Children's Film Opening - The Italian Job - 1969 Version

For this post I will be analysing the film opening from the 1969 version of the 'Italian Job' which was directed by Peter Collinson. This film may be directed towards being for grown-ups as some scenes within it may be for a more mature audience. However as certified by the British Board of Film Certification (BBFC), it has been certified as a 'PG' film, this means it fits in with our theme of a 'children's film opening'. To start off with I will analyse how the opening credits are incorporated into the film opening, and about the information that the credits deliver to the audience. I will also go on to talk about how the scene is established and the setting, the characters, and the genre that is given off from just watching this opening from the film.


Within the opening sequence, the only use of titles that are shown are simple pieces of text. There is not use of practical elements within the opening sequence. The first title credit is introduced at 0:59, it enters the frame with a simple fade in, and exits the frame with a wipe from right to left. As it exits the frame another title fades in from the previous titles place and also wipes from right to left. The next title does the same, however wipes from left to right. Every title that fades in either wipes to left or right, this effect does get a little bit repetitive towards the end, however the slow paced music does fit in with it as it has a 'flowing' feel to it. Whenever there is a title credit in this opening, they are appearing on a point of view (POV) shot of the character driving his car, the picture to the left is an example still of this. There are a lot of different credits in this opening sequence, and there is also a lot of information that is given off by them. Types of credits in this opening which we probably wouldn't bother putting in our opening are credits such as 'Production Designer', 'Associate Producer', 'Production Manager', 'Art Director', 'Construction Manager', 'Location Manager', 'Assistant Director', 'Continuity', 'Chief Make-Up Artist', 'Chief Hairdresser', 'Wardrobe Supervisor', 'Wardrobe Master', 'Production Secretary', 'Lighting', 'Special Effects', 'Costumes', or 'Casting'. This is mainly because we have a production team of four people, and having titles in that much depth would just get boring with the same four names, also we will probably end up sharing jobs on our production days. Titles that we would most likely use in our children's film opening would be roles such as cinematographer or being a director of photography (which would include being a camera assistant, or working the lighting between each shot), actors and extras, video editor, music producer (which would include everything from finding the music to editing the music), film company name and production name. Also the main title at the end of our whole opening sequence will be the actual title of our film. For a previous post that talks about different types of titles, click here

The scene opens with a tilt that goes down. It first establishes a blue sky with snowy mountains, as the tilt reaches the bottom of the location we are shown a grassy area and lots of green trees. A bridge is shown in the bottom third of the shot. The next shot is a close-up of the bridge that we saw in the previous shot, on the bridge is a car that is driving fast. This establishes that there is a person getting away from something, or trying to get somewhere. We establish at 0:31 seconds into the sequence who is driving the car. The image to the right is a still taken from the opening, I have added the rule of thirds to it, and you can see that in the bottom third you can see the bridge.

By watching this opening sequence, it is obvious that the film is going to be an 'Action' film. This is because the of the fast editing and cuts, and the fast car which suggests there is going to be a lot of action throughout the whole film. The sound effects such as the car engine revving, and the 'by-passing' sound of the car going by which is used in most of the shots also add to the genre of an 'Action' film.

The  video below shows the theatrical trailer to the film. It shows some of the action throughout the film -