Two Examples of a Film Opening Sequence: Bridget Jones

Bridget Jones' Diary: The Edge Of Reason
2004
Directed by: Beeban Kidron

The first noticable thing is non-diegetic music; string music. Opening, we see a black background with a gold, handwritten-style typeface saying; "Universal Pictures and StudioCanal and Miramax films Present... A Working Title Production." Then, we fade from black in to a shot of Bridget writing in her diary. The sound we hear is a non-diegetic voiceover and a technique I really like is, she's writing the same thing as the voiceover.

Next, we cross dissolve into a snowy, wintery range of shots of a black car driving from different angles. It pulls up to a grand drive and we see bridget walking up to the door. Cutting to the door, her mother opens as we see a two shot of them from an over the shoulder perspective. As dialogue starts, the music changes to simple, festive, upbeat music. Cutting to a high angle shot of the hallway, we see bridget enter. The set is decorated with christmas decorations.

Bridget peers around the door of the living room looking nervous, a cut to an eyeline match; panning around the room as (voice over and music still going) she enters, smiles at people in attendance, shot at mid-close up. Dialogue between characters introduces characters, as does the voice-over. This scene carries on in a similar manner, mainly shot at eye level mid close ups.

We then cross dissolve to a hill, in which Bridget runs up, wearing a floral 50's style dress. The music now, is the famous song from "The Sound of Music", the sun is shining, you get the idea this is a very happy moment in the sequence. Then, in the same typeface and style as before, the crew is listed with small illustrated annotations next to them, mirroring their character. This whole scene has been slowed down, and she continues running. We cut to colin firth doing the same thing, but coming in from the right side of the screen instead. The camera dolly's forwards and pans to reveal the city skyline and a broader view of the park they're in. They meet in the middle and embrace. Breaking the 180 degree rule, the camera spins between them, disolving in to a montage of the same shot from different angles. The voice over continues, which is relevant to the events of the first film and the current happenings. The focus then shifts as we zoom in to a close up of their hands, in one another walking, moving towards us. We then fade to black.