The Hunger Games Analysis

The Hunger Games Analysis

I am going to analyse the open sequence of The Hunger Games. This is a personal favourite of mine and every time I watch it I am amazed by how effective the opening titles are. It tells the story and the struggle of the people in District twelve and it is contrast with the people you see from the Capital.

The Hunger Games' distributor was Lionsgate. Lionsgate is an American entertainment company. Since 1997, over 200 films have been released. As of April 2012, Lionsgate films grossed approximately $5.68 billion.

Color Force is a studio that is well known for producing films based on novels. Other films produced by Color Force are Diary of a Wimpy Kid and One Day.

These titles give the audience an understanding of the story behind the reapings and why there is such a massive divide between the Capital and each District. This would be essential for a complex film which was based on a novel. If you had not read the books this would be a well needed insight to the story.

The text is placed on a black background and the font is easy to read and is white, this doesn't over complicate the beginning of the scene. The text fades in and out slowly. The music played over the top is slow and relaxing which is a contrast with the story the text being displayed is telling. The use of violins sounds sad and drawn out this represents the children that have died and that the memory and pain of their death is never forgotten. 

The titles are part of a treaty which allows for 23 children to be murdered every year for the entertainment of the capital. This is a serious proposition and that is the reason for such a dark and serious opening to the film. 

This is an unusual beginning to a film and it stands out and works well to inform the audience.

The first scene is shot in an interview style using shot reverse shot. The shot is also a two shot which is of the game show host and the organiser of the games. You can tell immediately that these two characters are rich and are therefore from the capital. They are entertained by the suffering of innocent children.

The game show host talks very softly and wears head to toe blue. Blue connotes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven. He is part of a television program that kills children so the association with heaven is apparent. Blue is also often associated with depth and stability. His job is to be understanding and make the games appear normal. The set is also blue this signifies that the talk show is where people can be calm and talk and express themselves.

The blue is contrasted with the red that the gamemaker is wearing. The colour represents 'the blood that he has on his hands' after being gamemaker for three years. Reds is associated with energy, war, danger, strength, power, determination as well as passion, desire, and love which sums up the 74th Hunger Games that was organised by him. 

In this shot he is portraying the hunger games as a positive thing which instantly represents to the audience that he is untrustworthy and evil. He says "At first it was a reminder of the rebellion, it was a price the districts had to pay, but I think that it has grown from that. I think it's something that knits us all together." The crowd of people from the capital then applaud in support.

Amongst the shot reverse shots there are a few close ups to show the emotion of the subject. The game show host clearly represents the reactions of the audience in front of him by nodding slowly to the audience.

It suddenly cuts to establishing shot of a rural scene with a diegetic scream of a young girl played over the top. This is a huge contrast to the previous scene where the costumes and set looked that of wealthy people. The surroundings appear very basic. There is a cart that is falling apart and a wood shack which is a home. When you look at this scene you would expect it to be set in the past but in actual fact it is set in the future. You can tell that it is not in the past as there is electric wires through the shot.

The scream came from Prim who is distressed after having a nightmare. Prim's grip is tight around her sister as she needs protection. The camera jerks up towards their heads. It is unsteady and not a smooth motion which replicates the scene as they have been disturbed from their sleep. The camera shows how natural the scene is. Everything in the shot is grey and drab which signifies that there life is not interesting and is unpleasant. Something dark controls their lives. It could also be a representation of the District as it is a coal mining district so the darkness could represent the mines and the culture of the district.

There is then a series of close ups at different angles to capture the full emotion of the characters. Their fear and sisterly love. Katniss comforts her younger sister attempts to reassure her. Their relationship is clearly very strong as Katniss play a motherly figure, it is also interesting that her actual mother did not come to check on her daughter, this represents the idea that families at the time are not child centred.

It looks like the 180 degree has been broken is this shot. This could connote the uncertainty and nerves they are feeling about the reaping which that day will bring.

Katniss then sings a slow lullaby which sounds eery. The song clearly has a deep personal meaning as it is the only thing that calms prim. These close ups and shot reverse shots further represent the strength of their relationship as prim feels totally at ease as her sister literally watches over her.

The camera pans and follows Katniss across the room. This signifies that the story follows her and is about her journey. She has changed clothes and tidied up her hair you can tell she has made an effort with the minimal stuff she has. You can tell that the character does not play the stereotypical girl as she does not wear very feminine clothing. Her outfit is more practical.

The close up on the cat shows how poor they are as their cat is scruffy and struggles too as they have very little money so the cat is not a high priority. The cat and Katniss clearly don't have a good 'relationship' as the cat hisses at the sight of her. Her reply is 'I'll still cook you'. This shows that Katniss is not an all round caring person and she is a closed book. There are only a couple of people who she truly cares about.

During this scene a very sharp high pitched notice builds up that builds tension and puts the audience on edge. 

The next scenes are the main opening titles. It follows Katniss as she runs through District 12.

