Use of colour in the opening of Phantom of the Opera

In the opening credits the background is pitch black, but the writing is very bright, with light coming out of the text. This creates a sense of eeriness which reflects the film. When it reads ‘The Phantom of the Opera’ the writing is in calligraphy and a candle is shown underneath which appears to be lighting the words up. This indicates that it’s set in olden times. When the actual film starts it starts off in a scene outside a theatre. The colour of the picture is sepia, which then changes to black and white. The shot then changes to inside the theatre. The film stays in black and white until the curtain is lifted up which turns the whole film into colour. First dust flies everywhere and covers up the inside of the theatre, and then fire appears on all the objects turning them from black and white to colour. This includes the chairs which turn red and the chandelier and the statues which turn gold. This makes the entire theatre look very regal and the music used is contrapuntal as it’s quite scary and intense which does not reflect what is going on screen. The music would be parallel if it was used when the film was in black and white. Then the shot changes back to outside the theatre. You see lots of people walking around in fancy and regal clothing. The next scene is back inside the theatre, but there are more people than before, including costume designers, musicians, actors and cleaners. As before, the colours all remain very grand. The whole tone of the film has changed drastically because of the colours used. This shows that colours are very important as they can affect the way we feel.