Opening Sequence Analysis - The Holiday

The Holiday (2006)

The Holiday is a romantic comedy about two women that are troubled with guy-problems that swap homes in each other's countries where they both meet a local guy and fall in love. The movie is directed by Nancy Meyers and stars Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz and Jude Law.

 The movie begins with an extreme close up of some tree's which zooms out onto a couple, kissing. The natural lighting can demonstrate the mood that the characters may be feeling such as happiness and joy. However the opening scene of 'The Holiday' is very different to most.

The audience begin to realise that this is not part of the actual movie 'The Holiday', in fact it is of one of the characters, watching a movie.

This is made evident from the zoom out, which highlights to the shot that the character is a music composer as he is playing the music for the film. The music is soft and relaxing which portrays a romantic, cheerful mood, reflecting the movie genre.

The music then changes, to a much slower, quieter piece and a female voice is introduced over the music which is non-diegetic. She first states 'I have found, almost everything ever written about love, to be true'. At this moment, there is a close up shot of one of the male characters. This introduces the audience to the character and highlights the emotion by his facial expression.

 The shot then switches to another close up but of a female character, on the phone smiling. This can convey to the audience ho content she may be feeling.




After this, there is a shot of the male character kissing the female characters hand. The view of the shot makes it look as if we are the female character, looking down onto the male character. This can make the audience feel included.

The credits of the actors and actresses appear at the bottom of the screen in capitals in a white font. This makes them stand out and they change as each shot changes between characters, highlighting the different characters to the audience. 

Once the non-diegetic sound of the female voice stops, fast pace music with a  high pitch starts and then the female voice starts again over the changed music.

The audience are then presented with a long shot of the street during the evening with many cars driving through, highlighting how busy it is. The lights on the trees can symbolise that it is around the Christmas season.

The shot then changes to an old man looking at a picture of a woman in a wedding dress. During this shot the female voice over says 'For others, love is simply lost'. This can display to the audience how the character of the old man may have lost his wife due to death.

The music pace then speeds up and the volume increases, producing a more positive tone. The female speaker follows this by saying 'But then of course, love can also be found, even if just for the night'. During this the audience see two close up shots. One of a different

Opening Sequence Analysis - Juno

Juno (2007)

Juno is a movie about a young girl that is faced with an unplanned pregnancy who makes an unusual decision about her unborn baby. The movie is directed by Jason Reitman and stars Ellen Page and Jennifer Garner.

The movie begins with an establishing shot of the main character. This allows the audience to see the setting and to understand more about the character. We can see that the character has messy hair and is drinking 'Sunny D' out of a big bottle. The expression she has on her face is laid back. This portrays her as careless and free.

The shot then jump cuts to a tracking shot which follows the character walking. Non diegetic music starts to play as the shot follows her. The music is light hearted and happy (All I want is you - Barry Louis Polisar). This mirrors her personality. After this, some people jogging, jog past the tracking shot which can indicate the stereotypical American High School boys such as 'jocks'. This can indicate to the audience that the setting is at a teenage school.

As Juno Walks behind the tree, the other side of the tree looks like it has been drawn. This can emphasise her feelings but also show that she is withdrawn from everyone else as if she is in her own world. The font of each film credit looks hand drawn, adding to the cartoon effect of the opening sequence,

Throughout the entire of the opening sequence, the audience watches Juno walk through her suburban streets with a bottle of 'Sunny D' in a cartoon type of drawing.

The audience gets a full view from this shot of what Juno is wearing. It is clear she is wearing a red hoody, dark jeans, trainers and a stripy black top which can highlight that the character may be a tomboy. The clothes are baggy and unflattering which is very different to a stereotypical girl. However this may indicate that she does not want people looking at her body and is not shallow or vain.

Opening Sequence Analysis- Love Actually

Love Actually

Love Actually is a romance that follows the lives of eight different couples, dealing with love in their lives in various situations all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England. The movie is directed by Richard Curtis and stars Liam Neeson, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, Keira Knightly and many more.

The movie begins in a setting of a busy airport with people waiting for their loved ones.A soft non-diegetic music is playing in the background which creates a tranquil feeling to the audience. Different types of love is explored through the characters. This shot is a long shot of two people hugging which allows the audience to promptly gain an insight of the affectionate and devoted relationship between the two.

The camera then cuts away a few times to show a variety of different people in equivalent situations, hugging and kissing one other.

From this close up shot, the bright lighting can demonstrate the mood of the character which is happiness. This is also highlighted through the characters big smile. The audience can see that the daughter is hugging her mum, showing family love.


After 20 seconds into the opening sequence title, a man begins to talk about love. He says 'Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow airport'. This clarifies to the audience the genre of the movie which is romance. Filming at Heathrow airport was a very effective location for the movie as it is known to most people and the audience can relate the film much more. Also, the fact that real life people were used show real and true facial expressions which means the characters are represented well as the emotions that are being shown are believable. .In addition to this, the plain, casual clothing adds to the realism of the movie.

