I chose to analyse two completely different romance movie openings for this task to see whether the time setting, plot and basis differed, affecting the movie as a whole.
The first opening scene i analysed was from a film titled 'when harry met sally'. The opening scene begins with an almost interview style two shot. This effectively makes the film seem realistic already; a typical convention of romances because two shots like this are often used with non-fiction documentaries or interviews. Many romance films attempt to make their plots and themes realistic and extremely relatable so that 'hopeless romantics'- a wide proportion of romance fans- can enjoy the relation to everyday life. The two shot, in comparison to any close ups or singular shots reinforces the idea of couples, shared love and togetherness. Also, the actual age of the two characters suggests they are experienced, mature and in a long lasting relationship. Their age and dire appearance may not automatically appeal to a young looking-for-love audience or middle aged females, also a wide target audience for the film however their dialogue is a automatic appeal. The older male begins to describe when he first met his lover, and talks of her being 'beautiful' as she looks at him in admiration. this makes the audience feel more convinced that this is a true and 'beautiful' love story. By 20 seconds, the subject of marriage has already been breached- the male talks about marrying her after two weeks and being together ever since. Marriage is a typical convention and ending or struggle in romances, it can often be the climax or the ending of a romantic movie.
Next, we receive an establishing shot of a college or university style old-fashioned campus. This completely contrasts with the older couple because this would be the typical setting for young, first love. The non-diegetic soundtrack that plays along to this is a love song, for audiences of the time this would be very current, relatable and new to audiences who will listen to the words and the songs meaning, however to more modern audiences this song sounds like a fairly old and distinguishable record that would merely be connoted with old times and the movement of jazz bands of old times with their romantic songs. A song like this to modern audience, could trigger a heart-throb already because this song could easily relate to the constant and wholesome love of grandparents and older couples.
at around 0.40s we get yet another two shot, much like the one we see in the begging...however this two shot is much more close up and at eye level. the closeness of the shot could possibly link to the intimacy of the young lovers and how first love is always felt most deeply and intimately. this is reinforced by the couple we see now being completely embraced whilst looking into each others eyes. conventionally, typical romance films follow couples or individuals throughout a number of years- so having an old and young couple appeals to a much wider audience. The camera begins to track round the couple almost 360 degree possibly connoting the round and round cyclic routine of love and how just like the circle the camera travels around in, it is never ending- supposedly like their love. This round style of tracking could actually almost foreshadow the link symbolically to a ring- given at marriage- a symbol of eternity.
after the first Minute of the clip, the non diegetic soundtrack begins to be interrupted by the diegetic sound of a car engine. This car engine noise is empathized, probably through the techniques of a Foley artist to make it more interuptive and loud. Just after this we receive a close up shot of a secondary woman, her facial expression being comedic like an 'awkward onlooker' to the kissing couple. this regains a sense of the rom-com sub genre into the movie as we already get a hint that this movie may not just be simple, typical romance but also revolving conventionally around friends-especially best friends- and other important key themes also. Apart from the blonde hair connoting this female could be 'ditsy' and feminine, her shy expressions caught in the close up and quiet cough to get attention suggests the polite, helpless nature of this female. The audience immediately are left confused when the first main dialect in the scene introduces this girl onlooking a couple kissing as Sally, whilst the male kissing the other girl is Harry! this creates a automatic intrigued nature from the audience who at this point will not understand the connection between these two characters. The long shots showing the close proxemics and intimate body language of the kissing couple show togetherness however the tightly framed simple close ups of 'sally' alone in the car shows how she has nobody close within her proxemics or anyone she can call 'hers'. The interuptive car horn as a synchronous diegetic sound almost fits the woman's mood entirely as she is beginning to get stressed and angered at the couple and as well as the camera shots showing this with her expressions, the sounds also show this with the bold, loud, angry sound of the car horn. The music as the car starts off is the same as the music that introduced the movie and the initial establishing shot...this could foreshadow that the new match in the car could possibly have a romantic future, also hinted by the title 'when harry met sally'.
As the duo invoke in conversation during the car journey, the camera shots alter as each person talks, almost as if it is an informal interview. They both remain in the shots the entire time, hinting their togetherness possibly as the film goes on. An effective establishing shot is portrayed as the journey rears out the city and tracks the car whilst angling upwards to reveal the towering cityscape of Chicago. this hints escapism as we see the car first leaving the college, then leaving the entire city however this could lead onto further escapism- possibly characters escaping their insecurities, brave fronts or metaphorical disguises. we know for sure that the duo are leaving, because the same cityscape of Chicago we see in the establishing shot appears once again, in the background of the shot at 3.28 in the back mirror of the car. The camera at points during the car journey seems to be uneasy and seem hand held- possibly to reinforce the idea of being in a car so the movie doesn't seem staged or false. this once again allows the target intended audience to pick up yet another relatable routinely activity.
