Colour

To be honest these dolls are fairly creepy and could be easily be interpreted by the audience as being evil more than good, but to give the correct emotion the directer selects brighter tones and shades to open up with, gold and light browns, which relate to safety or holy, and as 9 is created we just take in that these dolls were made for a purpose, to help "life go on" in the "dieing world". This is important as we don't want to be confused at all who the real good guys are in this movie, and it gives our support and sympathy for their loss through their brawls with The Machine.

Comparing colour of the creation and waking of 9

However after the short title coming up onto the screen everything changes, the colour palette only consists of blacks, a range of grays and rusty reds. These colours so nothing but emphasize the dead lifeless world that 9 is born in. These tones set the mood and setting immediately, giving us the post apocalyptic feel this movie is based around.
As the Catbeast comes into the scene however, the first thing we notice is his bright red eye which does two things. It gives the beast life, even though it is fully mechanical, and immediately gives the beast an evil tone. This "red eye" motif runs through all the mechanical villains throughout the movie, with the Catbeast, Winged Beast, Seamstress and of course the The Fabrication Machine/B.R.A.I.N, also running through as a motif for evil in the movie.

First real shot of the Catbeast

Other CG movies seem to generally use very bright and cheery colours, but "9" uses very earthy tones, something you don't usually see, and it gives it some grit and texture, some depth just through the colour palette. Even though the palette is very tight, there is a lot of colour, and it reflects on the extreme care and control used by the art department from the film.

Character/Performance

The motions of these ragdolls as some people describe it are a bit 'wonky' or exaggerated, but this is only because the ragdolls physical looks limit the CG teams flexibility. Lacking eyebrows, having camera shutters as eyes and lacking other facial features, they could only rely on describing emotions using pantomime, for example 9 indicating his lack of speech to 2 or when 9 trips over when he first awakes in the room. With every subtle movement and its speed and approach it all comes together to describe the emotion flawlessly, and I think through that its absorbed by the audience better than simple eyebrow movements. This also forces the audience to watch much more closely then you would in other movies and animations, it truly has an effect on how we as the viewers appreciate the beauty in this broken world.

9 Indicates his lack of voicebox

Although this is early on in the film we already begin to learn about the character of 2. Even though 9 is a stranger to him he sacrifices himself heroically so 9 can survive. This isn't interpreted as being arrogant but gives the meaning that there aren't many of these dolls left, and the only way they can face this world and fight the Catbeast is together as a team, but as 1 says later on in the movie "Sometimes for the better good, one must make a sacrifice" which is an important quote that runs through the whole movie. A lot of "survivor" themed movies commonly discuss human nature, how we all truly reveal our true selves in times of danger or extreme fear, and with these 9 ragdolls in this environment each character is given his own personality which is unique from the others. 9 is courage, 2 is smarts and so on, which creates dramatic solutions and reactions to problems that arise through the film.

2 catches the catbeast's attention to save 9

Script/Dialougue

The directors leave 9 speechless for a good half of the introduction, using the excuse of him not having a voicebox and as a tribute to the short film, however instead of making everything dull and boring it does the opposite, creating this extra focus on the environment around 9. As so much of the introduction is silent, any noise becomes emphasized and echoed. The subtle diegetic sounds, such as his footsteps, or the creaking of the old house or the wind outside batting against the window resonating creates the feeling of this expansive but dark place, just like a lifeless cave of sorts even though we are only in a room, we feel it from 9's perspective and think the room as being large and spacious. All these techniques used to help us feel what 9 feels is important as this whole movie really is about the journey 9 takes and immersing us right from the beginning is vital.
Also I think the director likes to keep the usual environment of the ragdolls to be quiet as it gives the action scenes much more impact, the screech of the Winged Beast or the screams of the B.R.A.I.N slice through the "peaceful" safety 9 and the others try to find.

