Opening Sequence Analysis - Legally Blonde

Sound:

The film starts with no background music, just the roar of the lion in the MGM logo. Straight after that we hear song "Perfect Day" by Hoku, it is non-diegetic but immediately sets a happy and chirpy mood to the film as the lyrics are supposed to be uplifting and the tune is one that makes you feel good. The music also sounds girly and if instantly makes you think of a chick flick movie. This song plays for the duration of the opening sequence.

Over the top of the background music we hear the sounds from the actions that people on screen are doing, e.g. having a water fight, playing with a frisbee and wrestling. You hear people say hello to each other and cheer and its all quite cheesy. All of these activities are fun and people are enjoying themselves which also makes the audience feel happy watching them. In a way the people in the opening are having so much fun that it seems slightly unrealistic - but then again, this is an American romantic comedy! There isn't much, if any, conversational dialogue in the opening sequence. There were only the sounds of people enjoying themselves.

Titling:

The titles in the opening start pretty much straight away. The first title that appears is the name of the production company and then the producer, which appear over blonder hair that is out of focus. The name of the film then appears over the blonde hair in bright pink, handwriting style, writing which look extremely girly and is able to appeal to the target market of teenage girls as well as signify the genre of the movie - they even dotted the i's with hearts! The hair then comes into focus while the film title is over it and we see someone brushing their hair whom the audience realises is the main character. The blonde hair in the background also directly linked with the name of the film and the audience now is able to understand what the title means - if they couldn't tell already ...

The following title we see is the name of the actress who plays main character, this also helps us realise that she is the girl with the blonde hair. After this the following titles we see are of the rest of the cast. The titles are all placed, either on their own or two at a time depending on how important the characters are, at the middle bottom of the screen while we follow a card that is being taken inside the sorority house.
The tiles for the crew also appear on  screen as the card is passed around.

Camera Work:

In the very first shot the camera is out of focus but the audience can make out that a girl has her back to us and all we can see is a close up of her blonde hair waving back and forth. When the name of the film appears on the screen then the hair comes into focus. The shot then cuts to a close up of a bicycle basket with a card addressed to Elle inside it and the audience guesses that the name of the main character, and presumably the girl who's hair we just saw, is called Elle.

The are multiple panning shots in this opening sequence, such as when Elle is brushing her hair the camera pans across the action rather than being stationary and just watching it. This is much more exciting to watch as it hints at an action rather than just doing it. The camera also tracks a girl riding the bicycle which contains Elle's card through out the opening, however they track her from various angle and distances, e.g. they track her once though a long shot across a bridge, or they track her again through a medium long shot with the shot taken from a slight left. We then realise that the camera is not tracking the girl, it is tracking the card as the camera follows the card into the sorority house. As the girl cycles along the path there is a point of view shot showing what people on  a "college" (american college, our university) campus, are doing.

There are also many close ups of Elle getting ready. We never see her whole face just the part of her body that she is grooming. E.g. we see her eyes when she is applying mascara, we see her neck as she adjusts her necklace, etc. Parallel to this we see long shots and medium long shots of the card being signed by the "sorority sisters" - the other girls in the house.

Editing:

Through out the opening sequence there are two parallel actions happening, Elle getting ready and the card being signed. The camera cuts in between the two actions to show this and to show continuity. The opening is also in chronological order, since Elle goes from being not ready to ready, and the card gets passed around to everyone until everyone has signed it. The time duration of the opening feels like around an hour since a lot of people were shown to be signing the card - and considering how long it takes us girls to get ready!

Mise en Scene:

The costumes the actors were wearing were preppy summer clothes. The boys were mainly shirtless and the girls were all dressed in very feminine clothing such as skirts and dresses. These really made the characters fit into there stereotypes as all of the girls were girly girls and all of the boys were like american "jocks" and sporty.

The opening sequence was full of props, little details that completely made the film genre a romantic comedy. I think these props were the most important thing in the opening as they made the whole thank all the more girly. The majority of the props we saw were in Elle's room as she was getting ready, girly things dotted around. For example, when Elle is painting her nails we can see her sorority paddle (a sorority paddle gets given to new members, "pledges", when they join a sorority by the older members, "sisters") and as the camera pans over it we learn that she is the president of the sorority "Delta Nu". Other small things we see are the  O.P.I nail polishes which is a very good quality and well known product, the make-up brushes, the pink photo frames and the cosmopolitan magazine stack; all of these props show us what a girly character Elle is - that, and the fact the practically everything in her room is pink.

Some things we see outside of Elle's room are all the sorority or fraternity signs, the exercise equipment, the bathroom full of girls getting ready, the cheerleaders, the flowers on the girls bicycle, etc. All of these signifies are things which people associate with girls and teenagers. Also the lighting in the opening is all very well light and bright with also shows that the genre of film is a happy one rather than a dark film like a horror movie.

Narrative:

Unlike other opening sequences, this one seems to be entirely in equilibrium. However, if taking the whole film into consideration, then this does follow the traditional narrative structure since the opening would be the equilibrium, then there would be a disequilibrium and a new equilibrium.