Film Openings - Once (Media Language) // Research

Woman standing on left hand side in foreground

The opening scene starts with a completely black screen and the diegetic music of the man busking comes straight in. At 0:02 the words 'Glen Hansard' fade in in the bottom left corner of the screen. This stays for around 4 seconds then as it fades out the words 'Marketa Irglova' fade in on the right hand side of the screen. They also stay for around 4 seconds and then fade out leaving the screen black. At 0:13 it cuts to an extra long shot of the man busking on the street. The camera taking this shot appears to be handheld as the shot is a little shaky. This is probably done on purpose as the film is independent and they want to make it seem more real. At 0:17 we can see the 'c' for the word 'once' slides down from the centre of the top of the screen going towards the middle. At 0:20 the letters 'o' and 'e' slide from the left and right hand side going towards the centre. At 0:22 the 'n' appears, sliding up from the bottom of the screen. By 0:23 these letters have come together to make the word 'once'. This word fades out at 0:26 as the busker begins to sing. The man continues singing and the shot stays the same. At 1:16 the camera begins to move forward getting closer to the main subject of the shot (the man busking). By 1:29 this shot has become a long shot as the camera has got a lot closer. The camera continues to go closer in and is a medium shot at 1:40. By now we are close enough to the man to see what he looks like. At 1:46 the shot has gone in even closer and is a medium close up. This starts to zoom out by 2:22 and becomes a medium shot. As he finishes the song the camera zooms out even more and by 2:31 the back of a woman is revealed on the left hand side in the foreground. At 2:33 she claps showing that she enjoyed the performance. The scene ends with the man nodding at the woman showing he appreciates her clapping. This makes the audience wonder what will happen next and whether dialogue will be exchanged between these two people.