For this assignment, we were asked to choose two films in the genre we are creating and decode their film openings. I picked (500) Days of Summer and 10 Things I Hate About You. I then was tasked to watch their film openings and anaylze them for first impressions, genre, narrative clues, visual design, media language, motion, sound, music, representation, audience, and overall effectiveness. As I watched these films I took note on if they were characteristics of the rom-com subgenre- if not how did they differ. Once I described these film opennings I had to compare them.
Film Opening Analysis #1: 500 Days of Summer
The film opening of (500) Days of Summer immediately establishes a more comedic
mood, over anything. The viewer starts to feel a sense of warmth, comfort, and nostalgia as they
see the potential the characters have, the calm music, the typewriter font, and finally the clips of
our main characters as children. Within the first four minutes of this film, we are presented with
jokes from both on screen text and our narrator. Strong dialogue is essential to the romantic
comedy genre. The audience is immediately put into a third person perspective, viewing our two
protagonists as we gain insight to their lives and future relationship. This starts to set the pacing
for the romantic aspect of this genre. The opening can be broken up into three major categories,
clips of them together, clips of just Tom, and clips of Summer. This sets the expectation that we
are going to see the characters as both individual and a couple, giving a take on the romantic
comedy genre that breaks the boy meets girl and then they are inseparable narrative. This sets an
accurate introduction of this specific romantic comedy, despite it being different to other
romantic comedies. Throughout the film we experience the characters as they are together and
separately, so this introduction properly introduces this narrative. Interestingly, we hear our
narrator say, “This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront this is not a love
story.” This raises questions on what will happen between these two characters throughout the
film, whether they truly will end up together or not.
The first clip is our first body of text. We see is a black screen with simple text in the
bottom left. We are introduced with an “AUTHOR’S NOTE” that claims that “The following is a
work of fiction. Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental. Especially you
Jenny Beckman.” And then curses. This immediately makes the audience laugh and get curious
on who Jenny is. In hindsight we can assume it was an ex-girlfriend, but this is never confirmed
in the film. The screen cuts to black, and we hear a whistling sound as the title appears on to the
screen. The background is like a dirty, sketchbook, paper, with evenly spaced text that is left
justified. The left side of the text is in the center, letting the text flow more into the right side of
the screen. The text itself is simple, like what would be use on a typewriter or professional
setting. These visuals all work together to create the comforting nostalgic mood. We are familiar
with these elements and know them to be reliable. We get a sketch of a city and a grown tree that
is drawn onto the paper. The number in the parathesis starts to shift to a 488 and a bench appears.
These graphics also are used together in a way to create the comforting, nostalgia. While there
may be something eerie about a standalone bench, the non-diegetic piano music helps to offset
this. Moving past the story line, we see the actual title cards. These title cards are placed with
scenes of our characters as children. We get Tom on the left and Summer on the right. The text is
sometimes on the clips and other times on a black screen. The text is always centered in the
middle or bottom of the half that they occupy. It once more is evenly spaced, typewriter font, that
is left justified. The music played is a calm non-diegetic song, with piano that eases us into the
movie. This creates the comforting feeling as the consistency allows us to fall into a sense of
security. The color palette used further enhances this comforting, nostalgic feeling. There are no
bright or pops of colors. The colors are browns, neutrals, and grays. There is allows the audience
to feel comforted by the neutral, every day, mundanity of the scenes.The film opening of (500) Days of Summer is one I see as creative, as the techniques used
flow together in a calming way. After the written authors note, the screen cuts to black, and we
hear a whistling sound as the title appears on to the screen. Using the bench that appears with the
(488), a graphic match cut editing technique is utilized to shift to a long, two shot, asymmetrical
shot of the characters on a bench overlooking a city. We then cut to medium shot of Summer then
Tom, showing their expressions separately, then to their hands on a bench on top of each other.
We see Summer has a ring and start to assume that this is our happy couple at the end of the
movie, this lures us into a sense of security and comfort as we believe our couple will last
forever. The scene then fades to the sketch book like background as the number dials to a 1 in
parenthesis. We then cut to a scene of Tom in the office that pushes in to his bored face. We then
cut to a scene of Tom as a boy, once again pushing in. We then cut to summer in the office
pushing in, then cuts to her as a girl once again pushing. We then cut back to Tom in the office,
pushing out then pans to Summer walking in the same office. We then fade to the title cards.
These edits are done seamlessly, and the movements used are steady. The pacing is slow and
consistent. This allows the audience to feel comfortable and believe in this love story, despite
being told otherwise.
