'Hard Candy' Opening Sequence Analysis

TITLES:

• Lion's Gate Films


• Vulcan Productions

The screen is bright white, with only 2 black lines on it, which gives the appearance of the edges of walls of a doorway. There is also a red square which moves around screen and where it moves, titles appear in simple black font. The lines on screen move around and change too, but they always look like they are outlines of parts of a room such as skirting board, windows and doors. This may show that something is ever changing and not what it seems.

*Click here to watch the title sequence*

This may also be so that we get an idea of a room that is shown later on in the film and is of some importance.

The colours contrast really well. The shocking red against the bright white really stands out. The red may stand for blood, passion, lust, death. The white might stand for innocence, purity, goodness. This may mean that something may tarnish some one's innocence.

SOUND:

• Non-diagetic: the music during the titles is reminiscent of a music box or lullaby, this makes it seem (as we know it is a thriller) quite eerie. It also, reminds you of children and childhood so it suggests age is a strong factor in the film.


• Diagetic: The sound of silence is prominant, there is a really low frequency hum which is barely noticeable. The only noise made is the sound of typing and the notification 'ding' sound that the computer makes when a message is received and sent. This puts emphasis on the conversation and how it is not in person.


• Once the girl sends the last part of the conversation saying goodbye and clicks 'enter', the screen goes black and the low frequency hum of the sound of silence cuts out. This makes it seem very final and menacing; like what has been done cannot be 'undone'.

CAMERA:

• stays as an extreme close up of the screen, only changing angles and positions every now and again to keep the audience's interest and to focus on different parts of the conversation.

MISE-EN-SCENE:

• The first thing you see is in black and white and its an extreme close up of a computer screen and the conversation going on it on an instant messaging programme.


• As the conversation goes on, the conversation matter changes from flirting to actual plans to meet up. When this happens, the screen changes from black and white into colour, emphasising the importance of the plans.

CHARACTERS:

• It introduced to us two characters, known only by their screen names; 'thonggrrrl14' and 'Lensman319' , and we know that it is the former character whose computer we are looking at as you can see what she types before it is sent to the other character.


• You don't see any physical people, but you witness a conversation happening. The messages they are sending to each other are filled with shameless flirting and banter, this shows us the relationship they have and what kind of people they are.


• The character 'thonggrrrl14' mentions her big sister, showing that she is quite young


• Lensman319 has a camera as his icon, linking this with his screen name, shows he might like photography or that he is a photographer.

To me, it seems like the 2 characters have met online and have some feelings for eachother. The slight hints about age make me feel like there is some unethical behaviour going on here. Thonggrrrl14 seems to be quite young. The way she 'speaks', her screen name (the repetition of letters in the word 'grrrl' (girl) shows she is young, and having the number 14 suggests that she is, in fact, 14yrs old), and the mention of her 'big sister', hints at a youthful person. The screen name Lensman319, suggests the character is older because it says 'man' and the subject matter he talks about seems more adult too. This reveals to me that Lensman might be an older boy or even a pedophile and that 'thonggrrrl14' is his next victim. As it seems he likes photography, I assume that, following stories of girls hoping for their 'big break' who get kidnapped by men disguising themselves as photographers, that he may have promised her the chance to be a famous model or something along those lines.

NARRATIVE:

The characters meet online and decide to meet up. The events that occur after that will be based on the fact he is older than her and how unethical his intentions may be.

WHAT KEEPS US WATCHING?

it makes us ask questions:

• Who are these characters?


• How old are they?


• When did they meet?


• How do they feel about each other?


• What will happen when they meet up?


• Is he a pedophile?


• Are they who they seem?


• Is he a photographer?
  
• Is she in danger?
  
• WHAT WILL HAPPEN NEXT??