Short analysis of Phantom of the Opera opening

 

The Phantom of the Opera

Beginning – gold, orange, browns, sepia,  warm colours , looks  classic, like an old fading picture; represents time

Then the colours fade to black and white , which again shows time and ‘the old days’ before we had colour photography, suggesting this is some sort of a flashback or memory.

The lighting outside is bright and well rounded to give the scene a more natural look and the feel of being outdoors in the daytime, when the camera moves inside the theatre the light changes from  well rounded to low key, this is to show that we are inside a building and that there is no light source apart from the windows  that are up above, its still quite natural.                                                                  The main light seems to be illuminating the auctioneer (backlight) , it falls just behind him and it  highlights his presence, to show the viewer that what he is doing or saying has a significant meaning and all the other characters are paying attention to him.

At about 3:55 minutes in there is a close up  on one of the characters faces , only one side of his face is lit and the other is in the shadows, this makes him seem mysterious and a little bit sinister  or maybe haunted / troubled.

The colours are still black and white when the auctioneer brings attention to the chandelier  (which is under a sheet) it is well lit from above and its almost as if its glowing, when the chandelier is revealed all the candles are already lit, and when its being pulled up it sets off a domino effect where all the colours in the room come alive, so we can see the black and white colours fading leaving only royal reds and rich golds, these colours are usually used in theatres and  operas because they are quite posh and in the olden days it was mostly the wealthy who visited them.

Sound Extract Analysis

The music starts of very eerie like and has a sort of an ominous effect, this could be to show that something  bad is happening or something bad will happen later on.

The other sounds  we can hear are a sort of a whooshing sound as if the camera is moving or panning a scene. We can also hear violins being played very slowly to create a sort of piercing effect but still managing to sound ominous.

Then for a short while we can only hear ‘empty’ sounds sort of like you would hear in a very big empty space (a parking lot, underground hallway ?) That is still being followed by the insistent violins, accompanied by weird sounds of maybe what is supposed to be clanking  metals and pipes realising steam ? (like in a factory)

Then the music starts to rise and we hear heavy trumpets, this creates a soaring effect (as if we came out of the dark underground into an open space)

We then hear a sound effect that could be a laser being fired or a futuristic sort of door opening.

The music quickly speeds up and becomes very pacy and rhythmic suggesting something like a battle is taking place.

The music then becomes orchestral and sounds very heroic, like something important is happening or its being shown.

The music could be from a sci-fi film because the sounds are all sounding futuristic.

Then the music becomes soaring and flighty, building up tension sounding almost majestic and important, then it dies down and we are being thrown to silence.