Detailed Analysis of the Film Opening "Deadpool"

By Faraz Malik

Deadpool is a 2016 film adaptaion of a comic book hero who is called deadpool which was directed by Tim Miller and written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. The genre of this film is fantasy with an underlying touch of Sci-fi, however, it could also be classed as a comedy. The film is about an antihero named deadpool who is searching for a man who nearly ruined his life and deadpool is also hoping to be reunited with his loved one. The films biggest star is Ryan Reynolds, who has been in a superhero film earlier on in his career as well. He first starred in the movie "Green Lantern". Deadpool is also the eigth installment of the Xmen series films.

The Film Opening starts off with a non-diegetic music that is 'Angel of the Morning'

The important thing to note in this film opening is that the music starts with the Logo of the production house that is "Marvels" and the beat rises with the first shot. The opening scene mentions a huge company within the credits which is "Twentieth Century Fox". I personally felt that to create the company's importance , the beat rose only when the the title of the company was introduced and another thing which emphasized on it's importance was the fact that the name was introduced at the very beginning with the first shot. Following this was mentioned the franchise of the character 'Deadpool' which is Marvel.

In this film opening the camera is in a continuous shot which loops around the car. In the fiest scene we see a man choking on a cigarette liter, which gives the audience this idea that the movie is filled with violence, but then again that is something that is stereotypically expected out of a superhero movie. However, whats not stereotypical about this is the fact that with such violent scenes a soothing and calm music is being played which the audience didnt expect but it still matches perfectly with the shots and the movie's main idea (which is violence) is being portrayed perfectly even with the use of slow paced editing and sounds.

I will be using this technique on my short film opening as well.

The second shot again reinforces the idea of violence by the use of a gun in the shot. At this point we can also establish the entire scene is shot in a car since we see a steering wheel and a dashboard. Another thing to notice in this shot is the fact that the Director's name is not mentioned, rather it is being insulted by being called a 'Douchebag'. It is through this that we realise that the film may have a humourous touch to it and the character himself is a childish (Deadpool).

There are a lot of hidden jokes the director has made within the film opening scene. The director has put a super hero card of a green lantern which wasnt very popular. The title of the film isnt bold and brave as you expect, it is rather drawn on a scrap piece of paper with colouring pencils. This again shows the film is something serious which is taken as a joke.

Not only is this film opening an entertaining one but it is a perfect example of postmodern media. With the use of intertextual references from other media products and parody of charters, the filmmaker has created a perfect postmodern film. We as an audience would not expect this type of an opening for a superhero movie and this becomes the reason for the audience to be glued to the screen and wanting to know what is different about this film. Steve Neale's theory can also be applied to this and according to that theory 'difference is essential' which can be the reason for the success of this film since it is a completely different superhero movie.