Opening scene annalysis

500 Days of summer

Director: Marc Webb
Production company: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures, FilmFlex
Domestic box office: $32,391,374
Year: 2009

The film opens with a birds eye view of an engaged\married couples hand. This gives immediate genre indication to it being one of a romantic film, this is solidified by the prompt use of a voiceover telling the audience the nature of the story. The sad whimsical music also sets the scene, giving the audience an indication to wether the love story is a happy one or not. 

 

The second shot is an animation of numbers in brackets going down as the tree turns from brown to green, this gives connotation that the lower the number the newer, thus nicer it is.

The architectural drawing of the buildings adds to the mise-en-scene as the film is set in a city and the main character being interested in architecture as the audience finds out later on in the film.

The next shot along with the voiceover gives the audience a large insight to the exposition as it explains who the protagonist is and back story to his life. This shot is a medium long shot which zooms into a medium shot. The reflection of how much the audience knows about the character is shortly seen through the camera zooming in - as we find out more we get closer to him. The fact that the length of take is long gives the audience chance to dwell on the characters.

These medium long shots zooming into medium shots are also used when the audience gets introduced to the protagonists younger past selfs. In this shot the we can get more insight to the character as the props in his bedroom tell us about the boy, along with the information being solidified by the voice, "this belief stemmed from early exposure to sad british punk music"- this is seen through the posters and t-shirt.

When the 'girl' is introduced the same shot types are used showing continuity, however she is faced away from the camera suggesting a sense of mystery. This shot is set back in present day and in the same work environment as the 'guy'. The music and tone of voice continues in the same sound reassuring the audience that it is still the introduction.

The shot of the female protagonist in her childhood is an over the shoulder shot focusing on the reflection in the mirror as the camera zooms in to reveal more about the character visually as the narrator tells the audience audibly. The fact that the girl loved that could easily cut off her hair and "feel nothing" gives the audience exposition but also shows a sense of mystery.

This next shot is a medium shot of the male protagonist that pans across to an extreme long shot of the female character, The music changes at this point from less melancholy to a more hopeful tune as the audience is informed that this is the point in which the two characters meet.

The last shot before the titles is a medium close up tracking shot, of the character Summer, she looks calm and content giving the viewer peaceful connotations. The introduction to the characters ends with the words "this is not a love story", this is said with a blank background to emphasise the words. This may give negative connotations as the beginning shot of the engaged couples hands is being contrasted therefore the audience may feel let down. However the music changes from the instrumental song to a much happier song. as the titles are displayed.

After the character introduction the feel of the film completely changes because of the music and the happy home videos of the actors, acting as a background to the titles.

It is also edited so that the videos fit together showing each side of the two characters along with the titles of the cast and crew. This also gives the audience the sense that they understand them on a deeper level because they have witnessed the characters' personal childhoods through the home videos.

The home videos are shown in chronological order as the audience gets to witness the characters growing up this continues on until the song comes to a close ending the list of titles. This is a clear ending to the film opening.