This film starts very fast paced but in a purposefully dated way. This is a comedy film so everything is exaggerated, it also plays with the cliche, hence the first close up shot of a foot hitting the ground. One thing that is key for the satire of the film is to effectively set the time, this is done through several means. The music is retro and when combined with the clothes the audience can tell that this is set in the seventies. This is further confirmed by the extreme sideburns and dated looking film sets. We also have the location given to us by a close up of a camera with Channel 4 News - San Diego on the side, now the audience knows the cliches to look out for they will be more effective when they appear.
The Narrative kicks in saying "He was like a god to us mere mortals" and the audience knows that the narrator is talking about the man who's various body parts we're seeing on screen. However as the shot changes to and extreme close up of a hand adjusting a ring with the channel 4 news logo on we can see how melodramatic this is, we know the style of humour to expect from this film now. Everything is ludicrously over the top in such a way it comes across as plain silly and that is what makes line like "he wore suits so fine they made Sinatra look like a hobo" so funny, especially as all of these silly comments become even more humorous for the audience as the narrator's voice is very serious.
The titles kick in as we finally see his face admiring himself in a mirror, because he's looking in the mirror and we're seeing this from an over the shoulder shot it looks like he is directly addressing the audience but is in fact just talking to himself about how "good" he looks. This kind of vanity is amusing for the audience to watch and is carried even further by him calling for everyone to "come and look how good I look" all while not taking his eyes off himself. We then get a melodramatic zoom in of the the film's title complete with the sort of sound effect that is easily recognised as extremely dated. These opening titles continue in a very similar way for the rest of the opening, the small clips of Ron Burgandy at his desk allow the audience to get know the character's personality so that by the end of these titles they feel as if they have a fairly good knowledge of him. It also allows the audience to see him as other characters in the show would, a news anchor behind a desk, and a very silly man.
Posted by Katy Hart