I am just going to say this before we start. The cover of the movie alreday sorta spoils the millitary elements of the whole christmas operation. I am doing this analasys from the perspective and basis that of someone that has never seen the cover.and remember, there is really no dialouge between characters in this opening with substance here is the cover for reference.

The First Scene

The first scene misdirects you immensly to have an even greater shock value on the spin the movie gives idea of santa claus. The familiar calm christmas music in the background and the voiceover from Arthur that especially puts a big emphasis on the word "magic" to describe how santa gives all the present. You sorta get a feel of "oh this is a rise of the guardian santa with magic." hehehe oh how wrong you are..

id thay that this (a seagull getting binked on the head by an invisible ojeckt) is the first indicator that we are dealing with no ordinary magic, but rather a tangible object, heightend technology all that jazz. this heads up before the big revela makes the reveal less jarring. we are now on the edge of our seats we are prepared to be misdirected a small but visible sign that not everything is wat we thought it would be.

FINALLY they pay off of being qurious. here the tempo shifts from eerie music to a jabes bond esc heist movie soundtrack. we are introduced to this movies concenpt of the modern santa. it makes sence, since the population keeps expanding hed have to upgrade and modernise his equiptment

as we are first introduced to the elves we see a christmas tree pattern millitary esc outfits and we immedietly get the sence of highly trained and professional people. their color chiose of mainly green serev also a practical use since most cammuflage clothes are green.

and now... the contrast

the outfit of santa serves as a stark contrast the the rest of the elves. this brigtly red coat serves more as a symbol for santa, rather than it being practical. his incompitence is shown pretty early and we again get the sence of something not being right. he is pretty layed back, bumbling and seems even amazed at the tecnology. The elves being highly allert, athletic and using millitary lingo to communicate compared to his casual way of speaking we know he is not in chrage. this quriosity is again paid off later when we see who really is behind this opperation.

just look at how simmilas steeg and the elf clothes are. before being told driectly we know that he is in charge

showing their morale this machine that rates how good or bad the children hasd been severs as an exelent tool in two ways. firstly it esablishes that this santa doesnt like the "good" or "bad" list and is is focused on being presice

this rating and candy machine is shown another time after its esablishment of its initial use. when a child is deemed bad, the elf skans himself and gets a good rating and uses his rating on the kid. We can see that the goodness in the elf is not 100% and so this humanises them as people that also has flaws and isnt the obedint elves that always follows orders no questions asked. even if this goes against the protocoll.an amazing example of show dont tell

more stuff coming soon