Long shot of the room 9 awakes in

When 2 installs the voicebox the first word 9 speaks is "friend" reflecting on thier brief relationship, as if they were close friends a long time ago meeting up again. This rapid development is significant as it runs through the whole film, even though everyone are strangers to one another they all ignore differences to survive, reflects on a true selflessness in most of the characters in the film. This positive relationship, however soon is shattered when the Catbeast enters the shot and 2 is stolen by it, trying to protect 9.  This brief interaction allows us to understand the motivation 9 has to goto the factory later on in the film, we along with 9 feel the guilt of 2's sacrifice and collective agree that saving him is the best choice.
At these conflict with the Catbeast we feel that the ragdolls have no chance against this, and again we feel worried for 9 and these ragdolls, being able to do nothing but hide from it, which increases the valiance as the team of dolls work together and take the cat down, which only reveals the true evil that exists dormant in this world.

2 reaches out to 9 just before being kidnapped

Types of Shots

The film harnesses 2 shots mainly in the introduction, POV shots and Long shots.
The POV shots, used to show us what our subject is looking at, are important as it immerses us with the characters of the film, for example when 9 leans over the table to find the dead scientist on the ground, instead of just showing us from a different angle, the director shows it from 9's perspective to give us emotion with the shot, as our first reaction would be similar to 9 and we feel remorse for him. This shot is important as it reminds of the character of the scientist himself as he plays a role later on in the film with the plot explaining the existence of the fabricator (the main "villain" of the film) and the explanation of the purpose of these ragdolls.

POV shot as 9 leans over the table

The other shots 9 uses is extreme long shots, a shot used from a long distance away, usually at a low angle, again from the perspective of the height of a ragdoll. It emphasize how collasal the city really is compared to these small ragdolls as the buildings and rubble tower over in the shots, it also increases the feeling of how lonely we are with 9 in this world. Moreover as when the camera zooms out it just shows how much of the environment is still and dead. Through this the director makes the audience feel hopeless and worried for 9 which contrasts heavily with the emotions the first few shots into the film give us from the creation of 9, which is more hopeful.
Also all these shots the environment give us a further understanding of the environment from the director. Mainly we see a world that is completely destroyed, but you see elements of a western society, so we know it's earth that this is on. We see tanks, power lines, something to grasp on. But it also focuses on the world of death, there is nothing alive. However all of these things still shown from the doll's angle view, giving familiar things a dynamic new perspective. Everything in a shot has a history, "a beautiful junkyard" the lead artist would call it, but even though it doesn't hit the audience in the foreground, but all the elements of the background wrap together to bring out an amazing environment as a whole.

Extreme long shot of environment

Genre/Atmosphere

What is the tone?
The movie opens with a series of shots transitioned with fades, to show the lapse in time, accompanied with a voiceover. The words said by the old man set a grim tone, "We had so much potential, which led us to our downfall", something terrible has happened to the world. As 9 awakes after the title there has been a change in colour, the whole room dark except the lift filtering through the broken window, we feel curiosity on where are we, what is 9 really, bit by bit though it unravels through the opening. We get a POV shot of 9 leaning over the desk to find the dead scientest, doing nothing but helpt he grim mood. Then as 9 walks to the window the camera zooms out to give us a extreme long shot of the city, being only composed of shattered buildings and rubble, folloed by a POV shot of 9 scanning the streets to show the first sign of life, someone towing a wagon, seeing this, 9 rushes out to find him but we get a close up of a box with a tag saying "9", giving up the impression of there is something more in this room for 9, which does indeed foreshadow a future event.

Close up on the box for 9

As 9 walks out into the broken city we get slow long and close shots of parts of the city, both setting the
 scene and explaining past events. We get a close up of dead humans in a car, suggesting sudden death, a medium shot of the car coated with rusty paint showing a long time has passed since the apocalyptic event. Close ups on posters of logos and "revolt" which give us the impression of a war that had gone out of control.

Close up on revolt poster

Now we finally have our first interaction with characters and 9 instinctively attacks him, giving us fear as we already have the feeling that this world is not safe, but this is soon changed for us as 2 reaches out and says "I'm a friend." We start to ge the tone maybe things will be getting better for 9, meeting up with 2 who knows his way around the city, finding the voicebox for 9 from the doll and being wise "Some things in this world are better left where they lie, but know where to look and this world can be full of treasures" but again like before this safe mood is broken as we meet the catbeast for the first time.
2 valiantly fights to protect 9, who is pretty much a total stranger but ends up being picked up by the beaat and carried off, leaving us with a sombre tone we can only imagine 9 is feeling too, having his only "friend" in this world kidnapped.

