Changeling: Opening sequence analysis

Changeling film poster

Changeling is a drama/thriller film, based on a true story starring Angelina Jolie, directed by Clint Eastwood. The narrative of the film is about a mother, Christine Collins, who loses her son Walter after he is kidnapped anonymously. The L.A.P.D claim they found him, bringing back an impostor to show the public and news reporters that they are doing their job and to save their reputation. Christine is shaken and takes the boy in, but doesn't stop her journey to find her real son and what really did happen. 


The opening sequence gives us quite a large amount of information about the setting and narrative just by the use of establishing shots. Its begins with a black backdrop and non-diegetic music playing. The slow music playing consists of brass instruments, this creates an old and mysterious effect, which gives us an insight into the genre of the film. Along with this music, we see a teardrop running down the black backdrop, which creates a sad effect representing the drama genre, but also at the same time the use of black creates a dark, thriller genre telling us that this film is a bit of both. The titles begin to roll still using a black backdrop with plain, white writing and the exact music is still continuing. The music slowly, slows down and eventually stops, but straight away starts again this time with a slightly more relaxing, positive melody, this time using the piano. This instantly creates a positive atmosphere for the audience and they are really anticipating to watch the rest. 


The fade-in takes us into an almost black and white establishing shot of Los Angeles. We know the place and date because we are given the information at the centre of the screen saying, "Los Angeles. March 9, 1928". The lack of colour in the shot represents the information of date given to us, it tells us the story is old, and in the past everything was black and white, as in America it was called the "Jazz Age", which also tells us about the use of brass instruments in the beginning. As the camera tilts down we see some cars, which are very different to the ones used today. The use of old cars gives us some background information about that era. When one "Clover Dairy" vehicle passes the black and white colour fades and the shot turns into colour. Camera fades-out and we are taken into a house by a camera pan as Christine Collins is woken up by her alarm clock and she puts on the radio and wakes her son Walter up. Then we are taken into the film, dialogue is exchanged between the characters, which gives us knowledge about the type characters they are. We then get closeups of a moving tram and camera pan of the different people sitting on the tram, in relation, the mise-en-scene is different, which is the clothes, hair and makeup they are wearing is unlike the twenty-first century style and more like the 1920s with the top hats, long coats and broadsheet newspapers. 


Already we are given a lot of information by the specific detail in mise-en-scene, such as the old radios and newspapers. All of this gets us slightly interested in the film as it is different to other opening sequences, because most of them begin focused on an individual character whereas this one is more focused on the setting and place, which is important and gives you a interesting insight and opinion into the movie. On the whole it is a very enlightening opening sequence and the film itself is absolutely beautiful and gripping.