Film Openings - Once (Representation) // Research

Characters/Social Groups

The character shown in this opening scene is a male wearing a coat and scarf which gives annotations of practicality making him agree with the archetypal masculine role as he would rather be warm and practical then wear really smart clothes that aren't warm. In a film you would usually expect a woman character to agree with the archetypal feminine role whereas in this case the woman shown at the end doesn't. She is also wearing (by the looks of it) a warm coat which makes her subvert the archetypally feminine role as she values being warm over wearing pretty clothes. No make up can be seen in this shot and the accent cannot completely be relied upon as the man is singing and people often change their accents when they sing. This man is shown on a large, empty street busking and the fact that it is empty for most of the scene maybe shows how he is a lost soul and hasn't found where he belongs as he is performing in a place with no one around to appreciate his music.

Settings/Locations



A man busking by two shops and a bin

The only location shown is an urban, empty street in a city somewhere (the exact location is not obvious in the opening). On the street two shops are either side of the frame in the background and these shops look like cheap clothing, high street shops which implies that the man is busking in a not so great area of wherever he is. In addition to this there is a couple of bins in front of the shop on the left and as he is very close to these bins it's almost like he is like garbage as the only place he can busk is by the bins. However the street doesn't appear to have any rubbish on it (probably because there are massive bins so close by) so he does get to busk in quite a clean area. The props used are the guitar and the man's guitar case. The guitar is an icon of musicality and the guitar case open in front of him shows how the man would like money from passers by as he's playing music. This suggests to the audience that the man could be quite poor and have to busk for a bit of extra cash.

Sound

The only sound heard throughout is the diegetic sound of the man busking; singing one song. This creates quite a chilled out atmosphere and the audience can see that he is quite an emotional character as his feelings are expressed in a song which the audience would assume is an original as it is not recognisable.

Creating Mood/Atmosphere

No artificial lighting is used in this scene. There is lighting probably from the street and also from the shops by the man. I do not think any filters are used either as the colours look very realistic and it is an independent film so they would most likely want it to have a social-realism style and seem realistic. The mood it establishes as I said before is quite chilled out but it also provokes thought to the audience as they wonder who this man is and what he does.