Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny Opening Sequence Analysis

Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny (2006)
Directed by: Liam Lynch
Written by: Jack Black, Kyle Gass, Liam Lynch
Starring: Jack Black, Kyle Gass
Certificate: 15


The film begins with an establishing shot of a house, and the words 'Kickapoo, Missori' with misuc in the background, before going to show a shot of a cross on a wall, and a family praying at a table. The scene goes to show a boy with a guitar singing with a guitar, and we learn this music was him. The Boy seems to distress the family, as the woman begins crying, and the father (played by Meatloaf) takes his belt and drags him up to his room, before beating him with it. His father then proceeds to sing to his as he shouts, and rips down all of the boys posters, bar one of Dio, who begins to sing back at him, advising him, and the boy begins to pack all of his things, and jump out of the window, and leave. We see him running, and the background changes in a montage of different places, and calendars, clocks and things like that.

The opening sequence itself uses few 'Stoner Comedy' elements, though these are seen more frequently throughout the rest of the film. One of the big involvements is two friends with some sort of task to complete throughout the course of the film, in this case the friends having a task to do doesn't appear for little while after the opening sequence, but JB alone is set the task of escaping his fathers clutches, and journeying to Hollywood in order to form the worlds most awesome band.
The film also involves the authority figure who disagrees with the main characters lifestyle; in this case it is JB's father, who is a strict christian, and believes that his son's interest in rock music comes from the depths of hell, and is the Devil wanting him to rebel.
The opening sequence also over exaggerates characters, such as the strict christian father, who is a larger than life version of many religious people, and the rebellious son, who seems under exaggerated in comparison to his father.

In the opening sequence there are three characters who are really focused on; JB, his father, and Dio. JB is a boy of around 10- 13 years of age, with long hair, dark clothes, and a guitar. His language is sung, connoting a love of music, and he swears a lot throughout the song he sings, even within the first line, and several times in each verse of the song. In comparison to his father, who is a well dressed religious man, who doesn't swear, and speaks in a higher standard. This also shows the difference in the two characters personalities and even their beliefs, as well as connoting the over used and exaggerated difference between those who believe in religion, and those who believe in music.

As far as mise-en-scene goes, the costumes, props, setting, and lighting represent a few things within the genre. As well as the film being a 'stoner' comedy, it also comes under rock musical, shown by the props such as guitars and posters, and the sound, such as the song JB is playing.

The mise-en-scene also denotes a few things about the particular characters shown in the scene, and perhaps the false connotations around them. JB is wearing all black, a colour often used to connote an evil or less than good character, whilst his father is dressed in a white shirt, which is the part of the costume we mainly see, which connotes good characters, however the characters use of language shows that the role expected by us of an audience due to our everyday associations are false. JB’s father hits him with his belt, before asking why he was ever born, whilst all his son is doing is playing music.

The setting of the family home is also quite a generic comedy setting. It gives us as an audience a better awareness or connection to the characters in the film, the association of which is important in any genre.

The lighting at the beginning of the scene is darkness, as the scene is set at night, and it’s a shot of the outside of the house. The next is quite bright lighting, partially due to the white environment, showing the inside of the family home and a majority of the family. In the next, JB enters, and is put under a spotlight as he begins to play to his family. Asides from this, the majority of the light in the scene is quite dim. When Dio somehow comes to life from his poster, the lighting around him is slightly red, as is he, connoting his father’s misconceptions of rock music being from the depths of hell.

The opening sequence alone is enough for someone who likes rock musicals and comedy’s, particularly if they’re a fan of them rolled into one. I’d imagine the target audience to be anyone above the age of 15 whom is interested in these genre’s, as within the first few minutes, a plot of an epic adventurous task is set, and we’re instantly consumed, and we also are interested in what other awesome songs the film will contain throughout.

As far as our opening sequence goes, I don’t think that this film will be of much inspiration, as it’s not quite the style we’re going for, as we didn’t really want it to be a musical; however it was useful to analyse as it gives a different take on the use of genre conventions.