Friday, 11 October 2013

Anchorman opening sequence analysis

ANCHORMAN THE LEGEND OF RON BURGUNDY(2004)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip6GolC7Mk0


Anchorman is an American film based on a news reporter team and how women were starting to gain respect and authority, it is a comic and was release on 9th of July 2004. It is directed by Adam Mckay who has filmed The Other Guys, Step Brothers (which are both with Will Ferrell) and it stars Will Ferrell, Paul Rudd, Christina Applegate e.t.c.

The film is a comic film which requires the film to be funny and entertaining. The opening sequence establishes genre of comedy this is because you can see Will Ferrell who you associate with comedy who is the biggest earning comic actor at the moment. The style of humour is farce. This therefore means that the audience is someone who likes comedies and Will Ferrell in general , has a sense of humour and can tolerate ridiculousness, this mainly is teenagers of the age 0f 14-18.

The film starts of with an establishing shot of a city. Soft non diegetic music is played in the background, as well as non diegetic sound of a narrator speaking. A helicopter appears in the scene. A high angle shot of the helicopter is shown; the helicopter has San Diego written across it. This tells the audience that the film is based in the city of San Diego. The narrator then says “This was an age when ugly men were allowed to read the news.” The following shot is a mid shot of the helicopter landing right in the middle of a busy road. This along with what the narrator said gives away the genre immediately; which is a comedy.

A close up of Ron Burgundy’s (Will Ferrell) foot coming out of the helicopter is shown, as soon as his foot touches the ground, the soft non diegetic music changes into more lively non diegetic music, the narrator is still continuing his speech. Natural lighting is used when they are filming on location.
The following several shots are filmed on set. Backlit lighting is used when filming on set.


A close up of Ron Burgundy’s wedding finger is shown , his wedding ring is a ring with a logo of his news channel on it. Whilst this shot is running the narrator says, “He was like a god walking amongst mere mortals.” The next shot is a close up of his belt, which looks like it’s made from diamond and stone. This tells the audience that Ron Burgundy is a strange character as normal people wouldn’t have wedding rings of the company they work for. As this shot is running the narrator says “He had a voice that could make a wolverine purr.” The following shot is an over the shoulder shot of Ron Burgundy putting his blazer on. The narrator says “And suits so fine, they made Sinatra look like a hobo.” The next shot is an over the shoulder shot/close up of Ron Burgundy combing his side burns. The narrator’s last words are “In other words, Ron Burgundy was the balls.” The same shot is used but not in focus of his side burns, it’s a reflection of him in a mirror. He looks at himself in the mirror and says “Ummmm, 

I look good. I mean really good.” He then shouts “Hey everyone, come see good I look.”
Simple editing is used throughout the clip.
By looking at the first opening scene I can tell that most of the comedy will come from the use of innuendos and satire, some slapstick may be used as Ron Burgundy is a strange character.







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