After this, the man lists the different types of love:

'Fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends.'

During this, the camera zooms to blissful faces of girlfriends, boyfriends, friends, mothers and fathers which generates an enigma with curiosity of why these people are so happy and warm in this situation. This links in with the representation of the characters and the stereotypical American lifestyle that is portrayed as being joyful and grateful of those surrounding them.

There is a soft focus set in place while people are hugging. This is used to distort the sight of other people and to focus and bring attention to the situation.

The speaker then says "When the planes hit the twin towers, as far as I know, none of the people on board were messages of hate or revenge, they were all messages of love. If you look for it I've got a sneaky feeling you'll realise that actually love is all around." As the speaker reads out 'love is all around' the words form at the bottom of the screen. All of the words are written in a white font however the word 'is', is in red. The colour red clearly represents love but is also used to highlight the dominant ideology of the film and to signify the importance of love. This makes the audience think about love themselves and the ways they embrace it, watching to see a different perspective.

Link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMScPVO4rLw&feature=related

The Woman In Black - Opening Sequence Analysis

The Woman In Black

The Woman In Black is a British horror film directed by James Watkins. The movie is about a young lawyer that has travelled to a remote village that soon discovers that there is a ghost of a scorned woman that is terrorizing the locals.

This genre is the same genre as our opening sequence idea for our film.

The movie begins with an extreme close up of someone pretending to fill up two cups of tea. This can immediately make the audience assume that it is a little girl playing with her tea cups. During this, the audience can hear non-diegetic music which is eerie, mysterious and dark. The music is used to make the audience feel uncomfortable and on edge, wanting to know what may happen next.

After this, there is then another extreme close up shot of a doll with dark eyes and a smile, pretending to drink tea. The use of mise-en-scene suggests to the audience that the children playing with the dolls may have a darker side to them.

Another shot is of the three girls acting out a tea party together. The long shot enables the audience to get a better sense of the setting. The audience can see that this is a play room from the old fashioned Victorian style pram and toy baby chairs in the background. This is effective as it clearly represents the time period that is being portrayed. In addition, the natural lighting from the window can highlight the mood of the characters. Therefore it displays that the children are happy and makes the scene more realistic.

After this the music becomes deeper and the young girls all turn and face the window at the same time. This can make the audience feel as if the young girls are like puppets which suggests that the characters are no longer in control.

The music increasingly becomes louder and deeper as the camera zooms towards the windows, emphasising that something may happen.

The camera then faces the girls again and there is a close up shot of the girls stepping on their dolls and dropping the tea cups, making them smash. These shots suggest to the audience that the children have changed about caring for their dolls and almost give the impression that they are possessed.

The next shot is a tracking shot of the three girls walking towards the window. This suggests to the audience that the girls are getting told what to do by something near the window. This is effective as it can make the audience want to know what is making the girls act like they are being pulled like a magnet. This can create a sense of imagery in the audience's heads. In addition to this, the girls faces are emotionless which can demonstrate how beforehand they were happy playing with their dolls and suddenly they are now emotionless, suggesting that what they are being possessed by is taking away their happiness.

We then see a close up shot of one of the young girl's hands, opening the window, this builds suspense on to what may happen next. We then get a shot of the three girls walking up to the last step, getting closer to the windows. This builds tension for the audience and we now know that something upsetting may happen.

 The next shot that the audience see is of the three girls jumping out of the window. While this is happening the non-diegetic music in the background becomes lounder, making it even more unsettling for the audience. The non-diegetic sound suddenly stops and the sound becomes silent for a second. Then we suddenly hear another non-diegetic sound but of a woman screaming and then shouting 'my babies'. This could represent a distressed mother who had witnessed three of her children dying.

The camera then turns to a close up shot of one of the dolls. The doll is smiling with wide eyes. This may suggest that the doll influenced the girls to jump out of the window. This is clear through the mise-en-scene which suggested the doll being evil and mysterious since the beginning.

The last shot is of a womanly figure dressed all in black, looking at the play room and the window. This suggests to the audience that the woman was the one that made the girls jump from the window. This can create a gloomy, dark and eerie feeling for the audience, emphasising the genre of horror.

Mean Girls - Opening sequence Analysis

Mean Girls (2004)

Mean girls is an American teen comedy directed by Mark Waters. The movie explores the themes of a typical school through the use of the character Cady Heron (Lindsay Lohan) and highlights school pupil stereotypes such as 'the plastics'.

The title 'Mean Girls' is coloured white for 'Mean' and pink for 'Girls'. The 'Mean' is a much thicker and bolder font, however the 'Girls' is thinner and more rounded.This immediately stereotypes as the word 'Girls' is thinner. However it suggests that the film will revolve around the girls' behaviour towards each other. The audience can also get the impression that it is a 'chick flick' type of film.

