Evaluation of the Opening Two Minutes From
‘The Holiday’
The film fades in from a black screen and you see the Universal Studios and Columbia Pictures signs, this telling the audience straight away who produced the film. After this it fades back out into a black screen to fade back into the master shot of a shallow-focused, green image of trees swaying in the wind, this becoming a very bright image with the sun shining through making it bright for the audience. At the same point the names of the companies who helped to make the film are wrote on the screen in old English style writing, the colour of this writing is white to add to the pureness of the film. The way in which the reflection of the water is shown on the trees and has been edited to do this adds to the audience’s content. There is music playing monophonically at this point until the camera pans left and you see a man and a woman run into each others arms kissing changing the focus pulls, this is when more than one instrument begins to play representing both of them playing together. Also the non-diagetic music represents love, romance and joy as it is played in the major key. Added to this non-diagetic sounds of birds whistling, the people kissing and the wind blowing are used to emphasise how peaceful and beautiful the scenery is. It also gives us a clear sound perspective of the two characters.
The two people kissing uses a two-shot, which is close-up, it shows just those two people and the audience is forced into thinking about the emotions they have for each other. The boy wears a light grey suit and the girl wears a white dress representing purity and innocence. The opening scene sets the genre for the audience as soft music sounds and the imagery of people kissing is used. Some of the members in the audience will be able to link to this scene and will connect straight away to the story. The film then cuts to a mid-shot of these two people, the girls is facing backwards and covering the boy’s face, this makes the audience more absent from the opening and leaves them wanting to find out more. Throughout this piece the music is building up as the two people get closer. A duck is shown, without focus in the water; however you hear the sounds of the water non-diagetically. This connects the film to nature which is meant to be calm and pretty. The white writing is placed on the bottom centre of the screen as the people kiss above it; the writing portrays more of the first film in which we are lead to believe is the opening, however the film begins to zoom out and you see the two people kissing in a mid-shot of them on a computer screen. As the camera zooms out more, a wide shot is used to revel film editing equipment. This bringing the audience back to reality and sets a modern time period for the film. Afterwards you see that there are two computers one in which the music is being composed and one in which the film has been playing on. Added to this there are phones, pens and notepads on the desk all suggesting a high class lifestyle of the characters involved.
The camera then pans down to a man hands playing on a keyboard and controlling the notes on the screen, a mid shot is used to show the full size of the keyboard, added to this it keeps mystery for the character (especially because he wears black), even though you know he composers’ music. White writing is placed over his black clothes, this makes them stand out for the audience, the way ‘A Film By’ is wrote smaller this emphasising the name of the writer for the audience who can appreciate it more. The camera carries on panning up and zooming out as you then see the man playing the keyboard. The actor then leads into the camera to turn a long-shot into a mid-shot shot as he turns to almost look at the camera. There is then a jump-cut and you see a mid-shot of the man hid behind a computer, again the audience feel as if they are being isolated from the action. There then is a voice over which has been placed over the film at the editing stage. At the same time the actresses name is wrote over the computers black screen, using black as a background each time they write a name emphasises the writing even more and brings it to the audience’s attention.
As the voice over begins the actor starts to smile, this cuts to a close up of a girl who is on the phone. She is also smiling; linking the two together as another close up of the actor is used to focus upon his emotions towards her. A long-shot is then shown of the girl walking towards the man, as she walks towards him the camera zooms out and you can see the green trees blowing in the wind outside, these still in shallow-focus linking to the film in which the man is composing music for. The girl is however wearing brown representing old and dirty, this could reflect how they relationship will change later in the film. There is then a wide-shot used of the two together, he grabs her hand which then cuts to a close-up of there hands together as he kisses it suggesting to the audience that they are in a relationship. There are then a few mid-shots of the two as they tug each others hand to get away. This makes the audience almost part of the action and gives them the point-of-view of the actors. However there is not one shot of the two together showing that they are not very close as a couple. The last mid-shot shows the man smiling at the girl as it cuts to a long-shot of her running up the stairs, at this point the camera is slightly tilted up the stairs creating more distance between us and the actress. This cuts back to the man playing the keyboard happily. This then pans across a black screen and cuts to another scene, at the same time the music is in a major key and more than one instrument is played, added to this the music becomes louder to show the change of scenery.
The camera stops panning and there is a close-up of a woman in white driving a black car, she is wearing silver earrings which also suggest a wealthy background. She looks at the camera disappointed as it cuts to another close-up of a man wearing black, the black and white colours oppose each other, and this represents the relationship that the two share. Looking at the scenery you can still see trees, however they are brown and dull, this also representing the relationship, the music slows down and only one note is heard at a time. The voice over also narrates the story as she explains that ‘love fades’.
After this there is a straight-cut to the back of the car, this clarifies the wealth of the character. A mid-shot is used to show the car at first to the audience, to emphasise each detail a wide shot is used making it look almost as if you are going to run into it. The colours stay quite dark; however the red car lights stand out and almost stand for the hatred that may be in some of the characters in the car; however it may stand for the love and romance between them. Added to this there is an American number plate, telling the audience where the film will take place. The camera then tilts up as the car drives away and goes into a crane shot of the road it is driving along as the music speeds up before the film begins.
