RESEARCH: Art of the title: Godzilla

For my third Art Of The Title research I have chosen my long time favorite, Godzilla (2014). This story contrary to the one my partner and I have decided to go with this story has a very serious tone and a lot of messages for the audience. 

The music is meant to sound ominous and intense, it's almost jarring to the audience as we fade from a black screen to a cave painting of Godzilla. The other miscellaneous illustrations that we crossfade into and are overlayed on the screen are either meant to represent monsters that will appear in the franchise in the future or they are to give context to the story, to represent the fact that Godzilla has been present throughout mankind's fleeting history. He is inevitable. The credits appear on the screen in a typewriter print font and some words are promptly blacked out or circled in the style of a classified government document that the audience has no clearing for. This gives the hint that the story is told from a militant perspective. Whilst the movie itself doesn't cover all of the backstory itself, the opening brings the audience up to speed through newspaper clippings and titles about mysterious phenomena around the world.

 Just as the music swells we get our first glimpse of the movie's main character before cutting away, leaving the mystery as to just what he is for later and teasing the audience.To the beat of the faster tempo, the short collections of shots flicker back and forth between each other to give a quick mini story within the opening, the story of Casa Bravo to be exact. The director treats this topic very delicately, as he should, as the shots are very precise and aren't gaudy or sensationalized grossly. The first message of the movie is being played before it even starts and continues throughout it, the dangers of nuclear power, we this through the shots of the nuke being prepared trading with shots of children and innocents.

 As the main theme finally cuts into the soundtrack abruptly, we see a full shot of Godzilla's back, once again peaking the intrigue around him. A sharp flute, signature of many of Godzilla's battle themes, reaches a fortissimo as the nuclear bomb drops on Godzilla as he rises. This once again obscures the audience from actually seeing him until the time is right and is foreshadowing future events in the sequel movie. The explosion from the bomb engulfs the screen and it is eerily quiet for a moment as the ash settles across the screen, an intimidating bass and choir accompanies the main title as it slowly fades onto screen afore fading off, the ashes form the shadows to the first scene in the movie and it begins.