Toy Story Opening Analysis

Framing and shot types:

The start of the opening scene consists of a lot close up shots of the characters that will be in the story. The director/creator has done this to introduce the toy characters one by one as they are played with by their owner. This shows the target audience (which will be young children) what they all look like and the significance of the cowboy toy (Woody) as he is featured the most in the scene and comes across as the owners favorite. The scene only consists of close up and medium shots. Only one long shot is used but for a very brief amount of time to give a better view of what the characters are doing. The director has done this so that the audience is constantly focused on the characters, mostly because they can’t focus on anything else.

Mise-en-scene:
The lighting is very bright and colorful throughout the scene. This gives connotations to the audience that it is a happy save environment. The creator has used props in an unconventional way as the main characters in the movie are the "props" that are used in the start of the movie.

Use of sound:
At the start of the scene there is no non-diegetic sound. This creates a very realistic atmosphere of a child's room. After the target audience has time to gather what's happening in the scene, diegetic sound starts up which created a positive atmosphere. The music could be described as 'happy' or 'jolly'. The music sings "you've got a friend in me" over and over which creates an even more positive atmosphere.
The sound of the child's voice is loud and enthusiastic throughout the scene. The creator has done this to try and simulate a good mood which is transferred to the target audience.


Use of editing:
The editing in the scene is very fast and involves a lot of cuts. The director has done this so the target audience (which is very young) doesn't get bored easily because there's a constant flow of something new happening.

Typography:
All of the text that is featured in the scene that isn't the title is bold white surrounded by black. This is a very conventional style for Pixar films to have at the start of their films. The title text itself is very bold and round. The text is positioned in front of a background of clouds, again creating a positive and friendly atmosphere.