Influences for our Opening Sequence

At the moment, we are aiming to produce a comedy-style intro, as it is a generally favoured genre for the both of us, and we believe it would play to our strengths.

We decided that we should research Will Ferrell films, as his films are generally witty and clever, using irony and satire.

The first film we looked at was the Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly film, Step Brothers.
The film starts with a humorous, relevant, quote from George W. Bush

This quote shows us that this is not only a comedy film, as they say "actual quote from George W. Bush" implying his lack of intelligence and talking about families, a focus of the film.

The titles for the film use a childlike, hand drawn font, to give us the idea that it is a somewhat child-like film, yet it is revealed they are both older men within the opening sequence.

 The simple black and white colours don't reveal much about the genre of film, because the font is already quite child-like and more is revealed in the opening sequence that follows.

We quite liked this particular shot as it singled out one of the main characters, perhaps we may use a similar concept or shot.

Whilst the opening sequence is running, 'A-Punk' by Vampire Weekend starts playing, this song again reflects the childlike nature of the characters in the film.

A-Punk by Vampire Weekend

Will Ferrell films are very influential for us both. Another Will Ferrell film we are influence by is The Other Guys, also starring Mark Wahlberg. The opening sequence is a typical action opening, with a high speed car chase between a pair of cops and some drug runners.

In the beginning we are lead to believe that the two characters in this scene are the main characters, Dwayne Johnson and Samuel L. Jackson, but in fact they are the stereotypical American cop. 

The two main characters are actually met rather comically, they are standing on their own at the back of the police station and are introduced with the title 'The Other Guys'. This opening is very interesting as it implies that the film isn't the typical American, action cop film.

Also, former rapper 'Ice-T' provides a comedic voice over for the opening sequence. The voice over techinque is used very well in this opening scene and in some comedy films, comedic voice-overs and usually featured.

The Hangover and Hangover II are good examples of opening sequences as well. Both show 3 of the main characters, Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis, after the events of the night before. 

In both cases, they are both interesting opening sequences as they reveal the end of the film before we know what happens, but at the same time it doesn't reveal anything from the plot line. This technique is especially effective in the first Hangover, because this is the first time we see this technique used and we are not sure how to interpret this opening sequence, when it is used in the second Hangover it is still effective but fans of the brace know how this technique works.