'500 days of Summer' - Film Opening Analysis

'500 days of Summer' - Film Opening Analysis 

Codes & Conventions 

Creation of Enigma

• In the beginning, we are immediately introduced to the two main character which are the supposed ‘couple’ of this story of love.  They are introduced through a medium shot of them two sitting at the bench with their back turned which already makes the audience assume that they are lovers through their body language. This creates enigma because it has been accompanied by non-diegetic sound in-between the two character who have no dialogue but intensely looking at each other eyes and it creates enigma in-between the character of what stage they are in. However, in the very beginning before this scene, the movie opens up with the illustration of a tree blossoming with the faded city scape in the back ground, this connotes stock setting and this connotes the city which provides new beginning to different people in the city. The beginning has an unconventional structure of a film because it doesn't follow the stereotypical chronological order in the narrative and this helps enigma because we are still trying to construct the narrative from random orders. In contrast to this, there is a sudden transition with an illustration of a blank bench to symbolise themes of loneliness and misery. This is because benches are normally associated with more than 2 people at a park and a place known to share emotional intimacy towards a relationships /friendships .

Introduction of characters 

• In the beginning we are introduced to a guy character whose body language and facial language in the mise en scene denotes that he is miserable with his life. For example, in the beginning, we can see that he is in a meeting through a medium shot and he not paying attention to the speaker in the mise en scene as he looking down with his back slouching whilst everyone is looking forward and indicate that he not happy with his life and where he wants to be at that very moment and reflects his emotions. In the positioning of the frame, we can see that he is in the middle which could signify that he is a prominent character accompanied with a camera movement zooming into him. In the mise en scene we are able to see that he is wearing business wear but casual compared to his colleagues which could indicate that he more laid back and has lack of motivation daily life activities and doesn't really care about his appearance. This scene is also in natural lighting which creates a sense of realism into the narrative which an audience can automatically relate to. On the other hand, we are he introduced to another character which is the girl from the sideways view of her talking to customer on the phone with natural lighting and her body language is differed from the guy as she is more focused in everything she does and more attentive as she faces in different directions. The girl has a ponytail with a bow at the back and is wearing a blouse with complimentary blue trousers which reinforces the ideology that women mainly focuses on their appearance to please people

Setting up the plot 

• In the plot we are introduced to the themes of ‘love’ and ‘intimacy’ as the two character in the beginning as they get lost in each other’s eyes whilst they are smiling and a close up shot of their hands on top of each other with the girl’s hand with a wedding ring so we automatically think she’s engaged to him which is accompanied high lighting which indicates that it’s a significant moment and that narrative is going to be based on them. In the narrative, through the use of non-diegetic sound the voice is very storytelling and the tone of his voice helps the audience feel calm but focused at the same time because it’s neutral. After the intimate scene, it then transitions to the guys miserable life which then directs the audience attention.

Pace & Rhythm & Editing/mise en scene/camera shot

• The pace and rhythm is a variety of mainly slow paced and fast paced motions in the beginning. The slow paced movement signify a sense of sadness but can also a sense of realization each. The slow faced duration of shots of the characters accompanied with zoom ins are used to create enigma to make to direct the audience’s main attention to to these characters. Towards the end of the beginning we then begin to see face paced movement through the use of pan camera movement to the girl which then transitions from a sad atmosphere to a happy atmosphere in order to start the narrative.

Mood and tone (non diegetic music)

• The non-diegetic music in the beginning is a soft orchestra music with a guy whistling in the beginning which is like a stereotypical fairy-tale/ fantasy music to make it seem more conventional.