Analysis Blog: The Adventures of Tintin
In this blog, I will be discussing and analysing two sequences from the animated action-packed adventure featuring Belgium’s favourite red haired reporter called “The Adventures Of Tintin” directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Peter Jackson. Spielberg, known for his fun yet action filled flicks like “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial”, “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” and of course the “Jurassic Park” series, He is also known for his intense, dark and more serious films like “The Color Purple”, “Saving Private Ryan”, “Schindler’s List” and “War Horse”. Jackson is more well known for directing and producing the blockbuster, action adventure series “The Lord Of The Rings”. The following sequences I’ll be analysing will be the opening title sequence and Captain Haddock’s speech to Tintin, I will be taking a look at the use of music, use of visuals and what works and does not work with both fans of the comics and newcomers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZfwSyWhhGc
At the beginning of the title sequence the viewers attention is drawn to a window, framed by the window is the night sky full of stars which gives the impression of a different world. The night skies light is the first of many spotlights shown in the sequence, the sky begins showing light to a typewriter giving the audience an indication of our main protagonist being a writer of some kind and setting the era of which the film takes place in, now for newcomers this may not be the case because a typewriter in the centre of the frame can be interpreted in other ways like an author or even a screenwriter. With characters who are meant to be journalists the one accessory they would be expected to have is a notepad which is never seen during the sequence, but this could also be a reference to the author and illustrator of Tintin Georges “Herge” Remi because once light starts to make the objects in the shot more visible we see a mug featuring the space rocket from “Destination Moon” and “Explorers Of The Moon” with what looks like a pair of two ink brushes or ink pens which means that the typewriter could possibly be what Herge uses to write his stories. When the lighting changes we see a framed picture of Tintin and his dog Snowy in the bottom right corner, this frame within a frame is a lot like the film is telling us the audience that the focus of the film will be on them. The use of colour temperature is very cold with mostly blue hues as a way to set up the night atmosphere and once there is light being shown in the room there is a mix of blue and green hues.
The next half of the title sequence focuses on a lot of panning shots and shot that transition from one scene to another. Each scene when transitioned gives us a completely different setting, many of these settings take place in different locations that our protagonist has been to before, but this can be considered a problem for newcomers because when he appears in a city that is supposed to be Brussels, Belgium the clock tower shown in the background looks far too similar to the elizabeth tower in London which again could confuse newcomers who have no clue about the books. There is also references to many of Tintin’s other adventures like “The Seven Crystal Balls”, “The Black Island” “The Broken Ear”, “Destination Moon” and “The Crab With The Golden Claw” but yet again some of these references feel very much like they were put in the sequence for the sake of having a reference so once again this can easily be confusing for audiences who have never seen Tintin. But throughout the sequence the one thing that stands out the most is the use of music, very much in a similar manner to “Jaws” where the usage of brass instruments was used to build tension which is a very common thing for Spielberg, (Syd Field, 2003) Syd Field uses Spielberg as an example of a director who can make great suspense and mystery. The use of woodland and brass instruments used in the sequence really brings out a european feel and sets the mood very well mixing suspense with adventure. Another noticeable reference in the sequence is the silhouettes of the two side protagonists Thompson and Thomson resemble very much like Laurel and Hardy as a way of telling the audience that these two characters will be the comedic relief of the film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH8HKTLtlZo
In the beginning of the sequence just before Captain Haddock gives his speech to Tintin the film decides to focus more on the camera movement, whenever Captain moves the camera follows in his direction giving the audience an idea that he is the main focus this time instead of Tintin. This use of camera movement also gives this film a more realistic feel which compliments well with the realistic motion capture CGI animation, along with that compared to the opening sequence which its heavy use of a cold colour palette the colours used in this sequence are much more brighter and warmer as a way to not only emphasise the Moroccan atmosphere of the fictitious city of Bagghar but to also give a sort of juxtaposition to the title sequence. What this means is despite the opening using a lot of dull and bland colours it was a lot more energetic and fast paced meanwhile in this sequence while the colours used would portray a happy and successful moment in the film but instead the sequence portrays melancholy within the main character, a sense of defeat and failure which is shown when Tintin sits down in the shade and gives up. This also makes a sudden stop in the plot of the film which follows Josh Golding’s rule of “never separating the character from the plot” (Golding, 2014a), Tintin being our main hero means he is the only one that can continue this story because when he stops his adventure that means the plot stops too. Once again this gives us another use of Maverick screenwriting and character development (Golding, 2014b) stating that “there is a strength and flaw with every character to a greater or lesser extent” and this makes Tintin have more character since in the comics he rarely fails his adventures so to see him in defeat is very rare.
Meanwhile we see Captain Haddock becoming the new centre of attention and the most motivated which gives us a sign of character development, earlier in the film when Captain Haddock is first seen he is portrayed as a drunk, a fool and a man who is down on his luck and it was not until Tintin reminded him who he is and why his ancestor Sir Francis Haddock is so important to him, now we see him becoming the motivator of the film telling Tintin who he is and why finding this hidden treasure is so important. During the speech the camera begins to slowly pan towards them and cuts to a low angle close up slowly panning to a mid close up of their faces, this time Tintin sitting down again and Captain kneeling down to his height while telling him that while he should not give up at the same time he can not let his failures take him over. Now this would be a very common thing to see in films if the two protagonists were father and son but here they are not related in any way but how he speaks to Tintin in this particular sequence is in a very similar manner to a parent motivating their child, creating a much closer connection with the two and when Captain tells Tintin “There’s something you need to know about failure Tintin, you can never let it defeat you” Captain is telling him that he never wants him to forget everything he stood for which is what Captain Haddock earlier on did because of his established drinking habit. Overall the contrast of this scene takes the energy and excitement of the opening sequence and turns it over into something completely different, this is also a common thing in Spielberg’s films where a main character is about to give up eventually comes back up again through motivation and keeps the rest of the story going, films like the Indiana Jones series which Spielberg himself mentions this during an interview where he was reading a french review of “Raiders of the lost ark and while he could understand most of the words he noticed the word “Tintin” show up here and there (YouTube, 2011).
In conclusion “The Adventures Of Tintin” is a quintessential Spielberg film, it has the action and the fun that you would expect from many of his hits. It is easy to tell that both Spielberg and Jackson put a lot of passion into bringing Tintin to life for a new audience, now while the film is very good for what it is it would get easily lost by newcomers. When being introduced to a film with a famous character that some may not have much knowledge about it is important to have a good introduction which the film does very well but it gets a bit over the top with the references to the other comics especially when most of the references do not have any involvement in the story. It is still a good film that was able to make realistic motion capture work with Herge’s style and make something that he would have been proud.
Biography:
Field, S. (2003). The definitive guide to screen writing. London: Ebury Press, p.35.
YouTube. (2012a). Captain Haddock’s Motivational Speech to TinTin. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH8HKTLtlZo [Accessed 16 Feb. 2019].
YouTube. (2012b). TINTIN MOVIE OPENING.avi. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZfwSyWhhGc [Accessed 16 Feb. 2019].
Golding, J. (2014a). Maverick Screenwriting. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, p.59.
Golding, J. (2014b). Maverick Screenwriting. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, p.61.
YouTube. (2011). Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson ‘The Adventures of Tintin’ Full Interview. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fe7Px-ddVS4 [Accessed 18 Feb. 2019].
