To decipher what film genre Cat and I would like to use for our film beginning, we have decided to analyse the beginning of some romance films and some horror films, as these are our favourite genres so far. I have decided to analyse the beginning of the Audrey Hepburn film 'Breakfast at Tiffany's'. The film that stars a character (known as Eliza Doolittle in this film) well known for her elegance, poise and general quirkiness, she makes this film by far one of my favourite romance films.
The beginning of this film shows Audrey being dropped off by a taxi, outside the jewellery store, Tiffany's. The first shot is an establishing shot of a city road, which looks like a high street with shops. This introduces the scene and gives the audience a good feel of were this film may be set, in the city. Music begins and it is the song 'Moon river' by Johnny Merger and Henry Mancini, which if you were to watch the rest of the film you would notice this song is the only song played throughout the film. A taxi is seen driving towards the camera from a distance, it is the only car in sight, the street is completely empty so the audiences attention is bound to be on this one taxi. It also suggests it is very early morning because of the emptiness of the street and the dull lighting, but not so dull that it could be evening. The camera continues to track the taxi until it stops outside a shop, as the taxi drives away a lady is revealed.
The lady is clearly recognisable as Audrey Hepburn. She is looking very dressed up in formal attire, with a black, floor length gown, pearls around her neck, long black gloves on her hands and her hair is done up very elegantly. The next shot is a very explanatory shot of the back of her head with the store sign, 'Tiffany' next to her head, in the distance. This clearly introduces where she is standing and what she is looking at. The camera tracks her walking towards the store window and then cuts to her looking at the display from a side on angle. She then gets out a paper bag and starts eating what looks like a croissant and drinks what looks like a cup of coffee. This shows the audience she is having breakfast at Tiffany's, clearly relating to the obvious title!
She then moves on to look in the next window and this shot is different because you see her from the inside of the window with her looking in, so you can see her face straight on. The camera focuses on her facial expressions and shows the audience her reaction to what she is looking at. You see her wearing a pair of Ray Ban sunglasses which creates a more laid back casual look about her, which is a change from the overall dressed up and formal look she creates on first impressions.
The camera then watches her walking away down the street, you see her throwing her paper bag away which ends that first iconic scene. Throughout this scene there is no dialogue or digetic sound, all you can hear playing is the backing soundtrack.
Abbie Hawkins
1 comment:
Her name isn't Eliza Doolittle, it's Holly Golightly.
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