"Life With Mikey" Opening Title Sequence Review

As an audience, it is only natural for us to try and establish the characters, location, plot, genre and theme of a film instantly, after viewing it’s opening title sequence. The 1993 film “Life With Mikey” is a Scott Rudin Production and is directed by James Lapine. This light-hearted comedy is distributed by Touchstone Pictures and includes many effective film techniques and specific camera angles to make it engaging whilst also introducing the type and style of the film.
Among the cast, Michael J Fox and Christina Vidal are introduced as the main characters of the movie, even if it isn‘t until a little later on in the story. Fox plays Mikey, a child’s talent agent, and although a former child star himself, struggles to maintain the success of his agency due to the increasing numbers of wannabe stars leaving the company to find stardom somewhere else. However, when bumping into Angie Vega, a young and spirited pick pocket with impressive acting ability, the pair soon embark on a heart warming journey to make it big.
The opening titles of the film begin with diegetic sound of a piano arrangement in the background, immediately introducing us to a jazzy tone with a showbiz theme to the movie. The titles and credits are presented in a Broadway style font that gradually fades and is accompanied by flashing gold stars, therefore also giving a certain showbiz feel to the movie.
The opening scene of the movie switches from the titles to a stage in a small audition room, in which different children are performing, trying to impress agent, Ed Chapman, Mikey’s brother, played by Nathan Lane. The setting instantly pulls us into the performing world, giving us an idea of what the film is about.
There is no voiceover or particular choice of narrative in the opening sequence of the film. Instead, we are thrown right into the story with the actors interacting and speaking, leaving us to discover the plot of the film for ourselves.
The camera angles vary throughout the opening, depending on the amount of characters in the actual shot and what is happening. For example, at one point when a young girl dances on the stage in the audition room, the camera is set to a wide shot so we can see the whole of her body and therefore everything she is doing. However, when the scene switches to a child pulling a funny face, the camera moves from starting as a mid shot, then gradually zooms in to catch a close up of his face. After the close up, there is an over the shoulder shot from the view of the young boy and this is where we are introduced to Ed Chapman, speaking directly to him and telling him what he thought of the performance. The over the shoulder shot was rather effective, as we the audience felt that we were the ones being judged on the stage, again communicating the theme of show business. It also gives us a sense that the film somewhat revolves around the topics of success, determination and inspiration, making the film overall, a light-hearted and entertaining comedy, including music and fun for all the family.