Analysing Film Openings - Friends With Benefits

Friends With Benefits – First two minutes

 

The film starts with the company title which starts as a full screen title but then the transition is really smooth into the film. It links directly into the film to what the character is doing, which helps to make something that is so familiar and sometimes is boring to look at, more interesting and noticeable as it leads straight into the film. It is relatively unusual to make the ident part of the film action and is something we might be able to do, but I wouldn't necessarily worry if we couldn't do it. There is a POV shot used to help with the transition which helps get the film going straight away.

This is followed by an establishing shot of the office where the first scene is set. It helps the audience see what kind of an environment the character is working in, which we can  tell is a busy one but not that serious or formal as suggested by clothing and props.

A graphic match is used to link the two scenes where the two different characters are speaking on the phone. This helps the audience make a possible link between the two characters even though as of yet they haven’t had anything to do with each other.

During each of the characters’ phone conversation there is a lot of cross cutting used to show different parts of the conversations.

During the conversations that each of the main characters have had, shot / reverse shot is used. This gives the audience the opportunity to see each of their emotions and facial expressions during the conversation.

The non-diegetic music that is playing underneath all that happens in the two minutes of the start of the film gives the audience a very good idea of what the tone of the film is. As it is a very lively upbeat song as all these things are happening, the viewers know that it is very light hearted and weren’t meant to take anything in those two minutes seriously.

 

 

Company title started as a normal full screen shot but cleverly has a transition that directly links into the film and what the character is doing.

 

The establishing shot is shown to let the audience know that it is set in an office and help get a feel for the type of what this character does as a job.

 

There is a graphic match used to link two scenes together. This is used when both main characters answer their phones. This helps to show a possible link between the characters.

 

Shot / reverse shot is used in both conversations that are happening. This is we are able to see each characters emotions and facial expressions whilst speaking. It helps to get to know what type of person the character is meant to be.

Close up on female character’s face to help show the audience her feelings whilst she is being broken up with.

From this opening, I can see that you can actually give a lot of information in the first two minutes if you use dialogue. As our film is in a similar genre and is really all about relationships, we need to think about dialogue in this way, to establish what the characters are like and where they are in their lives. This has also shown that the main characters don't need to be shown interacting together, but do need to be linked in some way. This gives the feeling that it is destiny for them to be together. This is important because in this kind of film there is no surprise in the ending, the interest is in how you get there, so making the end result clear is not a bad thing - then the audience know what they should be rooting for all along.