Opening Sequence Analysis (Task 2.1) - The Holiday (Romantic Comedy Genre)

This is the opening sequence of the romantic comedy film, The Holiday.
The film begins with Columbia Productions and Universal with their opening to show that they are the production companies behind the production of this film. After they fade away, the first titles begin to fade in. When the titles fade in, the background is blurry however as the titles fade away, the background becomes clearer. Then as the titles fade away the first shot occurs. This shot is a medium close up and shows a male character kissing a female character. This instantly shows you that this film will include romance which is supporting the genre of this film, which is indeed a romantic comedy. You know this as kissing and showing affection is a clear convention of the romantic comedy convention. The opening sequence instantly starts with a piano playing soft, long notes which fluctuate in notes to create a romantic atmosphere from the get go. This helps add to the fact that this is a romantic film so this helps the audience get the romantic feel. At 0:28 seconds as the young couple are shown kissing, their is a background noise of birds tweeting. This is an ambient sound intentionally included to add to the romantic atmosphere.

This then continues for a few seconds with the titles fading in and out whilst the couple dance. The male looks like a male in his late 20's whilst the female looks more like she is in her mid 20's. There relationship judging by this affection shown, looks like they are a couple.

The next shot is a zoom out from the young couple. As the shot begins to zoom out you can see that what has been shown so far is only on a television screen monitor being viewed by a new character. This character looks like a 40 year old man, whom has a messy look to him. He is a recognised actor named Jack Black. He is widely known for his appearances in comedic films, therefore adding to the fact that this is a romantic comedy film. This shows the audience that because Jack Black is in the film, they know what type of film this is. The character he is playing looks like a recording artist/producer as his occupation due to the fact he is playing the keyboard with a musical tab on screen. The fact he is playing the keyboard may suggest that the piano sound which in the beginning opening was played by him.

A few seconds later, a voice over begins to play of an woman's voice, sounding particularly delicate in a story like manner talking about love connoting the fact this is a romantic comedy. She quotes William Shakespeare, who is a well known 16th/17th century English poet/playwrite who's poems/plays are largely associated with love/romance which furthers the connotation of this film being romance based.

As the voice over continues, it jump cuts to a shot of a newly introduced character. The character is a female, roughly 25-30 years old. When she approaches the character played by Jack Black he kisses her hand showing that there is a potential relationship which we as the audience, do not know yet. 

As the shot continues, the woman is about to walk away but the male character does not let go of her hand suggesting that they don't want to let go of each others hands. This is a similar event in the film 'Titanic' which Rose says she will never let go of Jacks hand. This was down to love. So this suggests that these two characters in this opening sequence may be in love.

As the character leaves, the shot changes. The shot changes by a transition which slides the screen the left.

After the transition the shot changes to a medium shot of a new character. This character is a blonde woman who is approximately 30 years old. The shot then changes to a dark haired man who is approximately in his mid thirties. The woman and man have two separate shots individually but by the way they look at the camera, it makes you think they are looking each other which then the shot changes where you can see the woman and the man sitting in a car next to each other. 

This quickly changes to a shot of the car pulling away and as you can see the car is a Porsche 911 Carrera S, suggesting the male driving the car is particularly wealthy. This is the second part of evidence to suggest the males wealthiness as the first part would be that the gentleman is wearing a suit showing his formality.

The scene then does a jump cut to a completely different scene. This shows an elderly man with his walking stick, approaching his bed. As he goes to sit down, the camera focuses on a picture on the desk which shows a black and white image of a woman in a wedding dress. This instantly gives you the impression that  this is a picture of this gentleman's wife but since it focuses on the picture it gives the impression that she had passed away. Also the fact he then holds the picture in distress whilst the voice over says 'For some, simply love is lost' adds to the suggestion that she was his wife which has now passed away.

This then cuts to a different scene of a new character with an alcoholic beverage in a bar walking up to his friends. This then focuses on a woman who looks at the gentleman who then they catch each other's eye. Suggesting romance is possible and connoting the aspect of love and romantic comedy even more.

This then cuts to a different scene of a new character, this character is a blonde woman, Also in her thirties, she is formally dressed sitting in a chair at a desk. This suggests that the woman is at her workplace. The fact she is with no male suggests she has no male in her life. So far in the opening sequence every male has been with a female suggesting they are in love however this woman is alone suggesting no love.

At first you can't see the female but as the camera pans round so can see that the character is actually played by Hollywood actress, Kate Winslet. Kate Winslet is a well known actress who is mainly known for her role as Rose in 'Titanic'. Titanic is a romantic based film, and because Kate Winslet was the main role in that film gives you the impression that this film is also romance based suggesting that this is a romantic comedy.

