Film Openings - Juno

The overall impression that the title sequence of Juno gave was that it was inspired by cartoons. From this we can suggest that the target audience for this film is in fact people of a younger age group - teenagers. This theme is emphasised throughout the opening scene through various aspects such as the camera movements, the credits and the non-diegetic sound. This has a significant impact on the target audience as it will appeal to them and will also allow them to easily follow the action that is going on throughout as the cartoon effect makes it simplistic. 

The majority of the opening sequence besides the first and last few seconds is presented in a cartoon-like manor as Juno is walking through the streets of her home-town. The transition between reality and cartoon is marked by a tree, which gives a similar effect to a wipe transition as it signifies a change in theme.

The setting used throughout this opening sequence would include a suburban town. This is not the most stereotypical setting for a teen angst film as this usually is a high school, however it is still relatable to a teen target audience. Juno is shown to be walking through the streets of her home town on her way to a shop, which is a extremely common and casual daily activity, which enables the audience to put themselves in Juno's shoes, adding to the idea of relatability. 

The clothes that Juno is wearing are also very casual, which can be argued to be counter typical of a teenager in some respects as it shows that she doesn't keep up with the latest trends of fashion. In the opening sequence she is wearing a red jacket, over a dark t-shirt and blue jeans. This can also be seen to be quite boyish, which tells the audience that Juno isn't a stereotypical teenage girl, who wears lots of pink and skirts and dresses. 

There is a constant emphasise of a happy tone throughout the opening sequence through the use of non-diegetic sound, lighting and props. The non-diegetic sound is of a country type music that has an up beat rhythm which is called "all I want is you". As Juno enters the animation part of the sequence the tempo increases which can be argued to create a dream-like feel. This could suggest that she is day-dreaming which is emphasised throughout he lack of dialogue (diegetic sound) and also the fact that she is walking through the streets on her own not taking much notice of what is going on around her, which could suggest that she is 'in a world of her own'. The lighting throughout is quite high key which helps to add to this idea of a happy tone. In the animated section although the buildings and surroundings are fairly dull, it still remains high key due to the fact the the colours are quite light in general and have an almost washed-out appearance. this could infer that she is not happy with where she lives as it is boring/dull. The fact that she is wearing a bright red jumper contrasts her surroundings and allows the audience to understand that she has a lot of significance in the film. It could also connote danger, suggesting something bad is going to happen to her. finally, the props would include the sunny-d drink, which can be considered quite a childish drink. This suggests that she may be quite child-like and doesn't care about what she is eating or drinking, which is very stereotypical of teenagers. 

The credits/fonts used in the opening sequence further add to the theme of a cartoon-like world. The credits appear in a cartoon manor that almost look hand written, which creates a casual aspect to the sequence. The font used is capitalised sans serif font in a series of different colours. Due to this it will attract the target audience as it is in keeping with the age group, as teenagers are known to read comics etc.