Opening Title Sequence: The Birdcage

Based on the French play/film La Cage aux Folles, The Birdcage was a huge hit in 1996.  (I also awkwardly utilized it as an entertaining "tool" (!) to come out to my parents.)  While it was a broad comedy that served up a bunch of yucks (and made a star out of Nathan Lane), it was also one of the first successful mainstream movies to deal with gay lead characters.  It also was one of the most popular, and arguable remains so, pieces of pop culture to stand for marriage equality and suggest that products of gay parents are essentially no different than those of straights.  The title credit sequence is quite memorable and ambitious, as it stands as another impressive example of director Mike Nichols' penchant for long, continuous opening shots when it's actually three separate pieces of footage inconspicuously strung together by the talents of Oscar-nominated DP Emmanuel Lubezki and Academy Award winning film editor Arthur Schmidt.  (While it was easy to figure out just where the first transition occurs, the segue of which is seamless, it's even more undetectable to the eye to note the second change.)

A remix of Sister Sledge's widely recognized 1970s hit "We Are Family" begins to play over the United Artists logo before the camera begins with an aerial shot speeding over the Pacific Ocean towards the Art Deco District of South Beach lit in various shades of neon.  Gliding across the beach and a sliver of grass, the speed slows down.  You might notice a shift (of some sort) around the credit for Christine Baranski.  

The helicopter speed begins to slow down

The lens lifts just a little

The camera tips down slightly

The focus centers on the Carlyle Hotel (designed by the firm Kiehel and Elliott), but, for the film's purposes, is renamed as cabaret and dance club The Birdcage.  The dissolve from the first to second shot is right after the "with Calista Flockhart, Tom McGowan" credit disappear.  If you're interested in picking out the moment, just find a person and/or car to concentrate on around that time and keep hitting and releasing the pause button.  It's kind of cool how well they did matching the shots considering the circumstances (the first and second shot were filmed a few weeks apart, logistics, timing, etc).  

The first transition

In the second shot (the one that was filmed last), a crane lowers the Steadicam operator as he begins to wade through party goers and tanned women with their breasts popping out of their bathing suits, while cars inch their way through nighttime traffic on Ocean Drive.

The Steadicam operator's feet have hit the ground

The second "transition" before the cameraman steps
onto the curb appears to involve a green screen
behind the clear club doors

Now, I could be mistaken (and correct me if I'm wrong), but I believe the third shot (filmed six weeks before the first) is actually green-screened into the second shot (or vice-verse if I'm using the terminology incorrectly).  If you watch closely, about 40% of the way through the "costumes designed by Ann Roth" credit, focus your eyes on the inside of the club on the right in the vicinity of the reservation desk.  Before it becomes clear of what you're seeing, there is some ambiguous glare taking up the entire right of what we can see inside.  Suddenly, on the right, as if by magic, there's a woman helping guests at the reservation desk and, on the left, what will be the curtains leading to the stage.  While it may have been glare from the lights and bustle of the street that hid the activity, that theory doesn't seem to hold up to the naked eye.  As the cameraman continues toward the club, the only common denominator between the second and third shot is a couple (filmed weeks apart).  The man wears a white paisley shirt and the woman a sequined party dress.  They briefly walk across the camera from left to right as they enter the club and then disappear.

The couple on the left in the second shot

The couple on the left walking past
the green screen of the third shot (?)

The cameraman walks through some curtains which reveal a stage of multicultural drag queens lip-syncing to the opening track.  A keen eye will notice that all of the solos are performed by minorities.  Discrimination!  Just kidding.  But, yeah, all the whities are backup talent for this portion of the number.  Their outfits are plenty pleated and colorful, and their makeup pretty solid.  The camera makes its way through the crowd to the stage-left wing where the visual sequence ends mid-song with stage manager Cyril (James Lally) frantically trying to get the temperamental star performer Albert Goldman aka Starina (Nathan Lane) onstage, before we continue on with the drag performance of "We Are Family."

Pretty cool, huh?  

[Source: EW]

Previous Editions:
Working Girl
Devil in a Blue Dress
The Addams Family
Beetlejuice
The Birdcage
My Best Friend's Wedding
To Die For
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 

Two Solos Alert: Somebody knows how to kick 
five bitches out of the spotlight!  And she's wearing orange.

Asian Angela Bassett
(Waiting to Exhale came out months before this opened)