Analysis of a thriller opening sequence

Films used: The Road Warrior, Mad Max Fury Road

Titles for both of these films are very similar. The reason they are similar is a lot to do with that both films have the same director and production team. However there are major differences because of the time period the films were released in. For example, Mad Max Fury Road was released in 2015; The Road Warrior was released in 1981. At the time of 1981, the road warrior had a very low budget meaning that the opening credits to the film weren’t very good, however Mad Max Fury Road have very polished and interesting opening credits because of the films great budget. You can clearly see the difference as Mad Max Fury Road is really well designed and The Road Warrior is just white text on a black background.

You can tell from the difference in computer graphics and typeface how different the two films are and how the time period changed. Mad Max Fury Road has very expensive titles, using the same typeface as the Transformer franchise. Not only that but the Mad Max Fury Road opening titles open with the actors names with their characters name underneath as shown in the still. This is rare for modern cinema and is seen as a past time thing to do.

The narrative to Mad Max Fury Road is all about the fight for survival and how the world has ran out of fossil fuels or ‘Guzzoline’. We then have a narration from Max himself, telling us that his world is ‘Fire and blood’ implying that there is a great fight for survival. The use of voices in his head also adds to the tension. Also the silhouette of him standing on a ridge with his car tells us that this is Max.

The Road Warrior doesn’t have a narrative until after the film has been introduced as Mad Max 2. This shows us that there is already a backstory to the character as there is a previous film before this one. The typography for both films is san-serif meaning that these films are maybe for a younger generation of viewers. Also for The Road Warrior, the text is filled with metallic silver, maybe telling us that machinery is used a lot in this film.

As Mad Max 2 is introduced, we then have a narrative telling us about what has happened to the world and why everything is going wrong. We are shown images of the world slowly disintegrating into war, with images of tanks fighting and things being destroyed, showing the chaos of the current world. This gives us a sense of a narrative so we know what the film is about.

Mad Max Fury Road opens up with an action sequence in which Max tries to escape from a settlement but then ultimately results in him being recaptured. After this action scene where Max tries to escape, the film cuts to black with a background track on, then all of a sudden the titles come up.

The Road Warrior opening titles finishes with Max having flashbacks of his past. This helps us realise what has been going on and we can find out more about the character. The sequence finishes with a open road being followed, fading into black.