Analysis of Opening Scenes

The film begins with Damien Rice’s song ‘The Blowers Daughter’ then the title on the film rolls across the screen in big bold letters, capturing the audiences attention. The title is red which could connote love as this is one colour associated with the word, the colour could also represent danger which could represent how romance stories never end well. The shot then fades into a long shot of what looks like a busy city street. The mise en scene in this scene are the people and how they are all dressed rather drab, the greys and blacks seem to merge together. I would stereotype them all as being business men/women. However in the crowd our eyes are drawn to one particular character. She has fiery red hair and is dressed quirky breaking the boundaries of what everybody else is dressed like. The audience automatically know that she is one of the main characters in the film and as she gets closer the shot then cuts to the opposite direction. The audience notice nothing peculiar as all we see is the same bland colours and people. After cutting to her and back we notice a male figure coming closer dressed similarly to everybody else. I notice that the opening scene is filmed in slow motion which creates a dreamy, surreally romantic atmosphere which then links to the characters which seem to be walking closer to each other. As the characters get nearer the shot changes to a medium shot, then a headshot of the man smiling to the woman. The smile then fades away to a distressed face making the audience want to know what has happened. We hear screeches screams and the slow motion stops to keep up the pace. We get a high angle shot which pans down on the woman lying in the road with the taxi behind her showing the audience that she has been hit. There is then a low angle shot of the mans face which changes to a high angle as he touches her shoulder showing that he is now the more dominant, stronger role. She turns her head round so the audience know she is okay and the mood is lifted. I think this clip is a good example of what we are trying to achieve. It shows two opposite characters in an everyday environment yet still let the audience know that they are or will be romantically linked.
Lauren