'Fifty Shades of Grey' - Film Opening Analysis

Fifty Shades of Grey

Codes and Conventions 

Creation of Enigma

• In the beginning we hear a very enigmatic music (non - diegetic sound) being played such as ‘I put a spell on you’ the piano increases it’s volume of sound in the beginning which creates a mischievous, and an adventurous atmosphere. Also, the film begins with a time lapse of the clouds in a very low key lighting which creates a mysterious atmosphere. This also suggest that a time has been anticipated and has finally come which again creates enigma and towards the narrative. As the time lapse ends, it has a fade out (white to black). The colours that were associated in the beginning were dull colours such as ‘Black, Grey and White’ which also creates enigma because they are often associated with the darkness which are linked to pain, sadness and death.  On the other hand, we get a series of a very long shot of cities, which means that it’s very chaotic and filled with drama as the city is mainly associated with different lifestyle and people and in films it’s conventions are that people live in a very small world which leads to possible conflicts which again creates enigma

Stock Characters 

• The first character that we are able to identify is the supposed ‘Prince Charming’ however he is represented to be very isolated. In the beginning, his face is not clearly shown and is introduced in a low key lighting which could signify his lifestyle and personality type. On the other hand, this character is introduced through a long shot accompanied with a zoom in which creates enigma. Through the long shot we are able to establish his ‘wardrobe’ in the mise en scene. The amount of space and the organisation into his room signifies that he is wealthy and a sophisticated gentleman where are able to see a selection suits which connotes that he is a business man. This suggests that he is from the upper class, which means that he is control over people which makes him even more dominant which supports a stereotypical dominant ideology such as ‘Patriarchy’. He supports the stereotypical ideology that he is the ‘prince charming’ because he is rich, sophisticated and organised. However, this does create enigma because his room looks almost too ‘perfect; that it’s hard to believe that the precision of the clothes and shoes in-between each other are the same which tell us something unusual about him. Later on, we see that he is introduced as mysterious because we get a close up shot of his feet running, long shot of him running but his back is facing the camera, a very long shot again of him running, medium shot of with nude back facing the camera and this creates enigma because as we were just slowly getting to know this character as get closer and close we get pulled back again through the use of very long shot and this disables the audience to form a deeper connection with him yet because we can’t distinguish his face, voice  and how he socializes with people yet to know him properly. In the beginning we only get to see him day to day normal activities such as ‘running’ and ‘getting changed’ which doesn’t give us a full assumption about him. Moreover, we get a sense of impression that he is good looking man because we are able to see he is fit and we get a medium shot of his back which connotes he takes pride in himself and how he looks. On the other hand, the second character that has been introduced which is introduced in a different environment which is a ‘school’ she is introduced through a long shot from a crowded corridor of student which differs and signifies 2 different world compared to the first character that we have been introduced too (Binary Opposites of Class and Status -  Upper Vs. Middle). She is also introduced in natural which create a sense of realism of which the audience can identify this character that they can relate to. Her costume and mise en scene is more colourful which again creates binary opposites of two worlds.

Themes

1.  Seduction
2. Mystery
3. Secrets
4. Unknown
5. Love
6. Passion
7. Conflict  

Reinforced through:

1.   Low key Lighting
2.  Close up shots
3.  Intense body language from the guy
4.  No Camera Shots of face of the guy
5.  Non Diegetic Sound
6. I put a spell on you – seductive love song
7. School - stereotypical stock setting
8. Office - stereotypical stock setting 

Narrative

• In the narrative, we are able to see clear binary opposites through the use of natural, high key lighting and low key lighting between the two characters in the beginning and different environments through the mise en scene who they’re with and what they are doing. This contributes to the addition of enigma in the narrative because we already know as an audience that these two character from different worlds are about collide which might could result to different themes such as conflict, love and a mystery to unravel. However, we don’t see them directly together in the beginning which creates anticipation for the audience of how, where, what and when they will meet to see how they will build on in the narrative. 

Iconography

• The iconography, is the typical business wear of the guy first introduced into the narrative in order to connote an upper class lifestyle. The girl’s costume is the stereotypical conservative wear of a man which connotes that she is very secluded and doesn’t like to be provocative. Whereas, the guy is already introduced to dominant in a high class fashion which might be a magnet for a lot of girls as we have been exposed to his body.  We also see an iconography of the city as a stereotypical setting instead of a countryside because in the city we tend to associate them as a small world when it comes to characters from there.