The Road Opening Titles

The Road is a 2009 action thriller directed by John Hillcoat. It is an post-apocalyptic film set in North America. After a unnamed cataclysm which destroys all civilization and nearly all life on Earth, a father and son attempt to move south to warmer climates or possible sines of life elsewhere.

Sound

In the first few seconds of the opening titles, the sounds are reflective or the idyllic background. Calming peaceful noises like birds singing and soft piano. The sounds of animals such as the birds singing, a dog barking and the horse breathing heavily reflect how the setting is filled with life and emphasises significant signs of civilisation. The music changes dramatically in the scene when the man wakes up in the middle of the night. It switches from soft calming sounds to loud rumbeling ones. Both diagetic and non-diagetic sounds are used. For example sounds like screaming and shouting from outside and deep rumbles (all very opposite to the ones, earlier in the titles). Sound is used well to build up the tension when the camera shots flash from the worried close up face of the women to the sleeping dirty one of the man. Once again, non-diagetic sounds such as deep rumbeling and the wind wherring violently are used to give the audience the feeling of emptyness.

Camerawork

In the beginning of the sequence there are a number of flash camera shots, mostly of the garden and beautiful trees and plants. There is a close up of vivid colorful flowers and a bright yellow tree in the garden of a home. These images introduce the comforting and radiant depiction with the sun shinning crisp and clear. The audience are straight away made to feel relaxed and in a pleasant ambiance. Next there are flash close ups of a blonde pregnant women smiling and a man patting a horse. He is very affectionate and gentle towards the animal, showing he is passionate about the environment and other living creatures. All the way through the first opening scene the camera shots have great significance on the rest of the film, lots of closeups on a turned on light and a door slowly closing. These are metaphorically important, with the light showing there is electricity and the door , secuirty. After the scene in the middle of the night, the camera uses a crayne shot of the man and boy sleeping rough with dirty clothes and bedding. Just before the titles THE ROAD appear on screen, there is an over shoulder shot of the man standing overlooking the decelate hills.

Mise en scene

The background for a majority of the opening titles is particularly amicable and tranquil. The variety of clear stunning pictures of different plants help with the portrayal of this image. Fantastic flowers with vivid visual colours on a stunning backdrop. Because the women has a glowing appearance it reflects her healthiness and being pregnant magnifies the perfectness of these scenes. Her being pregnant helps build the characters up with great effect. In the scene where the man wakes in the night, alot of the background is particularly different. Outside the windows there is fire and red light, this portrays danger. This is duplicated in the very last shot when the man looks at the surrounding landscape, which is particularly symbolic in connection with the first minute of titles but it is at the other end of extreme. Now there is no life, the trees are bare, the clouds are dark and everything is bleek. The contrast between these shots set more of the storyline and engage the audience, making them want to watch more of the movie.