How is genre conveyed through the technical features of your film opening?
Genre is conveyed through many aspects in ‘The holiday’, for example camera, editing, mise en scene and sound. The genre of this film is comedy and romance, this relates to our opening scene because we want to do a hybrid of romance, drama and action. The narrative for this film is about two women who have 'guy-problems' and never seem to fall for the right guy so they decide to swap homes in each others countries where they meet their Mr right and fall in love. The film opens with a heterosexual couple kissing romanticly by a river/lake in a green surrounding. Throughout this there is both diegetic and non-diegetic sounds. Firstly the diegetic sounds of the birds singing and on top of that a non diegetic sound of music to relate to the mood of the couple, to enhance the romantic feel and to let us know that this film is a romance and not a horror.
The camera then zooms out of the screen making the audience realise that they were watching a film within a film. We see long shot of the room where a man is editing music for a romantic film so we can assume he is a musician or he works in the the film industry creating music. We can also assume he is one of the main characters as he is the first person to be in the actual shot. From zooming out and panning to him we go to a mid shot where I can denote seeing things behind him and there are loads of books and musical instruments and a frame with a man playing the guitar this can connote what kind of character he is.
From the mid shot we can hear a monologue by a female who starts of with a quote by Shakespeare about love, this relates to the whole film as it is a romance. The non diegetic sound of the the monologue which is quite like a narrator talking over the opening. This is really important because different aspects of love relate to different characters in different ways for example as the narrator says "for others love is simply lost" and the shot cuts to an old man looking at a picture of a woman by his bedside which connotes that they were together but she pasted away, therefore there are significant connections with the monologue and the cuts between the characters. We denote a shot of the old man in his bedroom and again the camera allows us to see his facial expression but before we see the shot of his face the camera zooms up to the picture of a woman in the frame and then pans up to his face. I think the editor didn't want to do two different shots because then the audience may feel disconnected in a way because keeping it as one clear shot allows us to make a connection between the framed picture of the woman and the old man. It allows the audience to think that they were a couple.
At this point the shots cut from different settings which relate to the monologue, so it started with the musical which the long shot and the panning to show who he is and what he does. Then we see a girl and he kisses the girl on the hand which conveys he is a romantic guy. We then see a shot reverse shot of the the couple to show their facial expressions, I'm assuming they're a couple. Then the shot fades from the right to a car with a couple in it, a mid shot which allows us to see how they behave and how they interact with each other and their relationship doesn't look as bubbly and fun as the first couple. Here again we see a shot reverse shot of the couple, this allows us to see their facial expressions and they look ever so slightly out of love. Straight after that shot, it's an establishing shot; we see the car from behind drive away in a busy place, looks like America.
After the old man in the bedroom, the next shot is of a man in a pub with is friends and he sees a woman, this is in the same shot. Which is an extreme long shot because it allowed the audience the follow the character as he walked through the pub and saw the woman. I feel the editor choose to not cut this again to show connections with both the audience and the characters and the man and woman. As the man and woman catch each others eyes through a shot reverse shot. It connotes that these two people are going to talk to each other and get to know one another however it wont last because of what the narrator said which is "love can be found even just for the night".
We finally get to meet the narrator who is also a main character. We denote finding her sitting in her office rapping a present for someone and this connotes that she is going to give the present to someone she loves because the rapping paper is red, the colour red can mean love and because the film is a romance we can assume is is for someone she loves however the person she loves doesn't love them back as she talks about unrequited love. After she opens the door, it's an extreme long shot the place she is in, probably her work place as she was in her office. I can connote that it looks like its a Christmas work party as their are decorations around the room and everyone is in fancy wear. She points out the man she loves through a shot reverse shot.
From the mid shot we can hear a monologue by a female who starts of with a quote by Shakespeare about love, this relates to the whole film as it is a romance. The non diegetic sound of the the monologue which is quite like a narrator talking over the opening. This is really important because different aspects of love relate to different characters in different ways for example as the narrator says "for others love is simply lost" and the shot cuts to an old man looking at a picture of a woman by his bedside which connotes that they were together but she pasted away, therefore there are significant connections with the monologue and the cuts between the characters. We denote a shot of the old man in his bedroom and again the camera allows us to see his facial expression but before we see the shot of his face the camera zooms up to the picture of a woman in the frame and then pans up to his face. I think the editor didn't want to do two different shots because then the audience may feel disconnected in a way because keeping it as one clear shot allows us to make a connection between the framed picture of the woman and the old man. It allows the audience to think that they were a couple.
After the old man in the bedroom, the next shot is of a man in a pub with is friends and he sees a woman, this is in the same shot. Which is an extreme long shot because it allowed the audience the follow the character as he walked through the pub and saw the woman. I feel the editor choose to not cut this again to show connections with both the audience and the characters and the man and woman. As the man and woman catch each others eyes through a shot reverse shot. It connotes that these two people are going to talk to each other and get to know one another however it wont last because of what the narrator said which is "love can be found even just for the night".
We finally get to meet the narrator who is also a main character. We denote finding her sitting in her office rapping a present for someone and this connotes that she is going to give the present to someone she loves because the rapping paper is red, the colour red can mean love and because the film is a romance we can assume is is for someone she loves however the person she loves doesn't love them back as she talks about unrequited love. After she opens the door, it's an extreme long shot the place she is in, probably her work place as she was in her office. I can connote that it looks like its a Christmas work party as their are decorations around the room and everyone is in fancy wear. She points out the man she loves through a shot reverse shot.
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