This then cuts to her running out of what looks like her office into a hall based area where she stares at a new character. This character is a man aged around 40 who has dark hair. The relationship from this point we can gather is that she loves this man however he does not take notice. We can tell this through the way the camera is worked. The shot itself shows the woman staring which then cuts to a shot of him talking socially unaware of the fact he is being stared at. Showing that this could be a love which he is unaware of.

The next shot is a medium close up where you can see the woman is distressed/upset for some unforeseen reason that you do not know yet. The frustrated character walks off but every so often keeps staring at the male character showing love that has been broken. Due to the voice over you can tell that the woman speaking is the woman in the shot as she tells the audience that, that is her and is describing her endless love for that gentleman who then catches her eye whilst staring. So all the love shown in the opening sequence really shows that this film is based around romance and the relationships but also because of all the different characters it focuses on the fact that love can be found by anyone and anywhere no matter how rich, good looking, old etc. Love can be found and in the opening sequence this message is clearly showed.

Feedback - Miss Spencer

This is an extremely detailed and accomplished piece of research and analysis Jake.  You have clearly picked out many conventions of the genre and commented on them; this will help when planning your own film. You have gone into incredible detail and discussed all of the DISTINCT elements, showing a real understanding of the taks and the genre. This work would be a level 3/4 border, in order to move on effectively and make the best use of your time I would suggest the following:

• You don't need to go through the scene shot by shot, although thyis hs lead to detailed analysis I think you can still acheive detail by talking about the opening in more general terms giving lots of good examples of points you want to make.
• Add some more screen shots to illustrate your points and break up the dense text.
• You should have done four analysis by now, we can arrange some catch up time over half term in order to keep you up to date with your work.

Opening Sequence Analysis (Task 2.1) - Halloween (Horror Genre)

This is the opening sequence of the 1978 horror film, Halloween.
The opening begins with a pov shot showing what the unknown mysterious character is seeing as he/she is walking around the outside of the house. This shot is very sinister and creepy, it is a key convention in the horror genre as it creates suspense which keeps the audience on the edge of their seats from the get go.

Within the first 2 seconds into the film, you see a house but straight away you see a pumpkin sitting outside of the house. The pumpkin connotes that it may be Halloween night which links to the name of the film, hence being Halloween. So already 2 Seconds into the film the audience understand that it is Halloween.

As the pov shot continues, the mysterious character walks around to the side of the house which then looks through the window to find 2 characters inside, oblivious to the fact that the unknown character is watching them. In the background there is a night time buzzing noise to add to the suspense but also add to the night time vibe that this is creating.

After a few seconds, the couple disperse upstairs, as soon as the mysterious character see's the light turn off there is a a new sound effect, it is a sharp short high pitched sound which gives the feel that something bad is about to happen. All which is conventions of a horror. This sound instantly gives the audience the suspicion that something bad will happen which becomes intense which creates even more suspense. This is 46 seconds into the opening and still a pov shot has been continuously used, this is to show the audience the mysterious characters whereabouts without giving too much away.

This sound continues all the way until the character enters the house. Once inside, still with the pov shot, you see the character reach into the draw from their pov to get a knife. A knife in a horror film instantly tells you that there will be gore and death. The knife creates even more suspense as the audience can guess to what will happen soon but still suspense is there. When reaching out to get the knife you can see the character is wearing a Halloween costume. This also tells you that this is
Halloween but because Halloween is largely associated with children getting dressed up, does that mean the mysterious character is a child? It is all unknown all to be found out later in the film but the use of the costume does give that impression that the character is a child.

As the character progresses through the house with the pov shot still in action, you see the male character leave the house leaving the female upstairs as the perfect victim. Creating even more suspense as she is alone with the character with the knife rapidly approaching. The use of the pov shot is largely effective as you are the pov of the antagonist so to speak. This is creating suspense all the way throughout as you are the characters every where about. But also a story is created through the pov shot to give the audience an idea of what will happen next. The sound has been continuously playing throughout since entering the house, giving a scary feel to it which is becoming more intense for the audience to keep on watching. All clear conventions of a horror film.

As the shady character is walking upstairs, you can then hear very slightly in the background a clock towers bell ringing which may suggest that it is counting down to the young females death. So it is like a countdown until the mysterious character goes and attacks her with the knife.

At 2:40 you can see the character pick up a mask. He then places this on his face so when he enters, he will be unknown and hidden. Also the camera shot is still using the same pov however now the mask is on you can only see through the eyes, which does show you are seeing it from his point of view through his eyes.

