Storylines, Openings and Binary

During the lesson we watched a variety of different film openingst, from films such as Ferris Bueller,10 thing i hate about you, Princess Day and Romeo and Juliet.


10 things i hate about you is about a new boy start a new school ,he first meets the school counsellor and then shown around my a student.There were a variety of binary oppositions created using a variety of technical areas.For example popular vs unpopular ,old vs young , rich vs poor,beautiful vs ugly and angry and agressive vs calm and happy.The use of sound in the beginning of the scene is used in order to show the difference in wealth and attitude, the teens in the shiny convertable are happily dancing to some pop music,whereas the girl in the battered old car is listening to punk rock and her face is angry.Moreover the use of mise en scene at this point is also used in order to capture the binary opposition between the two types of girls,the one in the old car has dark make-up and clothers on;the others all are wearing bright clothing.
Mise en scene also helps show the binary opposition of young and old ,for example when the teacher first meets the student there is a clear contrast in the way she dresses so old fashioned and the boys casual dress sense.

Another film which we looked at is Romeo and Juliet, the opening is about two different families who have hate each other and are in a fight at a petrol station.There are many Binary oppositions created such as Brave vs Scared,Latin American vs White, Religious vs Non Religious.The use of mise en scene is also used heavily within the opening of the Romeo and Juliet opening,the Capulet's wearing more sophisticated clothes and cowboy boots, it gives the impression they are more serious.On the other hand the Capulet's are wear more scruffy casual clothes which give the impression they are more immature.Within the clip the binary opposition of the two families are also further shown through the use of music, when the Capulet's are being shown the music like young faced paced ,however when the Montague's are shown there is slow cowboy music.The difference in the camera angles is also a technique highlights the binary opposition,there angles which are used to present the Capulet's like cowboy's,like when they step out the car there is a close up to the cowboy boot;where as the Montague boys have more normal camera angles.