Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (c) II

| By Tom O'Brien on 00:53
PART 2:
    -Camera Movement / Transitions

Camera Movement is the path that the camera takes or the way it transforms itself to change the shot, and Transitions are the way that two scenes are connected.

As briefly mentioned in the previous post, the titles of this amazing film are separated into segments, each lasting around 6 seconds. Each of these contain no camera movement, until the transition, where the following segment is brought to the screen via something related to the previous.
E.g. 
  • The first segment is of a red bouncing ball, which, once it has stopped moving, turns into the transition to the next segment, with the camera zooming in, with the ball now suddenly containing the contents of the next segment
  • The end of the fourth segment is a purple block travelling down a conveyor belt, and once more blocks start to appear, the screen is covered, and is the basis of the fifth segment. The fifth segment ends by the coloured blocks returning from where they came, and revealing a new part of the title.
The idea that each segment is made from the last, shows that everything is linked, and everything has a purpose, which is a theme within the film. The constant changing of the screen creates momentum and excitement, and each segment and transition being uniquely different creates the feeling that the titles are special, magical so to speak, which engulfs the audience in the magical atmosphere which is prominent throughout the film, before the film has even begun.


The second example shows the idea of the scene being formed in front of our eyes, and I believe that this is extremely effective, and that director did this deliberately. The reason that I believe this is so effective is that, as an audience, it can sometimes feel as if "we are doing all of the work", constantly attempting to keep up with everything being shown to us, but in this title sequence, each segment is deconstructed and reconstructed for us, as if we aren't watching it, we are being presented it. The following picture is an animated example of one of these transitions. To view it, please click on it.


This style of transition is different to Helm’s other work, with Stranger than Fiction having very sharp cuts, as opposed to the very smooth, fluid transitions that we are shown in MMWE. I believe this is due to the genre of the two films. Stranger than Fiction is a fantasy like MMWE, but not aimed for children, whereas one of the main audiences for MMWE is families and youth.

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