, how they couple could not produce children.
McDunnough explains how a group of babies have been born and that their plan was to take one because they could not have children of their own and that the parents have too many children and it is only fair. After this, the title of the film silhouettes onto the screen with the sunrise through it and it shows the other titles too.
Limitless:
The subtitles are not featured on these screen shots for Limitless, but the film uses narration to introduce it.
The film begins with a man standing at the top of a very high building in a big City. There are people trying to reach him to hurt him and so he explains how his life hasn't been good lately and it's his fault. He looks as if he is about to jump off the building.
The film's title and opening credits appear after the camera falls down the building.
The narrator explains how his life before was ok and he explains how he got into his 'trouble'
The film then cuts back to before the scene just then. It's the same character but he looks very different. The narrator explains how that man is him and that he's not a 'tramp' and that he was a writer.
