The opening starts which a black screen and extra diegetic sound can be heard. There is then a fade to a cartoon night sky, on the left hand side we can see a cartoon stick man and on the right we can see the words Dream Works Pictures Presents and there are bold black lines falling off of every letter to create doors for the stick man. The opening is following a silhouette theme which adds a sense of mystery to the opening to intrigue the audience. Before the stick man can get to the doors, another bold black line has fallen in front of him to stop him, the words 'A Kemp Company And Splendid Pictures Production' appear. The font is clear to read and the production company names are in bold compared to the word 'and'. As these words appear, there five cartoon aeroplanes flying out from the words and two pilots walk out from the door on the far right which the stick man is trying to reach. This denotes to the audience that the storyline may involve an airport. The words, A Parkes/Macdonald Production appear creating a door that still blocks the male stick man in, but also a door closer to him which reveals three more pilots, this connotes to the audience that the male is getting closer to figuring out a way of reaching that desired door. The words A Steven Spielberg Film then appear removing the door blocking the male stick man and creating one closer which reveals five air hostesses walking towards the right of the screen following the pilots. One of the doors is then removed as the words Leonardo DiCaprio appear and an exit arrow points to the male stick man to establish to the audience that he will be playing this male. There is then a zoom on the male as he walks through the door and comes out dressed as a pilot. This denotes to the audience that he will be posing as a pilot through some part of the film. When the camera zooms out, there is a stick man sitting on a chair on the left hand side who has been magnified to make him seem bigger. The words Tom Hanks appear and a similar exit arrow which is in keeping with the airport theme appears. This denotes that Tom Hanks will be playing a detective and the use of him being magnified connotes his power to the audience.
There is then a focus on DiCaprio walking with the hostesses but the focus is mainly on the women's legs, the opening is making use of Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory and is sexualising the women to attract a larger male audience. This transitions to the air hostesses going down an escalator and Tom Hanks is standing at the bottom always on DiCaprio's tail. The opening then tracks DiCaprio as Hanks secretly follows him, there is then a close up of DiCaprio looking over his shoulder and this denotes the audience that he is aware he is being followed. He then walks up some stairs and after each foot leaves the last step, the step falls away. This denotes to the audience that nobody can catch him and connotes to the audience that he is good at covering his footsteps. A door then appears infront of Hanks to block him in and the camera pans up this door to animate into the film title, Catch Me If You Can. The title adds a sense of humour to the opening as the audience can see DiCaprio mocking Hanks because he cannot catch him. The words are written in black apart from the word 'me' which is written in white as a cloud against the sky blue background. A plane then flies over this word and it fades which could connote DiCaprio's identity fading away as he hides away from Hanks.
A big aeroplane then takes up the whole screen as the opening transitions into an aerial shot of a road, the opening is still in its animated theme and cast/crew names are still being revealed in the background. The yellow taxi that the camera is tracking, turns off of the highway and is followed by a police car, this again denotes to the audience that DiCaprio is on the run from the police. Both cars leave skidmarks in the road which denotes a sense of being on the run and also connotes panic.
The yellow taxi then takes up the whole screen by driving off to reveal DiCaprio standing next to a large drink which he then dives into and it becomes a large orange pool. The orange is a contrast to the sky blue and there is a focus on female legs on the left hand side of the screen. This again makes use of Laura Mulvey's Male Gaze Theory and the orange could connote that now DiCaprio has gained money, he has gain female attention. He then swims to the other side of the pool and a ladder falls from the actress's name, Amy Adams. On the right hand side of the actress's name is a female in a bikini, this could connote to the audience that this actress is playing a character who helps DiCaprio and could possibly be a love interest. There are lots of women set around the pool and the extra diegetic music has slowed down to denote relaxation.
The rest of the opening shows DiCaprio transform into a doctor, a business man and a dinner part guest to keep Hanks away. There is a lot of focus on women, making them objects of desire and further abiding by the Male Gaze Theory. The music speeds up as Hanks gets closer and this builds a sense of tension and excitement in the audience. The colour scheme also changes from the orange pool to the green doctors lift, to the blue hospital then to orange and red which are both warm colours and could connote that Hanks is getting closer to catching DiCaprio. Then to red and white which could connote murder. Then to pink which could connote a female presence in the characters life. DiCaprio is then seen running through revolving doors which could connote that Hanks is just running around in circles trying to find the conman.
The opening ends with Hanks chasing Dicaprio on top of the globe with a starry background, this could connote that he has been chasing him all over the world and this ties into the beginning theme of the airport as it denotes a sense of fleeing. The animation has told the basic storyline to the film in the first 2 minutes and this keeps the audience excited as they do not know the background of this character and they also do not know his fate and whether he gets caught or not.
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