Love Actually (2003) - Romantic Comedy

Written and directed by Richard Curtis (BBCi films) in 2003, starring Hugh Grant, Keira Knightly and Rowan Atkinson. Love Actually follows the lives of eight different couples in dealing with their love lives in loose tales, all set a month before Christmas in London.
Love Actually had an estimates budget of £30 million and it grossed $247, 472, and 278 (worldwide) 




LOVE ACTUALLY (Richard Curtis, 2003) from Fabien Gaffez on Vimeo.

Camera Angles
The opening scene of Love actually uses a hand held camera using medium to close up shots. The opening scene is almost like a montage of memories. The closes up shots show the expressions on the characters faces. The movement and smiles in slow motion conveys lasting happiness.
The camera zooms out to higher angle shots; this lets the audience see everything that’s going on, at once.



Mise en scene
Love Actually is a film that revolves around eight different couples’ lives, set in different places.
The scene opens with people hugging at the airport, some smiling and others upset.
Another scene is set in a recording studio where a group of people recording a song.
The audience are shown the comedy aspect to the film in the church scene when a Hollywood band appear out of the blue and perform for the newly wedded couple.
Love actually is based in central London; it gives a typical fantasy impression of London.



Sound & editing
The sound in Love Actually is mostly instrumental; the ambient music sets the scene. Apart from the theme tune, festive music is played throughout.
Alongside the non diegetic music, diegetic sounds of dialogue can be heard in the background.
The titles of Love Actually fade in on screen in red and white colours, these colours represent love and so they have connection to the film. The camera also fades from scene to scene as the titles appear on screen.

Se7en - Thriller

Directed by David Fincher, se7en was released in 1995 starring Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt.

Se7en is a film about two homicide detectives’ desperate hunt for a serial killer who justifies his crimes as a solution to the world’s ignorance of the seven deadly sins. The movie takes the viewer from the tortured remains of one victim to the next as sociopath ‘John Doe’ sermonises to detectives Sommerset (Morgan Freeman) and Mills (Brad Pitt) – one sin at a time.

Se7en was produced on an estimated budget of $30,000,000, and grossed $100,125,000 in the USA.



Se7en from Kaiser on Vimeo.

Camera angles

The opening scene starts off with an extreme close up on a book; the book has pages and pictures sewn on it with writing all over the place, all hand written. At the same time, the titles are ‘scratched’ on screen and are jumpy.

Throughout the opening scene, the camera angles are predominantly high angle close ups of objects such as books and items on the table, which shows dominance or the point of view of the character.

Mise en scene

The opening scene takes place in a basement type room. Around the room are several book shelves, neatly lined up with books, many pieces of paper lying around with writing all over them. On the table is an open book, filled with small handwriting and pictures of children. Certain words that are related to the seven deadly sins such as ‘sex’ and ‘lust’ have been crossed out. Alongside the book, on the table are other objects such as needles and blades. This suggests the character is mentally unstable, suicidal or has an unbalanced mindset even.

Sound & editing

As the scene opens and titles appear on screen, non diegetic rock music is being played. Together with the music, grinding materials such as chainsaws etc can be heard. The tempo, speed and the volume of the music rises and then falls again; this suggests that the characters mindset is unstable.

Diegetic sounds of thunder and rain can be heard though the audience cannot see because of lack of windows and natural light.

Much of the scene is distorted, jumpy and off focus, this can either represent the characters point of view or can represent his mindset.

There are also a lot of jump cuts throughout the scene, this suggests the character possible has too much on his mind and is finding it difficult to focus on just one thing.

Bridget Jones - Rom com

Camera Angles

The opening scene starts off with a shot reverse shot of a conversation between Bridget and Mark. A shot reverse shot focuses on their facial expressions while they’re in conversation with each other, therefore letting the audience judge their personality and character throughout the rest of the scene.

Mise-En-Scene

The scene starts off with a shot of London during winter; this gives the audience the feel of the ‘typical British weather’. A dull and gloomy atmosphere is set in the initial stages.

The scene then moves on to Bridget’s flat, an untidy space; again setting a depressing atmosphere. Bridget is comes in wearing her pyjamas, smoking and drinking. This gives the impression that she’s stress free and hasn’t a care in the world.

Sound & Editing

The opening scene is a frozen frame which then dissolves into s shot of London city. The shot is an establishing shot as it sets the scene for the film. Handwritten words appear on screen, making it look personalised, which symbolises a diary or personal statement of some sort.

The incidental track being played is called ‘All by myself’, this is a well known iconic break up song which suggests Bridget has recently broke up or is lonely.