Opening Credits Analysis Part One - The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty

The opening shot to this movie's credits scene is an establishing shot of the main character exiting his apartment, you can hear the film's soundtrack playing with the sequence, the music is very inspirational and makes the watcher almost feel as if they are in the story. this initial establishing shot is one of many as almost every shot of this credit scene is establishing, this is so effective at hinting to the watcher that theres a big world out there and the character is very schedule driven and is almost trapped in a world of routine.



We see the main character walking past a building with his briefcase in slow motion, we can see company credits displayed on the wall, all the credits are displayed in a way that seems as if they are part of the footage rather that overlaid onto the footage like many films. this is very pleasing to watch and this style of presenting text is continued throughout the sequence. costumes used are almost all formal wear such as suits and dresses to hint at strict routine. the fact that the main character is wearing slightly less formal attire may suggest that he wants to test limits.

Establishing shot of character crossing a bridge with company credits displayed on the side of the bridge, the soundtrack is still playing. the mise en scene consist of a bridge, the main character walking and buildings in the background. we begin to see very interesting camera angles in the next few clips possibly connoting that the lead has a different take on life and is out of the ordinary so to speak. 

we see company credits displayed on the road as a train passes across the screen, this is establishing the current location of the character. at this scene you may begin to notice a higher colour contrast, intact if you look down the images you can see that the contrast goes from very colour drained, to vibrant colour at the end of the sequence, this can be seen as showing the character blooming like a flower and becoming better in a way.

Closer footage of train station and character, the director is using very visually interesting images throughout this opening scene, we see the film's title displayed on station signs as the character runs away, we still hear the soundtrack and also train sounds in this scene. this shots cinematography is beautifully executed as the train platform in perfectly in line with the bottom of the screen with the character centred. this can be considered very aesthetically pleasing.

in the penultimate shot we see a birds eye view of a colourful floor with the film's title displayed, The colour then fades away to reveal that the pattern is on a marble floor of a building, we see the character walking across the screen. this makes us think that he is back into routine after letting his imagination roam wild.