As it gets to 3:01 the character has now entered the room which contains the young female. She is humming which tells you she is just casually doing her daily tasks unknown to the fact, a creepy character has just entered the same room as her with a knife with the intent to kill.

As she turns to see the mysterious character she shouts 'MICHAEL'. This gives you the idea that the young female knows the mysterious character. The name Michael now tells the audience that the killer is a male but the age is unidentified however through the use of Halloween costumes it may be considered he was a child/teenager. This may now suggest that this mysterious character named Michael may be related to her such as her brother. As he is a child, known to the female character but also when she shouts 'MICHAEL' its a shout which gives the impression of 'get out of my room' rather than 'get out of my house' due to the fact she doesn't want him in the room as she is fresh out the shower completely naked. All suggesting that they live together and may be related.

He then begins to attack the female. Since the beginning the pov shot has been used and even in the killing the pov shot is still being used. You can see that the girl is being attacked but then Michael looks at the knife to clarify with the audience that he is stabbing her. Now that he has killed the girl, the death is a convention of the horror genre as most horrors are mostly about death.

He then begins to flee the house which is when a car pulls up. A man, approximately 40 years old gets out of the car and says 'Michael'. He says Michael in a completely different way though, he says it in a confused tone. This is when the camera shot changes. 3 minutes 47 seconds into the film, the camera shot changes to a medium shot. The mask of the character is then pulled off by the new introduced character which is when we see that he is a child but the fact he is holding a knife suggests why the older male said 'Michael' in a confused way in a 'what have you done?' manner.

The shot then zooms out continuously into a long shot where you actually fully see the newly introduced characters. It may be suggested that they are his mother and father as they have just arrived back at the house to find their son on the front lawn with a knife. All this suggests that the girl he murdered was in fact his sister so the build up throughout the opening gave the audience a feel of that was actually his sister. The looks on the older male and female looks like they are clueless and do not know what is going on.

The main mise-en-scene throughout the opening was mainly on what the young, mysterious character was wearing. He was clearly wearing a Halloween costume which then relates to the name of the film as the name of the film is called 'Halloween'. So you then begin to get an overview that the whole film is over the Halloween period. Also the location is a normal, family house so it is not a stereotypical horror location but the whole walkthrough of the house using the pov shots creates suspense and intensity as a gradual build up which gives this film a usp as it is completely different to most horror films.

The camera angles are all on what the character is seeing so it is basically his eyesight throughout until the end where there is a downward tilt with a zoom out shot.

The camera shots through the opening is minimal, yet the ones used all created suspense throughout. The first camera shot was a pov shot, this lasted for a whole 3 minutes 46 seconds from where he was unknown outside, to where he was in the house, to murdering the girl to then fleeing the house. All those terms of events occurred under a pov shot of the murderer. This is unusual in horror films to use this particular camera shot with this amount of time so it gives this film a usp whilst still creating an intense feeling to the audience.

Midway through the opening there were a few ambient sounds introduced such as the insects at night to create the night vibe which added nicely to the slowly progressing events. Also the high pitched sounds were there to create suspense which made the whole opening intense to watch as, as an audience member you could guess what was about to happen which makes the audience even more scared which is what horror films aim to achieve.

The first character in the opening is Michael. We only find out his name at the end of the opening but at the start he is an unknown character which creates mystery as he begins circling the house, spying on the characters inside. As he enters the house he grabs a knife which is when we see his arm. We then see what he is wearing and it seems to be a Halloween costume. This gives us the idea that the unknown character is a child. As we progress through the opening, he goes upstairs to murder a different character. This character knows the mysterious characters name giving us his name and the impression she knows him. So from this we guess that the character is 'Michaels' sister. At the end of the opening when he flees outside, his mask is removed where we can see his face showing us that he is a young male child, around the age of 10/11 which gives us the idea that the girl he murdered was his sister and the two adults outside are indeed, his parents.

The second character, the one in which Michael kills. We do not find out her name but we do come to a conclusion that she was Michael's sister. As we can actually see her it may be suggested she was between the ages of 18-21. She was also with another character before she got murdered, this character is a male approximately the same age and due to the kissing and the love making, we can gather that this was the young teenage females partner and that they were in a relationship.

The final 2 characters we believe to be Michael's parents. This is because they pull up to what looks like there house and the fact they know Michael's name and say it in distress it gives us the impression they are both his mother and father.

They are both approximately 40 years old and may be the young boys mother and father.

The clear antagonist in this film so far would be Michael with no clear view on a protagonist or any other types this early on in this film.