About a Boy (Opening Sequence)
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ8iLBSI-Po&feature=related
This film begins with a man walking into a room where a TV show ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’ is being shown on his television with the diagetic sound of the man’s dialogue telling a story in the background. In this scene a tracking shot from a high angle is used as if someone is watching him which may signify all eyes being on him as he may well be a celebrity. High key lighting is used in this scene to show how positive this man thinks his life is looking at the moment; it could also suggest that this man has a bright future ahead of him. The non-diagetic sound in this scene is that of an acoustic guitar playing at a fast paced, upbeat sort of tempo. The man fully enters the room and answers a question that was just asked on ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’ he insults the show saying that it is a “complete load of bullocks” this gives the viewers an idea of what kind of person this man actually is, as he begins speak his accent also adds to the stereotype of a posh, obnoxious, self centred man who doesn’t care about anyone else but himself.
He keeps pet fish as he is probably the type of person who has no time for a higher maintenance animal to take care of such as a cat or a dog. He gives the impression of a womanizer as he compares men to islands, this impression is enhanced when his answer machine goes off and a woman who he went out with the day before calls him to tell him how she think things went she describes the date as ‘great’, and asks him to give her a call. This man is confident, well-spoken and has a high opinion of himself, He continues to talk about himself and compares himself to an island where women are drawn to, he describes himself as cool, and Ibiza (an island holiday destination for many women).
The location changes to a boy lying on his bed facing the ceiling, another high angle shot is used to possibly show a connection between these two characters or some strange similarity. Low key lighting is used in this scene to show how negative this boy thinks his life is going at the moment; it also suggests that he doesn’t think things will change any time soon, this is enhanced by the use of the editing technique fading to show him in different places and show that time is going by and his life is still the same. The credits shown at the beginning of the film showed the title ‘About a boy’ where the words ‘about’ and ‘boy’ are emphasised however the letter the ‘a’ is not in bold. This signifies that this character feels less small and less important than everyone else around him as if the letter ‘a’ was replaced with the word ‘the’ and the title of the movie was ‘About the boy’ this would immediately give the impression that there is something special about this boy hence increasing his level of importance. The ‘a’ is also in between two words (‘about’ and ‘boy’); this could also signify that this boy feels isolated and lonely.
The boy describes himself as shy, and someone who doesn’t fit, he keeps a pet hamster which signifies that he is lonely and probably sees his hamster as the only living organism he can share his true feelings with as the hamster cannot speak, the hamster is probably the only thing he feels will not harm him with harsh words and will not even react to anything he says. The music used in this scene is still the same; however, when the boy begins his ‘diary’ the music is slower to signify his life as being slow and boring.
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