blog 2 med160

For this blog assignment I decided to look at the opening scene of Super Size Me. This is a well know documentary about a man who tries to go 30 days on McDonnell's alone. Not as a stunt but as an experiment in response to the first round of law suits that were taken against McDonnell's by consumers who were seeking reparations from the company for their obesity and resulting health problems. To do this the court said that the companies would have to prove that the meals they eat from he fast food giant were the priceable reasons for their heath problems.
The way that the film makers decide to open the piece is particularly interesting, its intended effect is to clearly draw the viewer in by immediately providing them with the extent of the fast food empires effect on American culture. They achieve this by opening with a group of kids that are about ten, who are partaking in a sign along, the song is about fast food and how much they enjoy consuming the food items that they sell. Instantly it hits you how much these restaurants have become a part of the fabric of this countries culture and the influence they have over the latest generation of Americans, the future generation. These children at a fairly young age have developed an affinity for fast food, this is why how they choose to conduct business is of great importance to the nation, by stating this with the opening sequence they clearly make the case of why your should continue to watch the film and to take it seriously.
The first shot opens up with a close up on 4 of the kids but quickly expands to reveal a larger group then an even wider shot reveals 40 to 50 children all singing and uniformly using hand singles to make shapes that coincide with the food their singing about. wings for Kentucky fried chicken, a big circle for pizza hut and so on. The shot is jarring because it depicts an activity that most people participate in as a child, an American past time the sing along but instead of the song being about a folk hero its about fast food icons it’s almost as if the sound track conflicts with the imagery. Then the wide shot of the signing children fades to a quote. The song continues. The quote, which is simply written in white letters with a black background “Take care of the costumer and the business will take care of itself”. Under the quote after about three seconds the author is revealed as McDonnell's co founder Ray Kroc. The quote then stays on the screen for an additional 15 seconds. way longer then it takes to read it, its meant to be comprehended. It has the effect of the viewer asking questions like, is the extreme loyalty that these companies enjoy deserved. As this questions drum up interest in the movies content grows and the viewer becomes almost immediately engrossed in the content.

check out the scene by clicking on this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V168xofxgu0