Film Openings Analysis #3 | Django Unchained (2012)

Django Unchained is the 2012 film from seemingly increasingly controversial director Quentin Tarantino. It tells the story of the eponymous character, a slave in the Southern states of America. The opening scene is, as with the rest of the film, highly memorable.



Titles

The opening titles are written in a  red, pulpy font reminiscent of the Spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone. The red in the titles evoke the image of blood which is juxtaposed over scenes which depict a slavedriver transporting his slaves like livestock across a barren desert. The audience is, even if subconsciously, made aware that blood will be spilled, but who's is the question on their minds?

Music

The music element of the opening scene adds an important dimension to them. Tarantino has opted to use the title theme from Franco Nero's 1966 film Django. By doing this, he again evokes the image of the Spaghetti Western, a recurring theme in the opening scene. The music sings of  hope and redemption - "After the shower, the sun." - by doing this, and combining this with what is on-screen at this point gives the audience a good idea that the titular character will be getting his revenge on those white slavedrives that dare enslave him. However, much simpler than that, the musical choice on Tarantino's behalf is also a simple reference to the original Django and its fans that might be watching his film.

Shot Types/Mise-en-scene

The film opens with the titles overlaying a shot of rocks, each identical in every way. The camera then pans down to the black slaves being herded like animals. This is a heavily political statement being made in the first ten seconds of a film's opening - to be expected of Tarantino by now, though.
The audience is then given a look at a slave's back, scarred heavily from being whipped by his master, the slavedriver. The camera constantly keeps this in focus as a reminder  of what the white man has done to the vulnerable slave. The scars become an important feature later in the film, as we are told through a series of flashbacks Django's backstory.
The camera then shows us a mid shot of the slaves from the front, walking in a row like animals to the slaughterhouse. The faces of each of the slaves are the same - pain, anguish and an overarching desire for justice. These are men being pushed to their very limit. This idea is reinforced when, immediately following this shot is a close up of Django, and the audience can see very clearly the injustice that he has been a victim of which has manifested onto his face.
The audience is given a sense of the scale that this journey has entailed for the slaves through a series of long, establishing shots, and a sense of the passage of a great length of time through the use of a cut which plunges the audience into the darkness of a forest. The slaves are wearing sacks as clothing to cover themselves from the coldness of the night. However, this might be put into perspective when the audience sees that the slavedriver is well wrapped up in warm coats and furs on his horse on which he travels, as well as having a torch as a heat and light source.
The scene ends on the repeated close ups of the slaves, causing the audience to sympathise with them and their situation, which paints them as the victims of the slaverdriver's greed and inhumanity.

Does this film conform to the codes and conventions of the genre?

There is much evidence to suggest that Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained does indeed conform to the codes and conventions of the Western genre. This claim is evidenced by the fact that it deals with a controversial issue in American past. Slavery is referenced again and again in other westerns, Gone With The Wind.