I found it very effective that the woman was holding the steering wheel in this opening scene. this is because, in action movies Joseh Queenans movie cliches article told me 'women never drive' which i found to be typically true as generally the woman is the prize, or the subject that evokes the protagonists care and attention and with action films being a huge male orientated target..you rarely see women in control. however, effectively here we see the female is in fact in control of the situation and she is the one driving. This can almost already give out a moral message to the typical female audience of how females are equally important and reliable. this film was released in 1989, not long after feminism movements and the rights females obtained had increased.
At 4.14, a differential establishing shot hints the movement to a new time or scene as we see a more rural land mass surrounding the car, and a much darker, later time of day. We hear the digetic sound of arguing over the non diegetic soundtrack of old-fashioned high pitched cords arranged in a melody which makes their argument almost seem petty and irrelevant. This juxtaposition of sounds possibly could show that not all arguments and disagreements are negative. once again, a coupled or searching-for-a-relationship female would be able to heavily relate to minor arguments like these. The darkness could almost act as pathetic fallacy in the scene because as the mood and conversation topic gets darker; the outside weather replicates this.
the first scene of the movie is very different to the first scene of when harry met sally because most prominently, we don't see 'love' immediately. however the psychological question could be asked what actually is love? is love really just a smootch to begin a film...or is love an argument between a couple that rigorously has attempts to be resolved, with a comedic (not rude unlike the other film) male that is just dealing with a minor relationship flaw? Because we see a couple arguing straight away the audience can automatically relate and see realism and truth in this film because typically relationships always have arguments,its just a part of being together. if the film was very romantic and converting to the romance genre entirely it would seem like a false and cliche representation of love. During the opening minute of the film, a love song by the Pogues called love you till the end plays, which shares similarities with when harry met sally because both movies use love songs that are asynchronous and non diegetic. Both songs however hint to the audience where there is love and who shares it.
In both movie openings, the characters seemed a similar age, not to young or too old to restrict the wide audience romances attract from watching the movie. Also, the males in both films are the ones causing friction in the relationships- never the loving females. Right at the start of this film however, a long shot down a corridor frames the woman as she walks pace-fully and almost angrily back to the apartment with the male trailing at her heels. We don't receive a two shot here, instead just the man in the background unlike the foreground position of the woman that is tracked with the camera almost throughout. The man being behind hints to us that this female is possibly our protagonist or the main relatable subject of the films for the directed female audience. most romances typically follow a hopelessly romantic or looking-for-love female which is displayed in these initial scenes. i could have effectively compared this with the introduction for 'Notting Hill', a romance which completely subverts these typical romantic movie cliches because we almost entirely follow the male in the film. Mise-en-scene comes into play in both movie openings i analysed in one way because of the costume worn by the characters. In 'when Harry met Sally' the characters wear quite casual yet fashionable youthful and relaxed clothing hinting we will be casually and slowly eased into this laid back love story..however in p.s. i love you both characters wear formal party wear- hinting their maturity and sensibility in a more adult and developed serious relationship and as well as this the clothing of such a formal adult manner shows their age- possibly deferring PS i love you from being a teenage young girl rom-com. as previously mentioned that in PS i love you the man is often in the background, we also receive a camera shot at 0.15 of him which is a high angle shot looking down and possibly belittling him, involving the context, we know that he should rightfully be looked down upon as he made a prior mistake at the party they were at. the way he looks up from his low angle at the female, Holly, makes her seem almost superior and looked up-to like every girl wants...a man at her feet! after this shot, the camera tracks and follows the man up the stairs with a hand held shot so the camera too is almost moving with the man and the audience possibly feel his passion for running up the stairs after his partner.
in 'When Harry met Sally' we see scenes based in the surroundings of a college, city, car and outside field all in the first five minutes of the film- flaunting the adventure and freedom and opportunity of being young. we also receive natural lighting throughout which lets us as the audience realized how raw and relaxed the love in the film is, however in PS i love you we only receive scenes shot in and just outside the apartment. This could connote less freedom when in such a mature relationship, but also could merely show the simplicity of love. there is no natural lighting in the opening five minutes of the second film which could suggest a falseness in the love or simply just reinforce how the opening is taking place at night....and for couples nights are usually time for love, embrace, making love and togetherness. In both films there were small clips reinforcing it was night time which i think effectively showed these qualities. Also, the establishing shots of the couple in the second movie connecting them with their surroundings created a link with the messy disorganized apartment and the disorganized not-so-simple aspects of their relationships.
The proxemics in the first film were continually closer with the couple at the begging and when harry and sally were in the car, however it almost seemed forced that Harry and Sally were so close as they were in a car and couldn't be any further away from each-other, however in the second film PS i love you- the proxemics of the couple were always enlarged almost as if they got further and further away from each other as the male aggravated the woman more and more and even at one point we received a two shot separated by a wall, until finally, the opening scene ended with their proxemics irrevocably close as they kissed and embraced and forgave each other. when we saw shots of both couples together throughout both opening scenes i noticed how in the first film the camera shots were still and at eye level, mid shots that filmed the couple in the car however in the second film the shots were often long shots showing the body language of the couple as they argued.
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