Close Reading Assignment- Film terminology- Transitions

The transitions in the grease are really excellent especially in helping to set the setting and get us to know the characters. As this movie was set in the 50s the audience really somehow had to know this. during the grease opening transitions of famous 50s things were used to show it.

 They used some famous 50 symbols to not only show us the setting but actually tell us a bit about the characters. For example there is a flash of an image of a two guys in a car mooning a classic thing for not only the era but out characters.  Another subtle way in which to help us get to know the characters. For example there was a image of guys mooning in the car which was not only a common thing of the 50s but a very common thing throughout the movie and to do with our characters. For another transition there was a picture of a man on a motorbike with a swat sticker  in front demonstrating the gang rebellion in the 50s, there was an image of a ford thunder bird a famous car in the 50s and was actually used as the main car in the movie (well it was supposed to be), there was some images to do with President Eisenhower and to do with the cold war, playboy magazines, Marilyn Monroe diners- just a lot of classic things that people of that time and even of this day associate with the 50s.

The pace of the transitions in the movies is generally fast paced and instead of getting long looks at differents transitions we get quick flashes. The quick flashes help us to work out the setting and also allow for more then one transition  to be played in a smaller period of time. for example about 5 different transitions were played in between Danny's character and Sandy's character being introduced.

A very important transition and the only one that wasn't a quick flash was the transition at the end from the animation to reality by the use of the fade. At the same time as this happens, the music is coming to an end, the characters have all been introduced etc... showing us that it is time to start the movie. The music is beginning to fade out so the use of the fading transition really goes along with everything else. The fade also helps us to ease into the movie and the clever use of animation to reality shows the ending of the animation and the beginning of the movie while contrasting the 2.

Overall the transitions in the grease opening really helped us to a learn a lot about the movie, the characters, the setting and was a good way to get us ready for the movie while still enjoying ourselves and learning a bit about the movie.