Analysis-EvanG
Comparing the Monster’s Inc opening to Inja
Inja
I really enjoyed Inja as a short film. There was an incredible amount of story telling done through actions rather than dialogue, and every word said had some weight on the story. The line about him not wanting to open the sack stood out to me the most, not because it had some sort of extra meaning, but because the whole film basically moved around this action. I enjoyed it all in all, due to it having both a strong moral with dramatic irony all within 15 minutes.
I really liked the way this film expressed the passing of time without coming out and saying it. The change of the flag, the boy doing the same chore while wearing a similar colored shirt to show that it is still the same character, was all incredibly clever. The music that went along with the film during moments without dialogue also did a great job at setting up an atmosphere for the whole piece. The ending was probably the best part of the whole film though, as the tension right before the film cuts to credits was incredible.
Monsters Inc:
Characters: There is a total of 6 (7 if you count the animatronic boy) characters in this opening scene, where only 1 of which is actually plays a role in the plot. The movie opens with Flem, a new “scarer” in a bedroom simulation, practicing scaring a child. For the first minute or so of the scene, the idea that Flem is somewhere in the room is implied by slow pans and long shots of the boy sleeping, with us having background knowledge that this is a movie about monsters. Flem is eventually revealed, tries to scare the boy and fails spectacularly. The simulation is cancelled, revealing the room to actually be part of a factory-like setting, introducing a manager-type monster and a couple of monster interns. The monsters have some dialogue introducing the idea that human children are toxic to monsters, when Mr. Waternoose, the lead villain of the movie, gets introduced. I really like that Mr. Waternoose gets introduced through an interruption of the dialogue, although I don’t really understand why he is introduced before either of the main protagonists.
Setting: The setting “changes” about three times in this scene, opening on a dark, quiet bedroom, briefly changing into a room full of slapstick gags for Flem to fall into and break, and then revealing itself to be in some sort of training facility. We can infer this through the use of the siren once the simulation ended, the screens and control panel, the clear power hierarchy established by the characters, and the boy that was just a torso.
Shots: The opening scene has some really interesting shots of the empty bedroom, it builds suspense and has shots of things that aren’t important to keep you looking around similar to the child. Once the simulation is revealed, there is a lot of shots involving the foreground and background to show a spacial relationship between the people watching the simulation and the people observing it.
Editing: It might not be two shots, but I thought it was really interesting how they went from long shots at toys or the window to a couple of really fast jump cuts with a close up on action after Flem screamed. The contrast between all of the fast cuts and changing that slow suspenseful building sound to silly sound effects made the mood of the scene change on a dime.
Sonic & Visual:
The dramatic music really created an element of suspense while Flem was not revealed, and then the slapstick sound effects and the loud siren lead the viewer to believe that there might be more to this scene than we thought. The slight echoing of the dialogue and the way lines were delivered like they were being shouted after the simulation was revealed gave the viewer the feel as if they were actually in a warehouse of some sort.
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