Analysis of an opening title sequence - Submarine (2010)

The genre of the film is Social drama, the main character Oliver is introduced and various locations, this makes the audience intrigued to see what the significance of these locations are, the opening sequence does not reveal much of the story line but does set the tone of being an intellectual film .

I think the target audience for the film is older teens and young adults, because of the main characters age, the location of the boys bedroom shows that the film will be situated around the boy and his life. We know Oliver is a main character because he is the center of the images, the joyless mood that the opening sequence created suggests this is not a typical teen movie it is more intellectual.

The solemn mood is created from Oliver's internal monologue and images of a boy looking out to sea these combined make us think that Oliver is contemplating life and has experienced things to make him feel differently about life, again intriguing the audience. The low key lighting in each scene also adds to this effect of something seeming wrong and saddening, the lighting hints that the scene is at dawn making Oliver seem more alone and distant to his surroundings. The lighting also reflects the calming mood of the surroundings, the world seems at peace, again making Oliver seem insignificant.

Oliver seems to not be like a stereotypical teenager, we get the sense that the boy is a deep thinker from his speech. Because of the morning light seen in the window, we assume that the boy has been sitting by the window for most of the night, the audience wonder why is he sat there all night and also the importance of what he is saying, what made him think of this.


The blue colour of the background the titles for the company of production are written on, remind the audience of an old video tape, along with the vintage tint to the footage, this sets the time that the film is set in. The titles are kept very minimal, with just the company logos that are recognizable to the audience. The name of the film is in a plain white very bold thick font, reminding the audience of 80’s album covers. I think that the title is split up as sub mar ine to represent the inconsistency and changing thoughts of the teenage boy. The background of a calm sea and peaceful sunset also convey the mood of peacefulness for the film.

Mise-en-scene gives clues to the audience about the main character and the location or time. Props such as the typewriter helps us understand that story is set before computers were around (probably the 80s) and that Oliver is a creative teenager. Oliver's room is decorated with many pictures on the walls, many books and telescope and a skeleton, this gives the impression that Oliver is not a tomboy but someone who likes to study and learn about various things.

The non diagetic sound of seagulls in the first shot hints that Oliver lives near the sea, this is shown in the next scene when Oliver is standing by the sea. The non diagetic music used is quite an indie song, the relaxed nature of the music complies with the relaxed nature of the film. The overlay of Oliver’s internal monologue sets the tone for the film as intellectual and gives clues to the audience as to what Oliver is like as a teenage boy.

The opening sequence includes mostly of slow pans or still shots of the location to show the beauty and peacefulness of the location. The long shots establish location of Britain and the panning shot of Oliver’s bedroom helps to find clues to Oliver’s personality.

The cutting between the shots of location is along with the music gives a smooth effortless feel to the movie.