A Cinderella Story- 5:23
The opening sequence of ‘A Cinderella Story’ does not feature the codes and conventions that are typical of a romantic comedy film. The film begins with an aerial shot which is designed to establish the setting and movement. This shot indicates a hilly environment surrounded in snow suggesting the film might be heavenly filmed in this setting. However, after the aerial shot a wide shot is shown of a castle with the name of the film appearing. This shot still doesn’t represent the genre of the film and is still presenting a fairytale related film. Also a narrator starts talking beginning her sentence with ‘once upon a time…’ this also suggests it’s a fairytale. The camera then zooms out and reveals that the castle is actually inside a snow globe and then a two shot appears of a little girl and her father. No indication of this film being a romcom has been shown yet. The opening sequence continues to reveal the relationship between the daughter and father and whilst doing this the daughter is narrating. We then see a turn in events which show the little girls life turn around due to her father marrying the wrong woman. We are still unaware of the genre of the film throughout the entire opening sequence.
This opening sequence showing the relationship between the father and daughter give us an insight as to how the daughter’s life has become worse ever since her father passed away. Also this emotional opening sequence has been used so we can feel sympathy for her unfortunate pass and also leave us wondering as to how the death of her father is going to affect her when she is older.
The idea of the little girl suffering because of her step mother introduces the fairytale idea to the opening sequence. The idea of this little suffering at a young age suggests this is going to continue as she gets older, similarly to the classic fairytale Cinderella. Also her step sisters appear to play a huge part on her torturous life as the step mother favours them more. It’s interesting to discover how her step mother and step sisters are going to treat Sam when she grows up.
The titles appear in the right and left corner of the screen. They appear in a traditional way that many films use in their titles. However during the sequence of the father getting married the titles didn’t appear, but they did appear when Sam and her father were reading stories in bed. The colours of the titles start of an orangey brown colour during the shots of the castle. And there are only a few titles in this colour, such as the main actress ‘Hilary Duff’, the name of the film, and the producer ‘Clifford Werber’. This gives it a medieval feel to the first 40 seconds and also the main character and the people who are heavenly involved have their name in this colour singling them out to the other people involved. When the flashback appears the titles appear pink. The pink involved in the titles represents the relationship between Sam and her father. Pink represents love and affection which shows the unique bond Sam and her father had.
The opening sequence shows the father and daughter relationship. The use the prop being the snow globe used in the opening sequence shows love and care between Sam and her father. This sentimental item that has been destroyed suggests how Sam’s life might face similar consequences. This lost shows relationships don’t always last that long and unfortunately Sam had to grow up with her nasty step mother.
The production company behind is film is Warner Bros. Warner Bros are a huge production company that have produced huge blockbusters such as the Harry Potter franchise, Slumdog Millionaire, The Dark Knight, and romcom films such as Rumour Has It and Sex and the City 2. Warner Bros are a huge media institution who earned $12.6 billion in 2011. Media institutions such as Warner Bros, DreamWorks and many more have a goal which is profit. Warner Bros rely on customers for profit as they rely on the public for feedback in order for them to expand the film industry.
This opening sequence would be most attracted to young females around the ages of 13-18. Young females from this age group enjoy watching movie's which feature a relationship between people in love. Also females would feel more sympathy for the characters in this storyline which is why they would be the target audience for this film.
The relationship between Sam and her father keeps the audience interested by having the audience want to know how Sam is copping without her father. Also the various shots used such as the two shot of Sam and her father reading books together shows how they had a close relationship and spend quality time together. The audience would be interested in the film after watching the opening sequence because the audience will be intrigued to see Sam’s life since her father passed away. Also we are left with a shot zooming out of Sam’s house showing how lonely and lost she looks without her father. The audience want to see Sam grown up and discover how life has changed for her.
One editing technique used in this opening sequence is a wipe. This shot has been used when we see Sam in her fathers lap and then the wipe shows the family’s diner. This technique has been used to display the many memories Sam and her father have had. This technique used shows how Sam’s father adored her; this can be seen by her narration over the shot saying ‘I was the luckiest girl in the world’. This use of narration over the shot shows how Sam was treated like a princess as the wipe shows another memory of her spending time with her father.
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