Research- Two Romances and a Gansta Flick

So, in class today we watched three openings. The first two were from the Romantic Comedies of Notting Hill then Definitely, Maybe. Then followed by the completely opposite, Goodfellas.

To start off with, Notting Hill:
The film is a Romantic comedy. This is shown in several ways. It starts off with slow, close-up images of the female main character Anne Scotts (Julia Roberts). The camera is also at a slight low angle; looking up at her. This is to get us to love her from the start. It also details what sort of character she is. She's a rich and famous movie star. This is represented through the clothes she wears (very elegant, high-end clothing) and also the background is always paparazzi flashing their cameras. In contrast though, we jump to a bustling busy street of Notting Hill where Hugh Grant's character starts describing it. This is where the comedy comes in. Like he makes jokes of the guy who woke up with a Tattoo saying, "I love Ken." Or people coming out of the hair salon looking like the cookie monster. Also it shows where they live is completely different. She's constantly surrounded by paparazzi while he's surrounded by market, middle-class people. Introducing both characters like so shows that more than likely they are going to meet (and being a romance, fall in love) or influence each other in some way.



Definately, Maybe:

This too, is a romantic comedy... but the opening is portayed quite differently from Notting Hill. It starts off with the main character (Ryan Reynolds) sitting in his office and him recieving a divorce paper. This sort of sets up the whole story. Although, we know divorces are sad so this causes us to feel for the main character. He then steps outside and walks through New York City while listening to a very upbeat, feel good song. Other than the divorce paper, there is really no other indicator within the first two minutes of the film that this is a romance. Many comedy pointers, such as Ryan Reynolds nearly getting run over by a bus but someone stopping him and then they lip, "Thank you" to each other because they both have huge headphones on. Establishing the setting is quite different in this film compared to Notting Hill. Notting Hill, gave us a high angle shot of Notting Hill street then panned over some of the shops whereas here, everything is shot from the main character's point of view. Low angle shots on land marks such as the Empire State Building or Long Shots of Central Park. This also sets the time. Modern day New York.





In completely contrast to these two films, we finished off by watching the opening two minutes of Goodfellas:

This is a definate ganster film. However, it could also be looked at as a Period Drama. The film (as it states after the opening credits) takes place in 1970's New York. There is no real indication of it being New York city (because its pitch black) but there are a few indicators to time. The three men are driving a 70's style car and wearing quite 70's style clothing. The colors are very dark insinuating the theme. Its going to be a dark and violent movie. When the three gansters hear banging from the back of the car they pull over. Very slowly, the camera zooms in to the back of the trunk, creating anticpation. The three gansters are bathed in red light. When the trunk is open we see a bad bleeding man wrapped in paper. The other two men instantly begin stabbing and shooting the man till he dies. This sets up that the plot is going to be very violent and gorey.