Opening EG1: Bridget Jones's Diary, 2001

Movie Poster

Bridget Jones's Diary 

Sharon Maguire, 2001

Production: Miramax Films; Universal Pictures; StudioCanal; Working Title Films; Little Bird.

Budget: $26m; UK box office:£ 41m

RottenTomatoes.com 81%; IMDB 6.7

 
SUMMARY/IDEAS I MIGHT USE:

main character starting with a monologue

Idents/Titles:

Universal Studios 

Studio Canal

Miramax Films 

Working Title - audio bridge - flute plays - non-diegetic sound 

first title - main character  

In order of apperance:
Renee Zellweger 
Collin Firth
Hugh Grant
Jim Broadbent
Gemma Jones
Casting by Michelle Guish
Line Producer Peter McAlleese
Music Supervisor Nick Angel
Co Producers Debra Hayward
                   Lisa Chasin

Same style of writing used 'girly handwriting'

Original Score by Patrick Doyle
Costume Designer Rachel Fleming
Production Designer Gemma Jackson
Editor Martin Walsh
Director of Photography Stuart Dryburgh
Excecutive Producer Helen Fielding 
Based on the Novel by Helen Fielding 
Screenplay by Helen Fielding 
                    Andrew Davies 
                    Richard Curtis
Produced by Tim Bevan
                  Eric Fellner
                  Jonathan Cavendish
Directed by Sharon Maguire

Synopsis:

starting the diary

Bridget Jones is a Rom-Com about an unattached 30-something who realizes she's got to change her life. After a New Year's Eve, she vows that this new year is the one in which she'll get her act together. She'll lose weight, she'll smoke and drink less, and she'll document it all in a diary.

Sound:

Elements of the Sound Mix:

• womans voices starts - middle aged - narrator - sarcasm and slightly fed up tone  
• dialogue continues throughout opening between herself narrating with the occasional dialogue from mother christmas music starts - upbeat jolly tunes - non diegetic sound   
• then fades and becomes diegetic sound door closes - diegetic sound older woman starts to talk to middle aged woman - her mum background music and inaudiable chatter

Analysis:

Opening Scene: 

opens on MS of Bridget as she walks past in the snow - blonde middle aged naive woman quite shy - lost - no purpose? 

Opening Scenes: 

binary opposites 

man - woman - bridget and mr darcy 

urban - hometown - london - countryside - parents live - rurual 

dominant - mum bossing her around trying to find her a boyfriend - sparking tension between her and mr darcy 

submissibe - bridget - on her own no one to sympathise with but her dad - actually likes mr darcy and isnt like all the others her mum usually picks out for her or chooses

Mise-en-scene: 

Opening scene - cold wintery snowy weather - pathetic fallacy - miserable - fed up
Bridget - Thick coat and scarf on - not glamourous - no make up and hair is not perfect - made to wear plumper clothes to make her look more overweight.
mum in shot - typical wear of a woman of upper middle class - clothing worn is usually worn by a woman of her age - accent is southern english showing class and this being stereotypical of an english represented in a Rom-Com - the dutch angle used at the beginning signifies alienation and intimidation. 

Bridget 2nd Scene - wearing pjs - red - room is a mess - watching tv - reflecting what she is thinking and feeling within the programmes used - drinking wine A LOT - 

After drinking the wine diegetic sound turns non diegetic as she mouths the words to the song


Representations:

Daniel Cleaver

Mark Darcy - Important job - a lot of money - dresses according to the job - suit, tie, briefcase etc - shows the townhouse as a sign of his wealth.


Daniel Cleaver - Important job - a lot of money - dresses not according to the job - suit, but no tie and top button undone creating a more relaxed approach - shows the townhouse as a sign of his wealth.

flirtatious remarks from daniel with bridgets bad fashion sense

Bridget Jones - Single - overweight - good job - woman being more dominant - no fashion sense as such - big knickers - and doesn't dress according to her job with low tops and short skirts.


Soundtrack:

All by myself by celine dion - relates back to the monologue that she is going to be 'living by her self and been eaten when dead by alsatians' if she doesnt do something about it. The song is also sad so reinforces the narrative.

Genre Codes and Conventions

 
Titles that fade in and out. In Love Actually titles at point to not disturb any action/dialogue

the love triangle is the main foundation of many rom coms,  main characters often have many flaws but more exaggerated.

There is often a main love interest that we see before the second love interest appears.. in Bridget Jones' diary the love between Colin firth's character and the title character is presented by Colin firths character turning around well before Bridget reaches him, and him looking at her.

An example of an atypical Rom-Com is About a Boy, this is what writer tamar jeffer mcdonald, calls a homme-com, this is where the main character is a male as opposed to a female, the make uo of the film is styill the same, with the mans character flaws being exaggerated.

in BJD Bridget Jones humiliates herself in front of the audience, this increases the relatability to the character and makes them seem more human.


original love interest to start
second love interest to create conflict, generally both are similar, but don't get along.
friend to give advise

non-diegetic audio to start often linking the final ident, as seen in our general codes and conventions