This film opening appeals to mature audiences, ones who could handle curse words and
the prospective of relationships, but not necessarily adults. These people enjoy movies that allow
them to feel at ease and seek moves that relax them. The opening positions this audience to
expect the characters to fall in love, despite the narrator warning them against this. Those who
heed the warning are likely to be curious about what he means. The opening prepares the
audience to get comfortable for this supposed love story, enhancing the storytelling in ways that
make sense once the viewer finishes the movie. The opening promises that while there is comfort
to be found in this love story it will not be one that lasts forever.
Film Opening Analysis #2: 10 Things I Hate About You
The film opening of 10 Things I Hate About You is not indicative of the romantic comedy
genre. The immediate tone is teenage angst. The mood evoked into the viewer is one of
nostalgia. This opening is less than 2 minutes long and shows the title card with the action. As an
introduction to the film, we get very little plot or insight. We get to know about our main
character and setting, but overall have no clue what this supposed romantic comedy is about. The
genre conventions are not apparent in this opening, making it easy to misunderstand what the
viewer is watching. While the genre is not conveyed in this short time span, we do get the
narrative that our main character, Kat, is a brooding, loner, teenager entering her high school.
From this we get to know that our character likely has troubles connecting to others. The opening
leaves room for confusion as there is no indication of romance, but rather the exact opposite as
the title, 10 Things I Hate About You, suggests.
The producers used an interesting text style, one like graffiti or doodles in a sketch book.
The names appear on screen in big colorful letters, that have a slight shaking animation, directly
in the middle of the frame, along with a ‘90s pop song. This creates the teenage angst tone as it
feels like a childish take on a movie introduction. The pops of colorful text on a normal,
mundane school life with little color creates contrast of the teenage mentality to the realities of
life. Our main character drives into frame in a red car, and music that offsets the norm with lyricsthat say, “I don’t give a damn about my bad reputation.
” This furthers the idea that she is a loner
with little care to how the world sees her.
The movie starts with a black screen, the text of the production company being visible.
We then have an establishing shot that is drawn into the frame. This then pans over to establish
the community, which then pushes into a medium shot of teenage girls dancing in a car, with
their pop music. This then pans to Kat in her red car, as the teenage girls stop dancing at her
smirk, and her song starts to play. Kat drives off and the scene cuts to teenage boys playing
hockey as Kat pushes her way to class without socializing, her angsty song continuing to play.
This pace is slow and steady, following the natural progression of a car going to school. This
helps set the nostalgic tone, as we yearn for a romanticized version of our teenage lives. The
pacing is indicative of the romantic comedy subgenre but as the viewer there is nothing else that
hints to this.
Based on this opening sequence, the target audience is likely teenagers. This appeals to
their ideas of how adolescence feels in high school. Among this audience the viewers are likely
to enjoy movies where there is rebellion and misunderstanding. This opens the audience to feel
connected to a character and be excited to see her story. This opening does not prepare the
audience for the romance of the movie, rather is creates this teenage story that seems to lack any
romantic connection. It decorates the story by setting our expectations for one character and her
narrative. This opening promises a story filled with angst.
Comparing/Contrasting Film Openings
As romantic comedies, these film openings both do not prepare us for the ending, leaving
an element of surprise that differs for each.
While (500) Days of Summer seems romantic and lighthearted, we know in the end the
characters do not end up together and Tom gets his heart broken. This differs as 10 Things I Hate
About You starts with angst but the ending is full of romance as Kat falls for the love interest,
Patrick. (500) Days of Summer has obvious elements of romantic comedies, in terms of staging
with the two shot and center framing, along with the fluid, slow movements that let you linger
and get comfortable as we follow the characters along. But the movie, 10 Things I Hate About
You, has only angst, creating this sense of rebellion rather than love.
These films use very different title sequences. (500) Days of Summer uses title cards at
the end of the action and 10 Things I Hate About You incorporates it with the action. The former
creates this idea that audience is following a narrative that already happened, which is further
supported with the message at the beginning and as Tom breaks the fourth wall at the very end.
10 Things I Hate About You creates this idea that we are following Kat as this happens at the very
moment it is being filmed, with credits coming in front of the action.
10 Things I Hate About You used a more colorful, scratchy, angsty text while (500) Days
of Summer used a typewriter like, neat, white font that created comfort. These differences helped
set different tones in the narrative of the movies.
Both these scenes used primarily neutral colors that romanticized the mundanity of life
through its slow steady film movements, angles, and techniques.
(500) Days of Summer was overall more successful in its effectiveness of a displaying a
romantic comedy genre, but 10 Things I Hate About You gave more insight to our main character.
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