Movie Opening:Rom-Com - The Holiday

Introduction to the film:

The Holiday is an American Rom-com (Romantic Comedy) with a Christmas Theme. It was released in December 2006 and written, directed and produced by Nancy Meyers. It stars the likes of Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Jack Black.

Analysis:

The opening scene starts with a blurred tree branch, full of leaves with non-diegetic, classical music playing in the background. The camera then pans to the left slightly before a medium close up shot of a couple, that look like they're in their mid-twenties, run towards each other and start kissing this adds to the romantic feeling that the music implies.

 The camera then zooms out into a medium long shot of the couple hugging, kissing and dancing, these are often conventions of romance, giving us a clue that the film will involve love and romance. The camera then zooms out further, to show a computer screen with the couple within the screen. This gives the impression that the couple are in the past. It implies that the day in the very first scene was a memory. The camera continues to zoom out to show another computer screen with music notes, and as it continues to zoom out, it shows a pair of large, manly hands playing a keyboard, This then turns the non-diegetic classical music playing in the background of the first scene into diegetic music. This adds to the romantic feel of the opening sequence. The camera zooms out to show a different man, with dark, shaggy hair, playing the keyboard. This gives the impression that the man on his own, is lonely and wants someone to love, like those on his computer screen.

 The camera then pans to the right, following his arm as he goes to twist a knob. This gives the impressions that that he is recording the music that he is creating. The camera skips to a medium close up of his face. The man looks like he is in deep concentration. The music that he is playing them becomes more upbeat, and excitable. This gives us an insight on the comedy aspects of the film. A voice over then begins to talk, in a gentle female voice, over the upbeat diegetic music whilst the camera stays still, and focused on the mans face. The voice over is in first person, and mentions love. This implies that the female behind the voice will be a part of the movie later on. As the voice over speaks, The man looks up from his keyboard, as if he is in deep thought and then his face slowly turns into a smile. This implies that he is thinking of someone that he loves.
 The camera then jumps to another scene, showing a medium close up of a girls face, smiling and laughing on a mobile phone, before jumping back to the mans face, smiling. This gives the impression that the two of them will meet, and possibly fall in love at some point during the film.

The camera then jumps back to show a long shot of the girl, walking and putting her phone away. At the bottom of the scene, you can see that there is part of a computer screen. This helps give the impression of a point of view shot, of the person sitting behind the computer. The camera then zooms out to show The man sitting behind a desk, with three computer screens, and recording equiptment surrounding him, giving the impression that he creates, and records music, and that he quite a bit of money. The man then reaches one hand towards the woman, whilst continuing to play the keyboard with the other. The camera then zooms into the mans face, kissing the womans hand. This gives the impression that he looks up to her.

 The camera then zooms back out to show them holding hands, and then, staying in a medium close up shot, jumps between both of their faces, smiling. This implies that they are in a relationship.

The camera then pans to the right, following the movement of the female. They both continue smiling, and winking at each other portraying love. The female then lets go of the males hand, and waves before exiting the scene The camera then jumps back to the males face, as his straightens, and he looks completely in awe with her. This shows the viewer that he loves her. The scene then jumps back to the woman, walking up the stairs. This gives the impression that they are in love, and possibly live together

The camera then flicks back to the mans face, showing him smiling to himself. His head then bows slightly, as the diegetic music increases pace, and volume. This implies happiness, and excitement.
A black screen then slides across to the less to reveal the title of the film 'The Holiday' in capital letters and a plain, white font. Behind the black, there's blurred rectangles. As they become a little clearer, they begin to look like advertising boards on a wall. The upbeat music the man was once playing, now turns non-diegetic. The title then fades out, as more advertising boards show. The camera stays still, then the bonnet of a dark, moving car appears. The car moves until it reaches the window of the car to show the face of blonde woman. The car then breaks, and stops leaving the camera on a medium close up of the face of the woman.

The blonde woman then looks towards the camera, before then jumping to a medium close up of the face of a dark haired male, also in the car. The camera stays on the man, as he glaces over at, what we assume is the woman. The camera then zooms out to show both the male and the woman sitting in the car together, the woman is looking at the man, but the man looks away from the woman. This implies that there is tension between the two characters.

The camera then jumps to a close up of the cars number plate, and break lights as the car pulls off. The camera then pans upwards slightly, and then zooms out to show the city streets at night. In this scene there are Christmas lights up on the trees, showing that it is winter time, near Christmas.

The camera then jumps to a medium close up of an old man's hips, in this scene we can tell that he is in his pajamas and in the outer area of this scene it shows the man holding a walking stick. In the background, you can see part of a bed, and a bedside table. The old man turns around, and sits on the bed, as the camera pans slightly to the left to reveal a picture of a woman in a wedding dress on his bedside table. This gives the impression that it is his wife in the photo. The Voice over from the start of the sequence states 'for others, love is simply lost' this implies that the old mans wife has passed away. The old man picks up the photo, and looks at it. The camera then pans to the right to show the old mans face.

The camera then zooms out slightly, before jumping to a medium shot of a room full of people, there's a man walking the camera with a drink in his hand. This implies that the scene is set at a party. The camera jumps to a medium close up of every person he walks past, until he reaches two other men, and the camera switches to a medium shot as he stops to talk to them. The man that was walking through this scene, then turns back to face the camera, in a medium close up, before the camera then jumps back to a medium close up of one of the females he passed as he was walking. This gives the impression that these two characters will meet at some point in the film.

The opening sequence then jumps to a long shot scene where a woman is sat at a desk covered in papers, where the voice over says ' and then there's another kind of love, the cruelest kind' This implies that the woman in the scene is going through a hard time when it comes to love. The camera then pans round to show the woman wrapping a ribbon around a gift on her desk, and then zooms in towards her face, and stays at a medium shot showing her looking down at the gift she has just wrapped. The camera then pans, and zooms in to a close up of her hand placing the gift into a draw.

The camera stays still as she closes the draw, and then zooms out and pans up to a medium shot of her face, where she takes a deep breath. This gives the impression that she is nervous. She then, stands up and the camera follows her movement. The camera then jumps to her opening the door, and in the background of the open door, is what looks like the party shown in previous scenes. the camera focuses on the back of her head, and follows her through the party. It then jumps to a front view of the woman, and continues following her movements, until she stands still, When she stands still, she glances at the camera. The camera then jumps to show a man talking to two other men, and a woman. The camera then jumps back to a medium shot of the woman from the desk, looking sad,  This gives the impression that she is in love with the man she glanced over to.

The woman then continues to walk through the room, and the camera continues to follow her. It then jumps back to show a point of view shot of the man, with people occasionally walking past, blocking the view. This adds to the point of view by making it seem as though the views is in the room with the characters. The camera then jumps back to the woman, staring at him, and then walking off quickly before taking a champagne flute out of another woman's hand and drinking it. This adds to the comedic side of the film and implies that she wants to escape from reality, and that the reason behind her pain will unfold later within the film.