After this, the audience are then introduced to the main characters and their backgrounds. This is used by a point-of-view shot through Cady's eyes. This make it look as if Cady is looking up, towards her parents, highlighting to the audience that she is young. The shot can also highlight that she is weak and her parents are protecting her. The non-diegetic voice over allows the main character (Cady) to introduce herself to the audience, providing background information. The tone of her voice can make the audience feel as if they already know her. After this, there is a soft but slightly sinister piece of piano music playing in the background, representing Cady's high school experience. This adds to the comedy theme.

Once Cady arrives at her new school, the music switches to pop music, which can reflect the music taste of the characters and the type of characters that are expected. This appeals to the target audience. The shots at the setting of the school, are long shots to highlight how busy and crowded the typical school environment is.

The movie plays on stereotypical expectations of American High School which adds to the comedy aspects of the film as cliques are exaggerated a lot which shows how Cady does not fit in at all. The mise en scene is effective as it portrays everything expected such as the yellow school bus as well as adding to Cadys bad luck which contributes to the audiences enjoyment. The mise en scene together with the diegetic sound of the school bus sounding its horn as Cady is nearly run over effectively builds a more humorous opening, making the audience want to watch more.

There is a close up shot of Cady's face to convey to the audience the emotion that she may be feeling. This portrays Cady as feeling lost and nervous. The clothes that she is wearing are casual which makes the audience think that she                                                       will fit in. The editing pace begins                                                        to increase which can emphasise how nervous Cady is feeling.

 This shot shows some of the characters laughing at Cady. This can highlight to the audience how students at school can be so mean, making the audience feel sorry for Cady.

Analysis of opening sequence titles - P.S I Love You

P.S I Love You (2007)-

P.S I love you is an American drama about a young window who discovers 10 messages left by her husband to help her through the pain and to start a new life. The movie is directed by Richard LaGravenese.

The movie starts with the film credits to introduce who the movie is directed by. Throughout the opening sequence the song 'I love you t'il the end' by 'The Pogues' is played in the background to emphasise the                                                               main theme of the movie; Love.

The movie begins with a tilt shot from the sky to the street below. This is an establishing shot. The establishing shot is used to set the scene of the film. We can see that the film is set in a busy street of a night time.

There is then a pan shot from left to right to show the detail of the street. We can then see one of the main characters (Holly) walking up the stairs of an underpass with a man hurrying behind, trying to catch up with her (Gerry). The shot speeds up to make the audience feel like they are someone on the street watching.

There are then medium shots and long shots of the characters rushing along the street towards their apartment. This enables the audience to see more of the surrounding setting.

Then, there is a long shot of the characters walking through a long corridor, showing the female ahead and the male walking behind, conveying the authority of the female.

 We can then see the male (Gerry) looking up towards the female (Holly) which can show that the woman is looking down on him, making him look inferior.

This is another establishing shot of the stairs to depict to the audience how far the characters have to go to reach their room. This is done by a high up camera, looking down onto the stairs. This can show the audience the full view of both characters.

 At the end of the opening sequence there is then a black background and a black and white picture of the actor/actress who plays the part with their name in a white font. The font that is used is as if someone has written it to                                                             represent the letters written throughout
                                                      the movie

 The names of the film makers are shown on different backgrounds, all that represent different parts of the film.

The last shot is an establishing shot of the pub. This shows the audience where the first scene is set. At the bottom left there is the word 'Winter' written. This tells the audience the time of year and the season it is. This then fades into the pub of where the characters are all wearing black, highlighting that it is a funeral.

The opening sequence of P.S I love you is effective as it allows the audience to have an insight into the character's lives and helps to introduce the plot and set the scene. This makes the movie more realistic, enabling the audience to feel like they are with the characters which is often used in the romantic genre.
The close up shots of the characters are used to introduce the characters to the audience and to display the emotions. This allows the audience to learn about their relationship and the characters themselves. This lets the audience create their opinions of the characters.

The pace of the editing is the same throughout the opening scene to enforce realism. The editing pace is slow even throughout an argument or fight to make it seem like a real life situation where the audience can relate. The sense of realism and slow editing of the film attracts the female audience as it is assumed that they are more likely to enjoy romantic situations.

The music in the background of 'I Love You 'Til The End' by the Pogues, relates to the genre and helps to reveal the plot. An important aspect of the romance genre is the use of mise en scene. The dialogue is important to reveal the plot and allows the audience to engage with the characters. In the opening of 'P.S I Love You' the characters are having pointless, insignificant arguments because they are so in love. This clearly highlights the genre of romance.

The lighting displays the mood of the characters by having darker lighting to represent upset and brighter lighting to represent happiness. However to preserve the sense of realism, the lighting must be natural and must never be exaggerated. Similarly, the clothing of the characters are casual to suit their role such as work clothing in a work environment so that the audience can relate to the character and see themselves in their position.

The location is of a busy city however it is made homely like the other parts of the mise en scene which is to represent realism and to allow the audience to relate.

Link to movie:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRbo9VsKKRk