By Bill Friedell
Have you ever heard the phrase, “it isn’t about the destination, but the journey”? You probably have, and it can certainly be applied to storytelling. It is a journey with a beginning with a destination: the end. This idea is paramount when it comes to understanding the twelve issue comic book Watchmen, written by Alan Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons. When Watchmen debuted in 1986, the comic book medium had been around for fifty years, giving it time to develop its own storytelling techniques and tropes. What Watchmen did was showcase the uniqueness of what comic books can do. It is a comic book about comic books, or a metanarrative. This integral aspect of the story made the idea of adapting this story into other mediums. Specifically, movies. So how would a filmmaker go adapting Watchmen?
In 2009, Watchmen, directed by Zack Snyder, comes closest to capturing the spirit of the original comic with its opening credit sequence. Using film language to mimic the storytelling style of comics through the combination of montage and slow motion, it condenses of themes of the film in an artistically beautiful way and pays tribute to it’s comic book origins.
In 2009, Watchmen, directed by Zack Snyder, comes closest to capturing the spirit of the original comic with its opening credit sequence. Using film language to mimic the storytelling style of comics through the combination of montage and slow motion, it condenses of themes of the film in an artistically beautiful way and pays tribute to it’s comic book origins.
In montage, images are assembled together so that they might explain an idea. In the case of Watchmen, the montage effect is used to give the backstory of the world by showing the rise of superheroes in the 1940s to the cataclysmic results in the 1980s. Juxtaposed with Bob Dylan’s “Times They are A’ Changin”, the opening credits portrays the passage of time and the decay of American morale.
To make this montage, Snyder uses a technique seen throughout Watchmen, but is most skillfully used in the opening credits: slow motion. While in the bulk of the film itself, Snyder attempts to use slow motion as a way of bringing the comic panels. With time slowed down, the framing can become still enough to linger on an image (effectively remaking the panels themselves) but remains in motion and therefore cinematic. The best example of this is recreating the panel of the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) being thrown out of his condo through the window.
To make this montage, Snyder uses a technique seen throughout Watchmen, but is most skillfully used in the opening credits: slow motion. While in the bulk of the film itself, Snyder attempts to use slow motion as a way of bringing the comic panels. With time slowed down, the framing can become still enough to linger on an image (effectively remaking the panels themselves) but remains in motion and therefore cinematic. The best example of this is recreating the panel of the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) being thrown out of his condo through the window.
Snyder recreates the same framing as the comic book, showing Edward Blake, aka the Comedian (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) falling to his death, setting the story in motion.
What makes this technique work well in the opening credits is the framing device of photography. If you notice, many of the shots in the montage are events being photographed by photographers: the heroes of the past and present together, the pictures taken of the forty’s heroes’ demises, among others. The merging of slow motion and on-screen focus of photography recall the still images of comics and the way they capture heroism and its downfall.
In doing this, Watchmen’s most famous exploration of the medium is condensed: the idea of superheroes removed from fantasy. What if the superhero did emerge on the verge of World War II, but not just in[HL1] comics, but reality? What kind of effect would they have on America and world history? In the sequence of events, we see the glamor of superheroes punching bank robbers and taking pictures of their meetings and celebrations, but as the montage goes on, we see the superhero Dollar Bill (Dan Payne) shot dead as the result of his cape getting stuck in the bank door, punching the myth of the superhero in the gut. Silhouette (Apollonia Vanova), is kissing a woman on the day Japan surrendered as a sailor would heroically kiss, later paying off with the image of Silhouette murdered in her bed with her lover. Mothman (Niall Matter) is dragged off to be put in an asylum. Silk Spectre’s (Carla Gugino) marriage is shown to be unhappy and argumentative. The Comedian is revealed as the assassin of JFK. As America progresses, more darkness is uncovered, as shown through the intertwining of history and superheroes.By adding the JFK assassination, references to Russia and the Cold War, and the moon landing, Watchmen juxtaposes the fantastical with reality, showing you a backstory of a world hinted at in the book with supplementary material found at the end of each issue of the original comics. Using psychiatric reports, excerpts from autobiographies and newspapers, Watchmen uses this as a way of filling out the world’s history while also juxtaposing the comic book medium with other paper-based mediums. The photography motif is its play on other visual forms as well as the use of Bob Dylan’s song, where the combination of visual and sound creates film, thereby recreating that same juxtaposition the original comic did.