Mood of the opening?
Close to creepy, remorseful, having already 2-4 deaths in the introduction of the film, horror coming in early on too as the cat beast creeps up and attacks 9 and 2, yet mystery plays a part as we have no idea where we are, if 9 is alone and is seen from afar from the telescope of another ragdoll we haven't met yet

How is it created?
The mood is set mostly using colour, audio and some specific camera shots
Colour - the colour palette used by the animators is very grey, using a lot of the darker tones to show this isn’t the most cheerful movie, dark clouds, burnt buildings, shattered rubble, it shows this is a world that’s been through a lot of hurt.

Rusty red, dark grey, depressing colours

Audio - For most of the intro 9 doesn’t speak, so a lot of the sounds are heavily emphasized, e.g. steps, windows, metal clanging, which just makes the silence in between those rare sounds more noticible, showing how the world lacks life, how 9 and us as the audience is alone. Also backing all this up a grim soundtrack plays in the background.
Camera Techniques - A lot of the shots are POV shots, we really immerses us into how 9 would be feeling as he sees everything e.g. the revolt posters increasing curiosity, the dead scientists increaing fear, also using alot of extreme long shots and long shots, just to set the scene but to show the only moving thing in this world is 9 at the start of the movie, everything is just still and dead.

Reason for Selection

Briefly describe the opening.
The scene opens with fast cutting with fade transitions of the creation of a ragdoll, 9, accompanied by a voiceover describing the situation at that point. "Our world is ending, but life must go on". Then it cuts forward after the title a substantial amount, we can tell by the lighting of the environment, and 9 explores his environment, leaving the house. He ends up walking into another character that looks just like him, 2.

How does it fit into the film as a whole?
It sets the scene very well, the grim environment, the death and lack of life. At the end of the intro we have the assumed death of 2 trying to protect 9, which fuels the future events of the film.

Why did it appeal to you?
The film itself was very unique to me, seeing these animated ragdolls in our environment, the only life left on this earth, being of the steampunk genre. There lacks any moment in the film where things stand still, action and plot evolving at every minute. It's is also very interesting to see the ragdolls forage in improvise form their surroundings tools and solutions.

9 Directed by Shane Acker

I have chosen to study the movie 9 (directed by Shane Acker and produced by Tim Burton) for many reasons.
Its introduction lacks a title sequence but instead uses a lot of techniques to portray mood and setting, easing the audience into the film. Although the film is an animation its quite different from your average Disney film, being of course directed with Tim Burton the film carries a dark feel to it.

The setting is in a post apocalyptical world, between WW1 and WW2, sitting close to a steampunk genre, a war between man and machine having wiped out life in the world, leaving nothing but these ragdolls. The genre sits in mostly action, with a hint of humour and touches of horror.

Scene from the movie 9

The introduction to the movie itself is quite long, sitting at about 6 minutes, but packed with techniques and messages. Over half of it being silent, a lot of gestural in the subjects are shown. The colour palette and setting is quite dark which is heavily emphasised which I would go in further detail later. Characters are very different from each other, each having their own strengths and weaknesses that can only be overcome when working together.

I really enjoyed the movie as it’s quite unique, not the typical colourful animation, with a strong plot that doesn’t keeps you on your toes.

What movie should I do?

There is one thing I'm stuck on, and thats what is a film opening?
Is it the first 5 minutes of a move before the film really starts, or does it specifically have to be a title sequence?
Anyways, heres a list of movies I love that I can refer back to anyways.

1. 9
2. 300
3. 500 Days of Summer
4. Burn After Reading
5. Clash of the Titans
6. Click
7. Eagle Eye
8. Easy A
9. G.I. Joe
10. Gamer
11. Inception <3
12. My Girlfriends Boyfriend
13. My Sisters Keeper
14. Robin Hood
15. Scott Pilgrim <3
16. The Invention of Lying <3 <3 <3
17. The Notebook
18. The Social Network
19. Zombieland

So wow, there you go, quite the list, ill work through them all so see if any of them fit the criteria,

Oh wait, i forgot, what is the criteria for a good opening.