Analysis of two film openings

A comparison of two film openings

I have chosen to analyze Love Actually and Shrek 3 for comparison.The opening sequence of Love Actually introduces the universal theme of love. The audience are shown the love that parents feel for their children, this instantly shows that the film Love Actually is likely to be more romance than comedy.On the other hand, Shrek 3 uses many conventions of classic Disney films which ties in with its fantasy/adventure genre.


The opening sequence of both Love Actually and Shrek 3 successfully use techniques of camerawork, sound and mise en scene to establish the visual style.Shrek is introduced to us in a variety of ways which present his happiness, negative personality, exaggerate his size and make him appear to be scarier than he really is.The film starts with a close-up, birds-eye view of the story book which gives the effect that you’re reading it. Later on in the sequence we see an over the shoulder shot of Shrek cracking the mirror by looking at it this shows us that Shrek is portrayed as an ugly ogre.

Towards the end of the film opening, there is a low angle shot looking up at Shrek showing the viewer how tall he is in comparison to the villagers. We then hear the first words of the script ‘once upon a time’ and this tells the audience that the story is going to be a fairytale.

Both films introduce one of the main/central characters in the opening sequence. Consequently, the film Love Actually introduces one of the central characters played by Hugh Grant who appears to be heard but not seen in the sequence. In the beginning, the camera is at an eye level which makes the audience feel as if they were in, amongst the crowd of people in the film. This helps to put the audience in the position of Hugh Grant’s character. Close-ups are used to display expressions of emotion, emotions are shared. For example: the shots of the playful tossing of a child in the air are placed in slow motion to emphasise the heartfelt embrace actions.

The location of the film Love Actually is in the Heathrow airport, the interior gives clues about the films narratives. The titles of the two films play a big part in the opening sequences. The  title font for shriek 3 is non-threatening and decorative, giving it the appearance of a children’s story. The red font for Love Actually ties with its genre; the red colour signifies love. Both films,Shriek 3 and Love Actually use orchestral sound; In love Actually, the music is an orchestral string arrangement with piano reflecting a strong sense of love and romance setting the tone of the film.

Shriek 3 is aimed at children as much as their parents. Whereas Love Actually is more for teenagers as of Juno. In conclusion, I feel that the most successful film has to be Shrek 3. It has more of a balance in terms of its target audience amongst the three films and I find it most entertaining.