Shot size, angle and camera movement

At the very start of the sequence, from the black screen ( with the exception of the warner bros font sign..) the fog and swirling sky come up from the bottom right hand corner, and the camera sweeps down and across the screen or the shot.This gives us the illusion that the camera is looking at the scene as it follows down to the right and sweeps across the setting until it comes to the outside of Mrs Lovett's pie shop and rooms. The camera pans over towards Mrs Lovett's meat pie shop, and the attic window. The camera zooms up and angles over it, in a high angle. ( crane or bird's eye view ). This makes the object below ( poor Albert's chair ) seem threatening and dangerous as it sits alone in the abandoned barber shop. From outside the barber shop to inside, there is a cut straight to the silhouettes on the wall. This shows a change in setting, the camera moving from outside to inside in a swift movement. This is also an establishing take, as we get a sense of the setting of the film and the outside of the London town. 

In the shot above we can see that the shot uses shallow focus: the chimney at the foreground in shadow, yet the side with the detailed grooves, the background chimneys are detectable but not detailed and so gives the impression of many houses in the area. 

The close ups in the opening sequence are mainly in the barber shop; these being of the arms of the chair: of the lion's face, the shot before also encompassing the silhouettes, the wall and then rushes forward to show the chair as well. There is a deep focus: meaning that we can still see the detail behind the chair, although it is meant to be the main focus as it is in the forefront of the shot. These close ups show the intimacy of the relationship and significance between the objects in relation to the plot and that the blood is of great importance. Below: One of the straight shots that make the audience feel that the blood is rushing towards them, and are in the world that Tim Burton has created within the opening sequence of Sweeney Todd.

The camera follows the blood on its journey through the barber shop, bakehouse and the London sewers. This is done with tracking and also as if it were the victim's falling to their demise. The camera zooms out on occasion, as the oven door is shut, the blood creeps over the arms of the chair and this is done to show more detail and is as though it is sweeping through the scene. As the blood runs down to the bakehouse there is a high shot when the floorboards give way, and this is met with a cut to a mid-shot, and met with a straight on shot of the meat strands coming out of the mincer. When the door of the oven shuts it is a medium shot and the camera pans across to the left, taking in the rest of the setting: the sewer tunnel and the emergence of the blood in the gutter. The camera then follows this by tracking backward whilst the blood trickles forward. It is almost as though the blood is rushing toward or chasing the camera backward. There do not seem to be any really extreme close ups in the opening sequence, which keeps the viewer at a close distance from the action, and as there are no characters or dialogue in the opening the viewer is observing and noting the action but does not emotionally connect as perhaps you might if there were characters in the opening.

Note: Composition of shot, slight high angle and medium shot, showing some detail and most of the scene at this point.

There are also not a lot of straight shots in the opening. These are used so that the viewer can connect with the action or emotion that the character is portraying. There are a lot of camera angles used, such as high angle, tilt and also zooming in and out. This creates variety for the viewer and also creates an unsettling feel that matches the images in the sequence and also gives it a distorted and quirky mood. I think that Tim Burton and the designers of the opening have used this so the audience can feel that they are in the world created, yet are still not completely sure of what will happen, just snippets of the plot line and a curiosity is roused from the opening not having dialogue, song or the characters present. The use of composition within the shot also plays a part, for example, in the shot above the sewer grate is in the top right hand corner, the blood and gutter coming out of this to the bottom left corner in a diagonal pattern and the top third of the shot is in darkness. This use of lines and shapes makes the composition visually interesting, and the actual camera angle and shot does not have to be tilted as the visual elements create the atmosphere needed. A slight high angle on the camera helps to establish a sense of threat or suspense however.

Shay Hamias- designer and director of "th1ng", view on his role in the title sequence:

I was then referencing for the film shoot, stills, Photoshop painting etc. and basically was making sure that everyone in the team kept the same style across all the mediums. So all in all, I was directing the animation, timing and movement, and then at the final stage I was putting all the elements together in composition with my team.”

In the shot above we can see the use of a deep focus shot which shows both the object in the foreground and the background in detail. The effect is threatening and the heavy machinery is predominant in the shot. This effectively portrays a sense of control and danger because of the impersonality of the objects and the fact that they take up the majority of the shot. The notorious theme of the blood and the visual journey of dread fits well with the imagery of machinery, the flames and the links with the sewer and bakehouse through the shot above, and the shots previously mentioned. The differing shot sizes, varying angles and the movement of the camera all contributed to the completion and visual intricacy of the opening sequence.