Task 2 - Up Opening Sequence Analysis

Ellie

Ellie’s family is enthusiastic, lively, and large; they are dressed in bright colours and are shown in the light.

Ellie is shown to not care about getting down and dirty, as she helps Carl do up

the house in her wedding dress, defying feminine stereotypes that women

prefer not to get dirty and care only about their appearance.

 She is shown to be artistic, and spontaneous, as shown by how she handles the handprint. She doesn't seem to very worrisome.

   
She is energetic and creative, and always full of life. She sees the beauty in things.

Through her job at the zoo, we learn that she loves animals.

However, we learn soon that Ellie cannot have children.

Carl

Carl’s family however, is sparse, dreary and quiet. They are dressed in dark clothes, more likely to be seen at a funeral than at a wedding, and they are shown to be in the darker half of the church.

He is shown to quite worrisome, as shown by his look of panic when he realises he got a handprint on the post box.

He isn't as energetic or as fit as Ellie.

From this opening sequence, we don't see much about the plot, but we are given a background about Carl’s life, and his love for Ellie. We also don't learn as much about Carl as we do Ellie, since we see much more of him later on in the film. This sequence is an introduction to Ellie, and why Carl decides to go on his adventure. We also learn that they live in a house they dreamed of, and drew, when they were younger, as shown by the transition from the drawing to the actual house.

  The montage also seems to be separated into sections such as the weddings; redoing the house; the cloud watching/picnics; their jobs at the zoo; back to the cloud watching which leads into the baby room; which then leads to the doctors office; this then them saving for paradise falls, and everything that cuts into those savings; and then the montage of them growing older. This is a very mainstream form of narrative known as linear narrative, which is a sequential narrative with a beginning, middle and end, in that order, so it is easy for the audience to follow, so it is perfect for a children's film.

The Montage of Carl’s ties is very effective in showing time passing, so the audience is hyper aware of time passing very very quickly. The final tie, which is shown to be a bow-tie instead of a normal long tie, shows the change.