Taken
After the well known Twentieth Century Fox gold statue opening, the film starts with a black background and the titles 'Twentieth Century Fox Presents' in white capital bold letters sliding inwards to the centre of the screen. The bold font used for this is the same font as on the movie cover which creates the effect of a well made film without there being any shots as the font is constant and doesn't change, making it seem like they belong to the same film. The contrast of the black on the white and the bold font makes the titles stand out which could then link to the protagonist of the film who certainly stands out for his skill and ability of tracking and saving his daughter which then links these two things together.
The first titles then fade out into a fuzzy video recording of a 5 year old girls birthday with eerie piano music in the background. Parts of the recording then flickers to speed up the scene and then one last flicker ends the scene to the male middle aged protagonist waking up from a dream in a chair. The initial effect of the fade gives a sense of mystery to the scene which follows the thriller conventions of a thriller having unsuspected parts and sudden changes which could happen just after the fade in the opening titles. The video recording is then on display but is shown as being a very old recording because of the crackles and fuzzy nature of it which gives the impression to the audience that it is many years old. The music along with this part of the film is eerie piano music which connotes the ideas of purity because of the high pitched piano but this contrasts because of its slight twist which gives the impressions to the audience that something isn't right which then links to the relationship the girl in the video has with her father ( the protagonist ) and how things go further wrong as the film continues. Parts of the video then flickers which speeds up the movement of the woman in the video. The effect of this is sudden which further links to thriller conventions and to sudden events which happen later in the film.
Finally a flicker ends the recording/dream and shows the dad/protagonist waking up with a continuation of the same music. A medium shot is then shown of the whole room and then a zoom in on a photo frame with the same girl in from the recording, and the movie title 'Taken' is shown next to this. The effect of this then shows the protagonist in the film and shows what his priorities are which is his daughter and also a foreshadows that something might happen to her because of the main focus on her in the opening, stressing her importance. The title then is in the same font as the others which further continues the specific font.
A scene is then seen where the protagonist goes to the shop and is greeted by the shop owner by his name and exactly what he wants without saying. This is because of many previous visits to the shop with one thing in mind for his daughter but not being able to buy this product. This then shows him living in the past and links to the dream he had earlier that day and him thinking about old times. This then further stresses importance of the daughter character and the mindset of the protagonist.
Finally a scene where he is wrapping up the present is seen with clown colourful paper covering it which then flicks to another scene of him going to the daughters party which has a mature setting. This then contrasts between the way the father sees the daughter and the way she actually is as he still sees her as his little girl because of the colourful colours on the paper which presents childishness, where in actual fact she is an older girl now and shows him still living in the past and the connection they have as being close.
(Matt Hersey)
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