RESEARCH: ART OF THE TITLE- Big Little Lies

Big Little Lies

When on Art of the Title website I decided to research the title sequence of Big Little Lies. The title sequence has a series of different visual codes that all portray a sense of mystery and secrets within the series.

The title sequence for Big Little Lies is extremely captivating and intriguing and makes the viewer want to watch the series. I can tell from the title sequence, that BLL will be a series with a lot of drama and mystery throughout (genre= mystery and drama)because of the sudden cut to the gun, the slow motion editing and from the placement of each shot. From this, BLL looks like a modern series with a lot of interesting plot twists and story lines. 

The title sequence begins with an establishing shotof the location that is presumably where they live. Close up shotsof the mains characters follow immediately. Reece Witherspoon is shown driving, followed by a close up of her children, highlighting that her and her family play a key role in the series. Similarly, this is the same for Nicole Kidman and Shailene Woodley.

This immediately suggests the three ladies importance in the series and that their children must somehow be involved in the drama.Tracking shotsof the roads they are driving on connotes they are all going the same place, possibly to escape something.Slow motion shots of waves crashing which fade into an intimate shot of two peoples silhouettes kissing makes the audience wonder where the fathers/ husbands are which draws us in hugely.A close up shot of the children playing dress up games and running towards the camera connotes how much fun they are having which contrasts the next shot of a mother looking extremely stressed out, making the audience wonder what has happened and why they are in the car possibly running away.When creating my openingscene, I would like to achieve successful editinglike this and position my clips in a very intriguing way. A focus pull clip of a gun pointing at something is shown after the calm video of waves crashing, this contrast connotes something serious has happened with the gun which could relate to the women, this is extremely intriguing for the viewers and is an extremely clever way of editing!

The characters wear normal, everyday clothes making it realisticand more gripping, as it does not seem untrue but as if it is a real story.The location shows us that the ocean and beach must have something to do with the drama and mystery. The children are playing in a school, which connotes a sense of real life and families clearly struggling with something going on in their lives. 

The actors names are placed in the center of the screen and then the next clip is the actor, making it very clear who is whothe most known, famous actors are placed first, so the audience know the show has well known sophisticated actors straight away which makes them want to actually begin watching the series.

The editing is extremely clever, they order the clips cleverly so that some questions are left unanswered and we can see what parts relate to each other, for example, we know the children followed by the character of Reece Witherspoon must her be children in it which makes the characters very clear to the viewers from just the title sequence. The editing of the title sequence begins to feel like a story in itself, it flows extremely well.There aren't many hard cuts, instead clips fade and dissolve into the next one, making the sequence continue very nicely. When editing my opening sequence, I would like to achieve such a high standard of editing too. Many of the clips are edited in slow motion, gripping the audience and making them more intrigued as to why the clip has been slowed down, it could possibly connote importance of that specific clip.

The non-diegetic musicadded is extremely captivating and fits in with the moving images seen. The music ties in with the videos and is synchronized, it compliments the title sequence even more, making audiences hooked and intrigued. This is really successful for captivating in the viewer and makes the sequence flow extremely well.