While the opening credits create the past of the world it presents, it also establishes the next generation. Dr. Manhattan Billy Crudup), being the only hero in this world with actual superpowers, is connected to America’s positive aspects: the lunar landing and shaking hands with JFK. He is associated with power and accomplishment. But a hero like Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), alluded to with his card resembling his mask, is associated with brutality. The modern Night Owl is shown as an art piece by Andy Warhol's Campbell Soup Cans, tying into the pop culture of the world and the commodification of the super hero. Even regal presence of Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), juxtaposed with the crowded slum visually establishes Ozymandias as his namesake: a conqueror modeled after conquerors of old, looking at his “subjects” which he wants to bring to the world.
In doing this, Watchmen’s most famous exploration of the medium is condensed: the idea of superheroes removed from fantasy. What if the superhero did emerge on the verge of World War II, but not just in[HL1] comics, but reality? What kind of effect would they have on America and world history? In the sequence of events, we see the glamor of superheroes punching bank robbers and taking pictures of their meetings and celebrations, but as the montage goes on, we see the superhero Dollar Bill (Dan Payne) shot dead as the result of his cape getting stuck in the bank door, punching the myth of the superhero in the gut. Silhouette (Apollonia Vanova), is kissing a woman on the day Japan surrendered as a sailor would heroically kiss, later paying off with the image of Silhouette murdered in her bed with her lover. Mothman (Niall Matter) is dragged off to be put in an asylum. Silk Spectre’s (Carla Gugino) marriage is shown to be unhappy and argumentative. The Comedian is revealed as the assassin of JFK. As America progresses, more darkness is uncovered, as shown through the intertwining of history and superheroes.By adding the JFK assassination, references to Russia and the Cold War, and the moon landing, Watchmen juxtaposes the fantastical with reality, showing you a backstory of a world hinted at in the book with supplementary material found at the end of each issue of the original comics. Using psychiatric reports, excerpts from autobiographies and newspapers, Watchmen uses this as a way of filling out the world’s history while also juxtaposing the comic book medium with other paper-based mediums. The photography motif is its play on other visual forms as well as the use of Bob Dylan’s song, where the combination of visual and sound creates film, thereby recreating that same juxtaposition the original comic did.
While the opening credits create the past of the world it presents, it also establishes the next generation. Dr. Manhattan Billy Crudup), being the only hero in this world with actual superpowers, is connected to America’s positive aspects: the lunar landing and shaking hands with JFK. He is associated with power and accomplishment. But a hero like Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), alluded to with his card resembling his mask, is associated with brutality. The modern Night Owl is shown as an art piece by Andy Warhol's Campbell Soup Cans, tying into the pop culture of the world and the commodification of the super hero. Even regal presence of Ozymandias (Matthew Goode), juxtaposed with the crowded slum visually establishes Ozymandias as his namesake: a conqueror modeled after conquerors of old, looking at his “subjects” which he wants to bring to the world.
 "The juxtaposition of the Minutemen (pictured from left to right: Apollonia Vanova, Niall Matter, Dan Payne, Clint Carleton, Darryl Scheelar, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Carla Gugino, Glenn Ennis) contrasts with the heroes of the next generation. |  The heroes of the next generation (left to right: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Patrick Wilson, Jackie Earle Haley). |
Opening credits can be more than courtesy to the cast and crew of the film. It can be a tool that can effectively and concisely distill the themes of the story. Most films now use end credits to do interesting artistic displays distilling the film experience like a highlight reel. For an example of this, check out the end credits for any Marvel Studios film starting with Iron Man 3 (Shane Black, 2013) and every proceeding film produced by them. Watchmen’s opening credits can only be at the beginning. Showing it at any other point, the information and context would be pointless. This tool in a filmmaker’s toolbox should not be forgotten or overlooked because of perceived impatience by an audience. You can paint an entire tone and mission statement for the audience and create a sort of movie within a movie at the same time. And with this tool, Zack Snyder finds a way to adapt his use of slow motion with the montage to create an ode to a genre that gained legitimacy because of its source material.
Works Cited
MOORE, ALAN. WATCHMEN. DC COMICS, 1986-1987.
Snyder, Zack, director. Watchmen. Warner Brothers, 2009.
Black, Shane, director. Iron Man 3. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, 2013
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