Analysis of Opening Sequence - 10 Things I Hate About you

When watching the first two minutes of this film there are several credits that run through the beginning of the film. The font that the credits are written in a graffiti style which means that the target audience of the film would be teenagers and young adults because the type of writing is written in a style that teens of that time would have related to. It also indicates a light-hearted film. The colours of the text change with the different credits that appear. You can also tell that the film is going to be a light hearted and fun because of the way that the credits come on the screen.

The first shot of the film that we see is an establishing shot of the city that the film is filmed in. The use of an establishing shot gives us an insight into the setting of the coming scenes. We can see form this particular establishing shot that it is the setting for the whole scene and not just for the coming scene. The reason for this is so that the audience knows where the film is set for the entire film.

The establishing shot then moves on showing different parts of the city. There are still credits that come up. The main credit that comes up while this is happening is the title ‘Ten things I hate about you’. This is still written in the same font as the credits in the first part of the scene. After this has come up, we see a few more credits come up in different colours. This is also in front of the establishing shots which create an atmosphere without giving important information.

The credits stop for the main part of the beginning scene. The director chose to use a mid-shot of an approaching car with four girls in. This is to show background characters in the film. In this part of the scene can hear diegetic sound which was the music that was playing from the car. 

 

The next shot that we see if a group shot of the girls in the car. There are four of them. They are singing and laughing along to the song that is being played. The audience can tell by this that these girls are considered ‘popular’ in the school and will not have much relevance to the film. This group shot is also a mid-shot so that you can see the expression on their faces. This is because the audience can then tell what their emotions are.

The shot after this you can hear the diegetic music that is being played form the car of another girl that pulls up next to them. You can tell that their characters are very different from the music that is being played. This is because the music that was being played by the girl in the car by herself is rock and completely opposite to what the other girls are playing, making her seem different. This shot uses the rule of thirds. By using this it makes the shot much more interesting for the person that is watching the film. It is also a mid-shot so therefore you can see the expression on her face, so that the audience can connect with the character.

The next shot that we see is very interesting the, reason for this is because it is a close up of her face so therefore we are able to see the expression on her face. This allows the audience to connect with her. The way that her character is introduced shows the audience that she is going have a main character in the film. The use of the close up also show her discuss in the girls that are in the other car, and therefore shows that she does not like them girls or has nothing to do with them.

 

The next interesting shot that we see is a no head shot. This allows the audience to think about who the characters are and what they are doing without looking at individual characters. This shot is taken at a school where some of the people are playing hockey. This shows their age as well. Because of the target audience of this film the audience will relate well to it.

The final shot of the two minutes is of the people that were playing hockey. The camera has now been moved up so that the audience can see their faces. This shot is a group shot because there are more than three people in the shot. This shot also contains another credit in the same font that the other credits were written in. this is to finalise all of the credits and to ensure that the beginning scene is about to end.

This was a usefulo opening to analyse because of the way it shows character really quickly. We know who we should identify with and what kind of social clique the characters belong to. We need to do this in our opening - we want both the girls to be likeable and in particular it is important that we se the younger sister as a determined person who does not give up to make sense of her later actions.