Analysis of my Best Friends Wedding

Analysis of the opening scene of My Best Friend’s wedding

Genre

The genre is a romantic comedy

Narrative

 

The plot of the film centres around a woman’s long term friend who tells her he is engaged. She realises at that moment that she loves him and she sets out to get him, with only days before the wedding.

Setting

The whole scene has a Hollywood feel – exuding glamour, love and romance. It has a slightly old fashioned feel –maybe a feel of the 1950s or 1960s. It creates a fantasy church wedding which every woman would love to experience.

Themes

The themes are love and marriage

Character

We initially feel sympathy for the character of Julia Roberts but we lose this as she becomes rather devious as the film progresses. The character of Cameron Diaz is warm and loving.

Atmosphere

The opening scene is pink – a stereotypical colour associated with girls. The camera tilts down to show three women dressed in white – the traditional colour for purity and weddings. A fourth woman enters, dressed in a white wedding gown. She is to the fore of the scene and is shown very much as the main character in the scene . This connotes her importance over the other characters. She is the personification of happiness, goodness and warmth. The entire scene gives a very traditional, conservative view of gender. It shows women as believing tha weddings and marriages are their big goal, desiring marriage above all else.

The mise-en-scene is bare apart from the pink background and the four women. This focuses attention on the characters and denotes their importance. The costumes all point to the theme of weddings.

The whole scene has a Hollywood feel – exuding glamour, love and romance. It has a slightly old fashioned feel –maybe a feel of the 1950s or 1960s. The dance routine is highly choreographed. There is an element of comedy in the sequence. It is full of a posing bride and bridesmaids and is full of exaggerated movements and gestures. This foretells the genre of the film – a romantic comedy.

The camera angles are in the main long shots although there are some cuts to show their individual facial actions to fit in with the song. The women are performing – they look like they are on a stage. At several instances, the women pose directly for the camera. There is a lot of use of props associated with weddings such as diamond rings, bouquets and lacy garters.

When the bride throws the bouquet she is standing on a chair. This signifies she is married and above the others in importance. When she throws the bouquet she catches it herself. This is a break from what we expect to happen and perhaps foretells a twist in the plot of the film.

The overhead shot shows the woman lying on the ground with their heads together. It is almost reminiscent of a synchronised swimming sequence.

The bridesmaids give the bride their bouquet. They kneel in front of her. They are admiring her. She has achieved a higher status through marriage. The camera zooms in to show her face in an almost heavenly light shining on her. There is a real religious feeling connoting a real success. However the scene is rather unreal and false. It holds a sense of irony and the audience knows perhaps it is not real.

Sound

The women begin to sing “Wishin and Hopin”, a track originally recorded by Dusty Springfield in 1964. It tells how to get and marry your man, and fits in with the mise-en-scene focusing on weddings.

Titles

The credits that start to play are written in a hand written style of font. This connotes intimacy and family. Julia Roberts is the first name on the credits and we realise she is going to be a big star of the film.

The non-diegetic sound of the gospel singer adds to the religious feel.

Catch Me If You Can film opening

Genre

Catch Me If You Can is a comedy drama thriller directed by Steven Spielberg.

Narrative

Frank Abagnale has seen his family torn apart and destroyed by a child abductor. Throughout the narrative of this film, he strives to put his family back together. He is a confidence trickster and enters into lots of high spirited drama throughout the film.

Setting

The opening scene is a very memorable animation of Lowrey type figures who run through different environments which symbolise key elements of the film.

The different settings include an airport and a hospital which gives us a taste of the environments that the main character will trick his way into and the lifestyle that he will follow.

The opening shot is an establishing shot of an airport. This connects to the storyline of the film as Leonardo Di Caprio plays a con man who tricks his way into becoming a pilot. It is a long shot which shows there is a distance between the character and the airport. The airport connotes travel and distance. The two are not intrinsically connected. The character has his hand in his pocket and is adopting a very casual stance. A bright yellow arrow shows us the character. We know he is going to be an important figure in the play.

Themes

The theme of broken homes runs through the film. Throughout the film we see how a very troubled childhood can affect the rest of your life. Frank's parents divorced when he was 14 years old, and he decided to stay with his dad. Because of his broken family, he started to act in ways that demanded attention. He began to steal from local shops and hung around the wrong people, and so began his life as a con man.

Frank does not enjoy living on his own when he is on the run and he struggles with pretending to be different people all the time. The film explores the question of identity.

During his life on the run Frank becomes addicted to money and beautiful women, and addiction is another theme of the play.

Character

Leonardo Di Caprio was introduced in the opening scene as he hides between the strokes of the letters. Tom Hanks is introduced with an arrow. His body language connotes an air of importance and authority. He chases Leonardo Di Caprio and gives further hints of the storyline. The idea of chase is present throughout the sequence.
 The characters are silhouetted against a really colourful background giving a light-hearted feel. The costumes of the characters add to the 1960s feel of the sequence.

Throughout the scene, Leonardo Di Caprio takes on many different roles denoted by the change of costumes. There are lots of females which could indicate romance.

Atmosphere

Saul Bass is the graphic designer responsible for the animation. It was made by cutting out hundreds of paper body parts for the characters and then scanning them onto a computer generated backdrop.  The film does not take itself too seriously and this opening scene sets the mood for the story and encourages the viewer to engage in the story of the film before it starts. The whole scene is actually an animated reproduction of the whole movie.

 

Sound

The opening scene is played out to the  non- diegetic music from John Willows which is floaty, jazzy music. It has a 1960s feel about it. It links the subject and style of the film and creates the mood and creates a sense of suspense. The finger snaps link with the jazz style of the music and introduce a new credit or scene.

Titles

The writing is in long black lines which extend up and down from the letters. These lines cleverly create part of the scene, and the character can hide behind them, connoting a devious and cunning character. He is not quite what he seems. As the character changes, the audience is given a hint of the story to come.