Opening Titles for Austin Powers, The Spy Who Shagged Me

I chose the titles sequence for the second Austin Powers film. The main reason I chose this sequence is because of the way they have made the titles to fit with the theme and story of the film. The titles are suggestively placed, covering Mike Myers lower half while he parades naked, around a posh hotel. These titles fit with the story and theme, as they are in a 60's style font and of course the placing of the text. This fits because Austin is 'player' from the 60's, who, as a player, likes to be with a lot of different women. I find this part of sequence quite interesting, as I've never seen this sort of thing done in a title sequence before, along with being very entertaining, it is also quite clever in the in which it is done. The title appear in the place and then are bounced and swung around in the direction in which Austin moves around.

 

The sound is good but is quite predictable, so I don't find this part too interesting. The music is 60's themed music of course and there isn't much more sound other than Austin's voice and some women screaming occasionally. 

I find the editing in this sequence interesting as the most obvious editing which has taken place is the editing out of Austin's lower half so you don't see anything you shouldn't. At some point in the sequence, they have slipped up a little bit - if you pay close attention when watching him as he goes around the food table, when they take certain objects away and place another, you can see a slight dark patch which is his fluffy underpants he wore during the making and which they should have edited out. 

The camerawork is quite simple, it mainly just follows Austin around the house, making sure most of Austin's body is in shot. There are a few focuses on objects which are placed in front of Austin and then a focus back  to Austin. I think this is interesting and works very well with the impression the titles sequence is meant to give. The camera basically goes where ever Austin does, almost as if it is glued to a stick coming off his forehead. The final shots I do find interesting, as they show Austin being lifted on a platform, up from the water and appear in front of a lot of people celebrating. The camera pans up as Austin comes up, then the camera goes to a shot above Austin and the to front of him to show the celebration behind him. These shots show the character of Austin, how proud he is of himself and how he sees himself. I think it work very well, most people would find it a bit over the top but it is a perfect opening for the perfect, funny comedy.