The Art of the TitleTextual Analysis on Sherlock Holmes Opening(2009, Guy Ritchie)By Alex Davies

GENRE in the Sherlock Holmes Opening

It is immediately obvious that this is from the Sherlock Holmes franchise, since we see him and his sidekick (Sherlock and Dr. Watson) in close-up, and therefore we know that this is a detective/crime genre. With violence, murder and drama, because we see someone punched on the chin.

The genre in the film is shown as a period piece, due to the lavish costumes and the conventional set of London. It is supposed to be set in Victorian times.

From the opening scenes, we can see that there are some humorous moments, such as when the maid finds Sherlock tied to his bed naked and when a woman throws wine in Sherlock’s face. This shows how there will be humour in the film, rather than just drama, like other Sherlock Holmes reboots.

As well, there is romance shown in the opening, when the cast mention for Rachel McAdams comes up, her character is seen to be winking, which is seen as a flirty. This is used to give a modern look of Sherlock Holmes, in comparison to the books.

TITLES in the Sherlock Holmes Opening

The titles come up in a particular order, the director Guy Ritchie comes first, followed by the screenplay writers, screen story writers, the production team, a credit to the authour, ‘Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’, the executive producers.

Then comes the director of photography, known as the DOP, the production designer, the editor, and the principal actors, Robert Downey Jr. who plays title of the film.

There follows as other principal actors, like Jude Law, Rachel McAdams, Mark Strong and this is later followed by the other actors. And finally the studios and producers are presented.

PRODUCTION COMPANY in the Sherlock Holmes Opening

The production companies are Warner Bros Pictures, Village Road show Pictures, Silver Pictures, a Wigram production. The final credit is to the director of the film Guy Ritchie, which is presented as ‘A Guy Ritchie Film’

MISE-EN-SCENE in the Sherlock Holmes Opening

The mise-en-scene of the film in shown by the period of which it is set in, which is Victorian era London. We can assume this due to quick clips of lavish Victorian-style costumes and the development of tower bridge. Despite, the film being set in Victorian era, the film is modernised, such as the use of humour. Rachel McAdams’ character is seen winking to Sherlock Holmes, which is seen as flirty .

The colour scheme used in the opening of Sherlock Holmes is mainly based on the look of the pen and ink wash, which contain the two colours, black and sepia. There is constant flashes between live action clips and pen and ink display. The video clips mostly contain brown and tan colours, which don’t stand out.

The music used in the opening is a quick and fast tempo on the violin, which fits into the period and does not stand out.

EDITING in the Sherlock Holmes Opening

The colour is sepia tinted. The live-action clip morphs into a sepia tinted line drawing that looks Victorian style and gives a certain look, which makes it very well suited towards the era the film is trying to portray.

In addition, the music is played higher, when the live-action clip swaps to the pen and ink display, which shows how punctual the editing is and how the swap is supposed to be startling. Whenever, the background is mainly black, there is white handwriting and vice versa. This is so it is able to read.

When the screen transfers to the pen and ink display, it adjusts to what the editor wants included, for example when the stars are being shown, everything but themselves has been removed from the transition.

Between the flashes of live action and pen and ink display, the volume of the music increases, which is used to emphasise the change.

NARRATIVE AND CHARACTERS in the Sherlock Holmes Opening

The narrative in the Sherlock Holmes opening, is that the eponymous character, Sherlock and his sidekick Dr. Watson will have a wild and crazy adventure in the various short live-action clips shown in the beginning.

The characters are shown in order of importance when the cast are being mentioned. Such as when Robert Downey Jr. as Sherlock is mentioned first, due to him being the main character.