‘The Holiday’
The film fades in from a black screen and you see the Universal Studios and Columbia Pictures signs, this telling the audience straight away who produced the film. After this it fades back out into a black screen to fade back into the master shot of a shallow-focused, green image of trees swaying in the wind, this becoming a very bright image with the sun shining through making it bright for the audience. At the same point the names of the companies who helped to make the film are wrote on the screen in old English style writing, the colour of this writing is white to add to the pureness of the film. The way in which the reflection of the water is shown on the trees and has been edited to do this adds to the audience’s content. There is music playing monophonically at this point until the camera pans left and you see a man and a woman run into each others arms kissing changing the focus pulls, this is when more than one instrument begins to play representing both of them playing together. Also the non-diagetic music represents love, romance and joy as it is played in the major key. Added to this non-diagetic sounds of birds whistling, the people kissing and the wind blowing are used to emphasise how peaceful and beautiful the scenery is. It also gives us a clear sound perspective of the two characters.
The two people kissing uses a two-shot, which is close-up, it shows just those two people and the audience is forced into thinking about the emotions they have for each other. The boy wears a light grey suit and the girl wears a white dress representing purity and innocence. The opening scene sets the genre for the audience as soft music sounds and the imagery of people kissing is used. Some of the members in the audience will be able to link to this scene and will connect straight away to the story. The film then cuts to a mid-shot of these two people, the girls is facing backwards and covering the boy’s face, this makes the audience more absent from the opening and leaves them wanting to find out more. Throughout this piece the music is building up as the two people get closer. A duck is shown, without focus in the water; however you hear the sounds of the water non-diagetically. This connects the film to nature which is meant to be calm and pretty. The white writing is placed on the bottom centre of the screen as the people kiss above it; the writing portrays more of the first film in which we are lead to believe is the opening, however the film begins to zoom out and you see the two people kissing in a mid-shot of them on a computer screen. As the camera zooms out more, a wide shot is used to revel film editing equipment. This bringing the audience back to reality and sets a modern time period for the film. Afterwards you see that there are two computers one in which the music is being composed and one in which the film has been playing on. Added to this there are phones, pens and notepads on the desk all suggesting a high class lifestyle of the characters involved.
The camera then pans down to a man hands playing on a keyboard and controlling the notes on the screen, a mid shot is used to show the full size of the keyboard, added to this it keeps mystery for the character (especially because he wears black), even though you know he composers’ music. White writing is placed over his black clothes, this makes them stand out for the audience, the way ‘A Film By’ is wrote smaller this emphasising the name of the writer for the audience who can appreciate it more. The camera carries on panning up and zooming out as you then see the man playing the keyboard. The actor then leads into the camera to turn a long-shot into a mid-shot shot as he turns to almost look at the camera. There is then a jump-cut and you see a mid-shot of the man hid behind a computer, again the audience feel as if they are being isolated from the action. There then is a voice over which has been placed over the film at the editing stage. At the same time the actresses name is wrote over the computers black screen, using black as a background each time they write a name emphasises the writing even more and brings it to the audience’s attention.
As the voice over begins the actor starts to smile, this cuts to a close up of a girl who is on the phone. She is also smiling; linking the two together as another close up of the actor is used to focus upon his emotions towards her. A long-shot is then shown of the girl walking towards the man, as she walks towards him the camera zooms out and you can see the green trees blowing in the wind outside, these still in shallow-focus linking to the film in which the man is composing music for. The girl is however wearing brown representing old and dirty, this could reflect how they relationship will change later in the film. There is then a wide-shot used of the two together, he grabs her hand which then cuts to a close-up of there hands together as he kisses it suggesting to the audience that they are in a relationship. There are then a few mid-shots of the two as they tug each others hand to get away. This makes the audience almost part of the action and gives them the point-of-view of the actors. However there is not one shot of the two together showing that they are not very close as a couple. The last mid-shot shows the man smiling at the girl as it cuts to a long-shot of her running up the stairs, at this point the camera is slightly tilted up the stairs creating more distance between us and the actress. This cuts back to the man playing the keyboard happily. This then pans across a black screen and cuts to another scene, at the same time the music is in a major key and more than one instrument is played, added to this the music becomes louder to show the change of scenery.
The camera stops panning and there is a close-up of a woman in white driving a black car, she is wearing silver earrings which also suggest a wealthy background. She looks at the camera disappointed as it cuts to another close-up of a man wearing black, the black and white colours oppose each other, and this represents the relationship that the two share. Looking at the scenery you can still see trees, however they are brown and dull, this also representing the relationship, the music slows down and only one note is heard at a time. The voice over also narrates the story as she explains that ‘love fades’.
After this there is a straight-cut to the back of the car, this clarifies the wealth of the character. A mid-shot is used to show the car at first to the audience, to emphasise each detail a wide shot is used making it look almost as if you are going to run into it. The colours stay quite dark; however the red car lights stand out and almost stand for the hatred that may be in some of the characters in the car; however it may stand for the love and romance between them. Added to this there is an American number plate, telling the audience where the film will take place. The camera then tilts up as the car drives away and goes into a crane shot of the road it is driving along as the music speeds up before the film begins.
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