Research into Opening Sequences: Legally Blonde

 As part of my research I looked into one of my favorite opening sequences. 

The first opening sequence is Legally Blonde:

•  Immediately we are aware of the genre of this film as a Rom-Com and who its main audience are.

• The swirly pink writing gives us a clue that this is about a girl and also that she is young and a typically girly girl.

•  The writing also has many connotations and the audience are expectant that the character will fit within certain stereotypes.

• She is blonde and within the first 18 seconds we can see she has fake nails on. Already we know a little about her character. She is clearly concerned with her looks.

•   The mise en scene in her room also shows this, she has lots of magazines stacked up and a bottle of blonde hair dye.

• The setting for the opening sequence is shots of a girl on her bike on her way to the main characters sororities, it is obvious that the girl is popular we know this by the amount of people are signing this card the friend is delivering to her and the amount of trouble they are going to. She has something on her desk which has her name and then “President”.

• On her wall she also has a homecoming queen banner which further adds to the development of her character.

• The music also says a lot about the movie, it includes the lyrics “it’s a perfect day, nothing standing in our way” this and the setting shows that these girls live almost perfect life’s and are clearly wealthy. It is very upbeat and clique and this helps build the genre further.

•  The lighting is also well balanced and bright with little shadows or contrast, this show that it is a light hearted movie.

• The main character Elle is not shown until the very end of the sequence this build tension and we wonder what she actually looks like as we know so much about her and her life