Love Rosie is a 2014 rom-com featuring Lily Collins and Sam
Claflin as the two protagonists Rosie and Alex. I have chosen to analyse this
as it has a very similar concept to the narrative of our opening scene as it
shows the journey of two protagonists and how they end up together.
In terms of sound in the opening scene of the film, I picked
out the soundtrack ‘I’ll Never Fall in Love Again’ by Dionne Warwick which
plays throughout the scene in the background. When researching into rom-coms I
discovered that soundtracks and music included within the film is almost always
recognizable ‘pop’ music. This is because the idea of rom-coms is you want the
audience to relate to the narrative and the characters and by using music
familiar to them and music that exists in the ‘real’ helps the film to be seen
as more realistic although most are fictional narratives.
The choice of song for this particularly rom-com opening
scene is an old but recognizable classic pop song and the lyrics in particular
relate to what is being shown on the screen. The very first shot shows
protagonist Rosie seated in what appears to be a wedding dress and looking very
shaken, tired, and upset as rest of the scene seems to pass her by in a daze.
By using the soundtrack quite prominently over the shot it helps the audience
to quickly build an understanding of Rosie’s situation and how she feels she’ll
‘never love again’ which instantly within the first few seconds of film builds
a connection between the audience and character as you feel sympathetic towards
her. This shows how crucial music is in complimenting the shots to build an
initial understanding of the narrative of the film.
For camera I picked out the unusual style used throughout
which is a handheld camera following the actions of the protagonists on scene.
This style begins when the audience start to see Rosie and Alex as children on
bouncy hoppers and continues through all the pieces of footage throughout their
childhood. For me, the way the camera follows their movement’s makes you feel
as if you are there, as it follows the natural eye movements of someone if they
were to also be in that scene. The use of this style links back to the idea
that rom-coms are supposed to make the audience feel involved and be able to
relate to the characters and narratives. By creating the impression that the
audience are in the scene and experiencing what a theoretical third character
would feel it helps the audience to relate and connect with the characters.
The editing links closely with the camera style as from each
scene from the childhood footage, it quickly cuts to a close up of an object in
the scene and then the handheld camera transitions up to the focus of the scene;
the two protagonists. This style of editing is fluid and flows nicely from
scene to scene making the audience feel relaxed rather than on edge and like
they’re watching these scenes pass them calmly rather than quickly and sharply.
The slow flowing editing compliments the shots as they are showing childhood
footage which makes the audience feel nostalgic and like they are witnessing a
memoir of Alex and Rosie’s lives. This helps them relate to the characters
further as they can also relate to their childhoods as a pose to just the
characters current situations.
Finally the mise-en-scene throughout the opening scene is
consistent with the genre itself. The genre of romantic-comedy is supposed to
be quite bright, light-hearted and although some do touch upon taboo subjects
they aren’t supposed to be serious dark films. Therefore, in the opening scene
of this rom-com, all the scenes are brightly lit with a variety of colours
featured in each and every scene. This makes the whole atmosphere brighter
which translates to the mood of the audience, beginning their journey with the
movie a light-hearted one so they don’t take any of the narrative too
uber-serious.
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