analysis of carmen

In 1954 Otto Preminger asked Bass if he could design the poster for Carmen Jones and later asked Bass if he could make the design move for the titles as well. The film is an Oscar and Hammerstein musical rewrite of the opera Carmen. It takes place in WWII with an all black cast. When I first watched the open title sequence for Carmen I could not take my eyes of the rose in an animated burning orange fire with a black background. The rose to me stands for the opera as this is what you throw at the actors after a performance. The colour red also symbolises love, passion, blood, anger. This mixture of vibrant colours has you interested from the start. It involves the audience as you wonder what this film is about. When we are first introduced to Carmen Jones she is wearing and orange skirt, black top and she is carrying a red rose and that immediately makes the audiences minds flashback to the open title sequence. I think this image is so powerful that when we first meet Carmen Jones it’s as if the audience are familiar with her because of the chosen colour scheme of the title sequence and the outfit we first see her in. The music being played sounds classical and is very upbeat it also lets gives the audience the idea that there in for a very fast paced film and that there also going to be on a emotional roller coast as the music constantly switches from high to lows. The title sequence lasts for about 1 minute and 30 seconds.