Film Opening 6 - Bridget Jones' Diary

Film 6 - Bridget Jones' Diary

Bridget Jones' Diary was made in 2001 by  Sharon Maguire, produced by Universal Pictures and StudioCanal and distributed by Lionsgate Home Entertainment. It had an estimated budget of $25 million and made a gross profit of $71,500,556 in the US and $281,929,795 worldwide. The opening sequence is about 1 minute 50 seconds long.

All the sound in this sequence is non-diegetic apart from the sound of a phone saying, "No new messages." The song playing is 'All by Myself' by Cèline Dion which sets the theme for the entire film - she is trying to find love. It tells us a lot about Bridget's character because we find out she's alone and upset by that fact but very accepting of it. This adds a great deal of humour because she is able to make fun of herself without really realising it which is comical for the audience to watch. She is also watching 'Frasier' on the TV and this intertextuality makes the scene relatable to many people's lives and experience,  again adding to the humour as people can laugh at themselves saying, "I've done that!" The fact that she is an easily relatable character makes her likeable from the start and the audience sympathises with her and wants her to get the happy ending she imagines. It also makes us more emotionally engaged in the film as we can feel second-hand-embarassment quite strongly as we sympathise and like the character. These cringe worthy moments the audience are heavily involved with are what gives the film a lot of it's humour.
The denotation of the phone with no new messages connotes her less than exciting home life and lack of social stimulation. This is emphasised by the lack of diegetic sounds showing that she's in her own social bubble without anyone to share her evenings with.

For most of the opening scene Bridget is sat/laid in the right-hand third of the screen with the fire in the centre and TV in the first third. This shows her life priorities as that is what your eye is drawn to in the scene.

 We almost instantly get a close-up of the TV again showing the importance of 'fantasy worlds' in her life as her own life isn't interesting enough. The fact that all we can see in this shot is the telly, board games and books connotes that Bridget spends a lot of time in the house without anything to do in the outside world. Board games are also associated with children and families which could suggest that she is holding onto what she had as a child for lack of love and comfort now. It could also show that, even though she's unhappy, she's not very good at moving on and doing something about it, hence why old board games are still stacked on her shelves.

That shot is the only variation we get of the original opening one, after the close-up of the TV and shelves we revert to the original view of the room and this is where the camera stays for the rest of the scene with Bridget just moving about within the frame. This could be boring for the viewer as there is very little visual interest but I think this was done deliberately to show the stagnant state of her life and how boring she finds it herself. The fact that she moves around within the frame could connote how she just stays within her comfort zone, never pushing the boundaries to do something new.

To see if there are any new messages she moves to the centre of the frame and towards the cameras so she's in the foreground. This could show her hopes that maybe something might change and she may be moving forwards in her life but there are no messages and she slumps out of the scene, away from the camera, defeated.

All the shots in the scene are quite long and drawn out and the transitions fade from one frame to another. This is reflective of how her life just slides from one phase to the next without much distinction or excitement and shows how nothing new or shocking has happened in her life for a very long time.
The structure of the opening sequence seems to be a metaphor for her entire life, moving at the pace her life does with the same level of excitement.

The overriding colour in the room is red - a colour that usually connotes love and passion but used in this context, simply highlights the lack of it in her life. It also creates a warm, cosy feel, again representative of how the room is her comfort zone, filled with warmth, blankets and cushions, all things associated with safety.

The phone in the foreground could show her desperation for a social life but hr inability to be able to reach out and grab it, its constantly out of reach.

Blankets and fires are denotations normally associated with the young and the old. This could connote how Bridget is slipping from being a child to an old lady without living a life in-between.
The almost overpowering red colouring could show how she feels trapped by her life and restricted by her job, her parents, her social circle etc.

Bridget herself sits smoking and drinking - both thing usually considered social - alone which connotes her lack of peer relationships. The rate at which she drinks the wine is also comical as it creates a desperate feeling of trying to escape reality through something usually drunk for pleasure.

At the end Bridget starts to sing and mime playing the instruments in the song we can hear. This draws the audience into the film and makes them feel involved because she's reacting to something normally the characters in the film can't hear and therefore, rather than distinctly separating the audience from the film character, the use of the shared sound rolls us into one. This also shows us that we're seeing the film from her perspective in first person which adds to it's relate-ability and the humour this provides.
The fact that the singing starts very subtly and building up to a full on performance at the chorus is very humorous due to the exaggeration used by the actor and adds to the drama of the titles being shown onscreen.

The font of the title is a peachy warm colour, complementing the overall red them of the set. It is also sans-serif possibly relating to the simplicity of her life.

We don't learn much about the actual content of Bridget's life, just that it's not all she wishes it was which creates a narrative enigma - who is she and why is she drinking on her own singing along to Cèline Dion?
All these signifiers combined make for a pretty clear genre - romantic comedy. We can see this in the comedic aspects (singing into a rolled up magazine) ad the choice of song which implies a wish for a love life. This hybridity makes for a wider target audience and appeal.

The credits roll along the sided of the action in the opening sequence in a yellowy colour (with connotations of happiness contrasted with the sad music fro comedic effect) with a handwriting like font which relate to the title and large aspect of the plot  - 'Bridget Jones' Diary'.