Opening Scene Analysis - Judge Dredd

Judge Dredd is another example of a post-apocalyptic movie that focuses on those left alive being controlled by a large corporation or group of people, though my film opening will primarily focus on the other side of the story, those being oppressed by these corporations.

The opening shot of this movie is shot of text rolling up the screen explaining a vague plot of the movie (the fact that it appears in a post-apocalyptic future) which is narrated as it appears on the screen. Visually, the text is white and has a rather unremarkable font, and the background is a light orange-brown. As the last sentence of this text is read by the narrator, the non-diegetic music fades in which is slightly eerie and unnerving, but slowly builds into an epic sounding score as the scene progresses.

                The narrative text scene transitions into a shot of a sunset, which in retrospect may be the reason the background was orange, to make the transition between text and film more natural. As the camera pans out from the sunset the audience can see a silhouette of a figure towards the bottom left. The non-diegetic soundtrack appears almost more patriotic as drums are played. It gives the audience the impression that even though the figure is anonymous, they are not threatening.

                The next shot is a close-up shot of the figure’s face, concealed by a futuristic mask, which reinforces the point that the narrative at the beginning made, that the movie took place far into the future. The non-diegetic music fades out as the diegetic whirring sound of a flying vehicle becomes more present in the scene.

                This cuts to a medium-shot of the back of the person silhouetted against the sunset once again, as what appears to be a spaceship rises up in front of him. The colour scheme appears almost sepia toned, probably to show the barren-ness of the post-apocalyptic wasteland that the person is standing on.

The next shot is a long-shot of the spaceship rising up and entering the building directly behind the man in uniform. The non-diegetic sound becomes increasingly louder as this happens, as well as the diegetic sound of the spaceship engine still being present.

The next shot is a medium shot of the spaceship entering the building. The most notable thing about this scene is the fact that the colours become monochrome and dull, a reflection of the futuristic city inside the building and a stark contrast to the orange-y post-apocalypse desert terrain outside. The diegetic music once again fades away as the ship lands, but the sound of the ship moving is still present throughout the scene.

The next shot is a medium shot that pans upwards, of some men exiting the ship. These men are all wearing unremarkable green outfits as they exit the building and in comparison to the extravagence of theother man's outfit at the beginning, the audience gets the impression that these people are to be seen as less important or having less power than the other man. The music becomes entirely diegetic at this point except for an obviously robotic voice saying "Aspen Prison Shuttle Docked". The voice is slightly electronic sounding and adds to the feeling that this world is very modern and futuristic. This also reveals that the men exiting this spacecraft are more than likely prisoners or ex-prisoners, which is why their clothing is less than extravagent.