Children's Film: Toy Story 3 (Opening Sequence)

Toy Story is one of the most well-known animated children's films, it was released by Pixar back in 1995 and was the first film they made. After the success of the first film two sequels were released, Toy Story 2 in 1999, and Toy Story 3 this year (2010). I believe that Toy Story was the real turning point for animation and for unusual narratives. Pixar have since released other hits such as Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, The Incredibles and UP.

For researching purposes we had to look at several different opening sequences of children's films, and analyze them so that we will be able to create an effective opening sequence ourselves. So I have chosen to look at the beginning of the more recent Toy Story 3 film. 

Most conventional children's film opening sequence will on a basic level set the scene, introduce the characters and allude to what the rest of the story might be about. However, Toy Story 3 doesn't do things in an equilibrium or conventual way. It starts with a small story or mini-plot within the main film, we see the same well-know characters such as Woody and Buzz Lightyear in a Western battle against the an evil Pig. This kind of western goody vs baddy scene is fairly common in the movie industry, but also within a child's mind - many play with there toys and have adventures with them. This adventure/action opening sequence isn't normal, yet the audience is reminded of those characters that they saw in the previous two films, so that we are once again able to relate with the characters. As ever, it's a fairly humorous opening sequence with the characters experiencing odd situation, young child really seem to enjoying this. All these together help the audience to relax into the film and become engaged.

We can also analyse the opening sequence with the micro-elements. The music used is very upbeat and reminds us of an western film or action-adventure, which gets the young audience excited. Also some of the original soundtrack music is used when certain characters are seen such as Jessie on her horse. Overall the music builds tension and pushes the audience straight into the action, although this short story has nothing to do with the rest of the film. If we look at the mise-en-scene we can see that all the colors are once again very colorful and bright, with the setting being very basic yet stereotypical of what a child may think a desert looks like.

This opening sequence teaches the audience some very clear morals very quickly, and reminds us of the ones we were shown in the first two films. We see teamwork of the characters as they fight against evil, which fits well with another moral of justice as they try to defeat the 'baddies'. There is also a sense of friendship and adventure, bravery, honesty etc. These are all things that children should be taught, and the Toy Story 3 opening sequence does an incredible job of showing us so many in just a short time.

Right at the very end of the opening sequence we see the characters returning back to reality. It is at this point that we see that the characters were actually following a conventual/normal day - they were playing and remembering what it was like when Andy used to play with them. So really the opening sequence is just an exaggerated idea of what the characters were imagining.

This opening sequence extremely clever, and although the audience is enjoying it they can't help but ask themselves what's going on and why the characters are in this setting. It doesn't give any real idea to what the rest of the film may be about. This is why the film is perhaps more effective than the norm, because the audience is constantly asking themselves questions and has no idea of what the rest of the film may be about. Yet, the audience still wants to keep watching because of entertaining opening sequence, and those well-know characters.

You can watch the opening sequence for Toy Story 3 here.