The following scenes show the struggle and the poverty that the people of the District live in. The shot above is an extreme long shot as the shot shows a lot of the surroundings. In the scene above you can see a rust old tricycle in the foreground. Children probably still play with this and appreciate it as if it were new as there is such a low amount of money in the District. As no child is playing it it could represent the absence of the children from the district who's lives have been taken by The Hunger Games. There is no greenery in this shot there are no plants and the grass is brown and completely dead. This represents that there was once life here but that is in the past. It is hard to survive in these conditions. There is no bright colours in this shot everything you see is grey and brown which signifies that there is no happiness left here.

There are piles of logs and branches which would be used to heat houses which also shows how basic there lifestyle has become. There is a woman carrying buckets of what I presume are full of water. This shows that there is no running water and it must be collected from somewhere. The woman looks tired as her shoulders are dropped, this also represents her lack of hope and confidence.



This medium shot shows a woman peering out of her window which has two missing plates of glass. This shows that her form of entertainment is not watching TV or any other activities you would expect people to be doing in the future but her only entertainment is to watch the people of the district walk by and do their day to day things. Her facial expression looks sad and bored, she is most likely unhappy with the way that she and her family live. It is hard in the district to feed your children so she is probably very worried about what the day could bring. Her children could be taken away from her and forced to fight in The Hunger Games. The way that small pieces of light fall on her face represent purity and that she is being punished even though she is a good person. It could also represent her hopefulness that one day the pain could end.



Again this close up on a child's hands really portray just how little they have as they are washing themselves from a bucket. The child probably does not usually make that much effort but is required to on a reaping day. This is another way their lives are controlled by the capital.

The medium two shot here shows two boys playing with sticks and mud caused by the running stream. Their hands and bodies and dirty and they look as if they have not been cared for correctly as they are not fully clothed but this is most likely a common scene and people in District 12 would not look twice. In the background there is small spots of green grass and the flowing water represents life. This signifies the boys youthfulness and that they are full of life and hope. It also suggests to the audience that there is hope for the younger generation of District 12. As they are not wearing tops this could represent that they are almost free. The fact that they are digging could signify that the younger generation are chipping away at the boundaries of the capital's rule.

This shot is a medium shot which tilts upwards around 45 degrees. The shot then pans to the left across the group of miners with a slight low angle shot. This shows that there is a lot of respect for the miners in District 12 as it is a miners District which is represented by the low angle. They are superior to the other people in the district as they keep the District running. Their faces show men who are oppressed by the capital. They are not free as they work hard and get very little in return. The man at the front to the right of this shot is not wearing his helmet and his white hair is showing. White connotes purity and this signifies that he is a good man but is confined by his society into a dark place which is represented by the mines. The mines could represent Katniss, she has been kept hidden and confined by her District and by the woods but she will cause an explosion.

This series of shots move from a medium shot to an extreme long shot. The main focus of these shots is to show Katniss running through the District which show that she has somewhere to be. This contrasts with the rest of the people in the District who take their time as they have nothing better to do. Her life is slightly more fast paced than the others.

This shot, just like the one one the two boys playing by the stream, shows life through the green leaves on the trees in the background. Green is the traditional colour of peace which suggest that she will bring peace to the people of the different Districts.

There are piles of rubble and rubbish which have not been cleared away. This suggests that the appearance of the District is a low priority as there is little money.



The next series of shots cut from a close up two shot of two children peering out of a hole in their front door to an elderly woman sat on a porch. The children are confined by the door it signifies that they are held back by the society they live in they are not free to have a childhood. It also suggests that the area they live in is dangerous which is represented by the mines. 

The contrast of the ages between the two young children to the elderly woman show that the range of poverty is very varied. The woman has probably spent her entire life in District 12 where she has not really had much of her life. She looks distant, she is probably thinking about how her life could have been.

The colour of her clothes and the colour of her hair are both grey along with most things in the shot. She almost blends in which signifies that she has had her identity taken from her.

The medium/close up of the man gnawing on chicken bones until there is absolutely no meat or anything left on the bone shows the true extent of his hunger this is quite fast paced compared to the other shots in the opening sequence which shows that he can't wait to have some form of food.

This establishing shot is an extreme long shot. It shows that Katniss has left the main part of the District and you get the feeling this is not where a lot of people dare to go. Again this shot includes greenery. Green has strong emotional correspondence with safety which could signify that she is most comfortable when she is in the woods.

This extreme long shot is also a low angle shot this signifies that she is untouchable when she is going hunting. The is above the District.

Here Katniss is clearly breaking the rules set by the Capital by ignoring the boundaries and warning signs and crossing the boarder. This shows her courage and that the District cannot hold her back. Her life is beyond the boundaries of District 12.

Overall, I think that the opening sequence to this film was very effective as the imagery was very emotive and the soft but harrowing non-diegetic audio over the top made the scenes very eery.

The choice of starting with the chat show was interesting. It could be because they discuss where The Hunger Games started out and where it came from and where else better to put that than at the start. Also it gives the film a bit of realism as the event happen more in chronological order as the discussion about the show would be viewed by the people of the capital before the reaping day.

There was no use of credits at the start. The only use of text was to show the treaty of The Hunger Games and when it cut to District 12. I think this was a good choice as it does not tarnish the emotion that the film is trying to portray.

The choice to use text at the beging to show the treaty was especially helpful for those who have not read the books.