Analysing Opening Scenes: 'The Notebook'

The opening two minutes of this film only has non-diegetic sound all the way through, and it has a piano at a slow pace which fits the scene as there isn't much going on beside that there is a man traveling on a boat at a slow pace along with pace of the how fast the boat is going, the music stays at constant speed throughout the whole of the opening 2 minutes.

The opening 2 minutes to the film 'The Notebook', starts off with showing us mise-en-scene, which shows us a huge, spacious lakeside, with a very dark sunset. In this first two minutes it doesn't really give that much information about what the story line is about. However from what I've seen the spaciousness from the location tell us as the audience that it could start off very relaxed, However the darkness of the sunset which is a dark red, tells us that something will build up of stress which could possibly be developed during in the film. During the first 2 minutes it shows us that there is man in a boat traveling somewhere during the sunset, and this is shown by the shadow/silhouette of the man. This shows us that the man could possibly be traveling to see someone in secret, and this shown by the fact that he is on his own, and seemed relaxed as there is no else in around, which could lead to the love interest which could start off as a secret or it could be something that happened in the past, and slowly be revealed in the film. However eventually comes to a mansion and turns into another direction, which leaves the audience confused. This sets the atmosphere of the film. Also there were a lot of extreme long shots in different corners of the mise-en-scene.



The camera moved around very slowly around the location, capturing gentle moments of the man traveling on the boat, so showing the pace of the boat, which was really slow. The camera also fades slowly into the next, showing the stress free moment of that particular scene which is very open, and relaxed. The shot characters are shown in long shots especially the man on boat, which didn't show his facial features at all and focused more on what he was doing. However there was a close up shot of the old women standing by the window and it shows her facial expressions, which looks like she has been suffering about something.



The genre indicators aren't as obvious in this film as in most films, However we know that it’s a romance film as it shows a man going to meet someone which could possibly be the old women who was standing by the window, which looked like that she is waiting for someone. Also the old women in the scene were waiting by the window. Also in the first two minutes it only introduces a man and an old women who looks like may play the protagonist in the film or has importance part in the film, but doesn't give any other hints on what they could be like, leaving the audience wondering why these people have been represented like that, which will make them more intrigued into watching the film.

The shots used in the opening two minutes include of bird eye view from the old women inside of house, and it shows a view of the outside, with the bird flying away

 

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