Television Slave

A memorable theme deserves a memorable opening. And the opening for Hawaii Five-0 delivers. Shot and edited by Reza Badiyi, it really captures the ethos of the show itself, fast-paced, exotic and exciting.

Starting off with a giant curling wave (probably North Shore) we get a quick series of cuts which include Diamond Head, the harbour and various Waikiki locations. Next up, is a helicopter shot closing in on a building balcony with a reverse cut as McGarrett turns to camera. I gotta say as a heterosexual, that Jack Lord is one cool looking dude. Now we have whip pans, iverted tilt, quick abstract water cuts, push cuts to a statues face (located at the Punch Bowl Military cemetary), followed by some quick cuts of an attractive young Hawaiian woman and a young boy. Breathlessly we cut to fish-eye shots of a fuselage, engine and planes landing overhead. Wide-angle sunset, tight-shot sunset back and forth to the drum beat. The wide-angle sunset shots are partially beneath the horizon and the tight shots are above the horizon. Then we have the motion/freeze of the Hula dancer, again in time with the drums. We then have some snap zooms of lights on top of (2?) different buildings before snapping in on a police light. We then get cast motion/freezes. These would only alter slightly later on when Kono left and different actors would play the 4^th or 5^th member of Five-0. Finally, we finish with what looks like a shot with the camera placed on the back of a police motorcycle. Some 40 years later, I watch this show on DVD and am always impressed by the opening. It would have been edited on film, by hand. The quick cutting is impressive, given this was done in 1968. This rapid cutting style fits right in with today’s MTV trained eyeballs.

Footnote: Reza Badiyi also shot and edited the famous Mary Tyler Moore Show opening. If you look at that opening, you will seem some similar techniques and themes (Like the sun shots)