Sex And The City Title Sequence Analysis.

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Sex and the City is a typical romantic comedy film targeted at women over the age of 15. Directed and written by Michael Patrick King and produced by Richard Brener, the opening credits give a very clear picture of what the genre of the film is and what it’s going to contain.

Sound is the first thing to feature in the title sequence. I think this is used mainly to set the scene more than anything else. The song used is called “Labels and Love” by Fergie, a young trendy pop singer. The chosen artist represents and reflects the type of woman the film is about and aiming at, the song also does this by talking about fashion and love, things most women relate to. The songs lyrics revert back to the story and the clips on the screen. This also relates back to the genre of the film, romance. A voice over is then used, the main character is used for this, she introduces herself and begins to set the scene of the film for the audience by explaining recent events. This is when we see the hermenuetic code being used as we are kept guessing as to what is going to happen in this film as we are gradually introduced to the 4 main characters.

The mise en scene plays a huge part in this title sequence. It would have the same effect if all the young women featured were shown in their gym wear with their hair un-stlyed. Instead they are all featured with designer clothes, styled hair and flawless make up, representing the young image conscious women the film contains. The title sequence is set in Manhattan, which shows that the film must be set in a big busy city. This relates back to the target audience and represents the glamours city environment women put themselves in to or where most aspire to be.

A wide variety of transitions are used in the editing of the title sequence. They are all very interesting and easy on the eye. They consist of thick black curved lines sweeping the screen to either to wipe on to the next cut or split the screen so more then one clip can be shown at one time. This is to show the main characters appear more then once on the screen to make sure we perceive them to be of higher importance. Also many different camera angles are used for example, aerial shots which make the clips more interesting to watch as they are all slightly different.

The purpose of a title sequence is to display the credits of the film in a pleasing way. Sex and the City does this by displaying them on the thick black lines, also used as a way of transition between two clips, either in the top corners or bottom corners of the screen which makes it pleasing to the eye. The colours used match the feminine theme which runs through the title sequence and reflects the marketing of the film.