School of Rock Title Sequence Analysis
- 2. It starts with ‘Paramount Pictures Presents’ on the back of somebody’s jumper, who is walking into a night club/bar. This is the only film company shown which shows that Paramount Pictures is a big company and it is also well-known, so it is shown first. The camera then turns to a poster on the wall, which says ‘A Scott Rudin Production’. However, the camera doesn’t stay on this long which shows that he isn’t as important as the rest, but because it is the first name shown, he must have a big influence in the making of the film. The camera tracks a couple of men and then stops to focus on another poster/sticker, which says ‘Richard Linklater’ who is the director of the film. The camera stays on his name slightly longer putting focus on his name and giving him importance. The camera then zooms into another poster which says ‘Jack Black’ with a close-up picture of him. As his name is shown, the music is louder and the chorus starts, which shows that Jack Black is the lead role and the most important and recognisable. The door on which the poster is on is pushed to reveal ‘The School of Rock’ in lights on the wall, which creates the relationship between Jack Black and The School of Rock, maybe creating a narrative. ‘The School of Rock’ is shown on the screen the most amount of time as the camera slowly zooms into it. As the camera jolts past the sign, it travels into the club/bar, telling the audience that this is the start and where Jack Black is introduced, as he is the only cast member that was named in this introduction.
- 3. When the camera travels into the club/bar, ‘Joan Cusack’ appears on the screen, another cast member. In the film, apart from Jack Black, she isn’t on the screen for most of the film, so having her name after Jack Black could suggest a relationship between the characters they play. ‘Mike White’ is then shown, who is also a cast member but also the writer of the film, followed by ‘Sarah Silverman’, another actress. ‘Lee Wilkof’ and ‘Kate McGregor-Stewart’ then appear, and if you have seen the film it’s obvious that the are only in one or two scenes, so it shows that all of the adults are shown first, probably because they are more well-known then any of the children in the film, making the audience feel a little more familiar with the cast. When the children’s names are introduced, they are in groups of 4 and are all pushed on the side, so a different layout is used to show these children’s names. Then, ‘Casting by Irene Starger’ appears, which shows that the casting was important for each of the characters. ‘Music Score by Craig Wedren’ follows, which shows that music obviously has a key part in the film and that the people who control the music are important in the making of this film. The music supervisor is then followed. After a short period of time, ‘Costume Designer Karen Patch’ then comes up which tells the audience that there must have been a lot of thought put into the costumes which is why the costume designer is in the opening titles. Shortly after the editor appears, the production designer ‘Jeremy Conway’ comes up which shows that some of the productions will be quite impressive. Before a long break, the director of photography is then shown, which normally comes before the music supervisor or production designer, so because he is after it shows that the cinematography in the film was not as important as the music and production. At the end of the scene, ‘Produced by Scott Rudin’ appears again, he was the first name that appeared and also the last, showing that he is important and should be known by people watching the film.