Analysing opening scenes-The lion king

Analysing opening scenes-The lion king

the opening scene of the lion king is one of the most well known opening scenes in movie history and for good reason. The amount of beautiful scenery it show with every shot is enough to shock every type of audience whether they be old, young, lower class or upper class they will all be shocked by the visual imagery of this 1993 classic film by Disney. The opening long shot of the rising sun is very affective because it shows the audience how the world wakes up when the sun rises, this is shown by all the animals moving to welcome the newest member of what they consider the royal family. The next few shots we get are all of different types of animals in different environments listening to some sort of call to gather at one place for an announcement. All these animals are displayed as very cooperative and so they all stand together, this would confuse the audience because in the wild animals do what they can to survive. This is why this image is so strong because it shows us that everyone can work together under the right circumstances and can also be referring to human nature where we are not perfect but under the right circumstances we can work together and accomplish anything. The close ups we get of the baby lion suggests to the audience that he will be the main character in this film because the camera centres on him and zooms in a lot more so we get an idea that he is the most significant character in the film. The view we get of the monkey lifting up the baby lion could be referring to the social hierarchy with the lion being held above everyone else to show that he is more important and that he is the animal they should all look up to. This helps people to relate with the animals on the floor because in every country today we have a leader whether it be a monarch, a prime minister or a president to look up to and we are taught to listen to them and take orders from them because they have more power than us. It also uses the shot when the monkey lifts up the baby lion and a veil of light comes down surrounding the baby, this is perhaps used to shoe that this baby will be their saviour and the last hope in what becomes a desolate wasteland with a dictator type ruler.

the sound used in the opening scene is nearly all non-diegetic through the song which the audience can hear which perfectly represents Africa. The singer singing in the background sings about what happens in the life of an animal and how the circle of life affect everything from the animals shown to the sun rising at the start to represent a start of a new day. The only diegetic sound we hear is of the baby lion purring, the monkey doing its ritual for the baby lion using a few items and the sound of all the animals cheering for the new arrival in their own different sounds. The fact that they only use a few sounds to properly show the scene helps the audience to take it in because with too much sound the scene wouldn't of been so eye-catching to the audience with all the stunning visuals.

The main character is introduced in the opening scene when we get multiple close ups of a baby lion and every animal in the movies attention is directed on him, the audience recognize him as the main character because the way it is filmed puts the main focus on him and all camera shots on him are close ups. An enigma code is used at the end when the monkey lifts him up because it makes the audience think about why he is so important in the animal kingdom and therefore it leaves us thinking.