Heroes Opening Credits Analysis

 Immediately as the episode begins, a dark husky voice is narrating the opening credits. The tone of voice used creates a tense yet interesting atmosphere which grips the audience. The credits also highlight what happened in the previous episode, which is important to help the audience remember the storyline. During the first minute of the opening credit, a high panning shot of the city is shown. This highlights the mise en scene of the episode. 

   As the actual episode begins, a fade to black shot is used, and the next shot is of a solar eclipse with the title of the show. This connotes darkness and perhaps evil taking over the world. However as the shot comes to an end, the sun starts to peak, which can imply perhaps a rescue or some kind of hope. This relates to a type of superhero genre, which is what the series is about hence the title.

     The title of the episode is slowly shown as a part of the mise en scene. The camera has a slow pan of the episode title, then goes into the mise en scene. The music through the opening three minutes is slow and meaningful, which conveys meaning. It also fits in with the mood of the episode.

   The costume of the character shows us that the mise en scene is inside a hospital. Before this, the actor is shown jumping of a building and before he hits the floor, a quick cut shot is used to wake the character in the new scene. The way he wakes up, implies that it could have been a dream, however the other character cancels out this view. This is also emphasised by the way the actor is breathing, he seems out of breath which connotes he suffered from a bad dream. This is part open for the interpretations of the audience, because it has many interpretations. 

   The diegetic sound of a police siren is used in the next scene. This implies to the audience that something bad has happened, which is soon revealed as a large fire. The actress is shown running into the fire, without hesitation. For we know she has super powers,shown in the earlier credits. A close up is used of someone stuck within the flames, which could be what she was running for. This connotes perhaps it could be someone very close to the character. The site is then edited cleverly onto a newspaper, this emphasises the importance of the disaster. The newspaper looks very stereotypical, with bold headings and large masthead. The lighting of this shot shows the audience how bad the disaster is, it is dark and gloomy covered in smoke.