Dear John (2010) Film Opening Analysis

Analysis stops at 4 minutes

The first film opening that I am going to be analysing is romantic drama-war film, Dear John, which was released in February 2010, starring Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried, directed by Lasse Hallstrom, distributed by Screen Gems and the studio being Relativity Media. It earned $114,977,104, debuting at number one at the box office and received mixed to negative reviews from critics.

The film begins showing two Sergeants in a high angle shot, which tells us that they are not very powerful, who look to be from the US army. One of the Sergeants seems to be injured, which explains the use of the high angle shot, and the other is helping him. The camera is shaking slightly, suggesting that the environment is dangerous and the use of having the it in slow motion emphasises the dramatic feel of the scene. A flashback occurs which shows a CU of a younger version of the character, who is having coins fall all over him, which are in deep focus in comparison to his head. A voiceover of the character then describes the process of how coins are made and compares himself to a coin in the US army. The fact that the film begins with a voiceover of this character, implies that the rest of the film will be based around him as we can infer that he is the lead character. 

A high angle MS of the character, who seems to be dead on the ground is then used which zooms in slowly on his face. Blood can be seen around his neck which although may not be typical in a romance film, but would still most likely be seen in a war based film. The use of the blood also shows how much danger he is in and emphasises his bravery, which is an archetypal masculine trait. 

After fading to black, it then proceeds to a LS of him on a beach, where the character, played by Channing Tatum, is seen finishing surfing and then jump cuts to a scene where he is looking over a pier on which he sees a group of four people, which are seen in a LS, two women and two men, that seem to be a pair of couples. One of the men accidentally pushes off her purse into the sea and as he goes to rescue it, the character played by Channing Tatum, beats him to it and in the XLS, dives in to the sea and rescues her purse.

We can tell that the movie is going to be based around the woman who dropped her purse and the heroic man who saved it as it immediately shows that there is interest between their characters. The heroicness of the character shows that he is trying to impress the female character to gain her affection. In addition, the very beginning of the film shows him being injured at war, which gives clues to the audience on some of the key themes that will occur throughout the rest of the film.

The first impression we have of the main character is that he is a tough and brave man as the costume that he is wearing which looks like an army uniform. He is also in a dark, muddy location outdoors and the diegetic sound of guns and shouting connotes that he is powerful and strong because he is showing that he is fearless, which is an archetypal trait of a masculine man, which affects the audiences reading of the character and hints that the character will also be brave and strong throughout the film.

In the long shot of the character when he is emerging from the sea, he is topless which attracts a young, female audience, which is the audience that stereotypically watch romance films. He is also holding a surfboard, which tells the reader that he is athletic. This also tells the audience that he is going to be the ‘hottie’ and maybe the love interest during the rest of the film. In the LS of the female character, she is wearing white and the colour white is an icon of purity and innocence, which suggests to the audience that the character is going to reflect this throughout the rest of film.

  

The weather in the establishing shot is sunny which is stereotypical of a romance film. This tells the audience that the film will be set in a hot country such as America. It also tells the audience that the film will be a happy film as sun is often related to happiness. A way in which this has been done is through the lighting used, being very bright which signifies that the location is sunny and hot. Also, bright lighting connotes serenity which links back to the location and makes the audience's reading of the film to be positive and uplifting, which again, is an icon of the romance genre. 

Additionally, in the establishing shot we see that the film is set on a beach, which is also typical of a romance film and connotes a calm and relaxing atmosphere and could suggest to the audience that the atmosphere will be similar throughout the rest of the film. Furthermore, the ambient sound of the waves lapping in the background also adds to the calm mood and atmosphere that is set at the beginning of the film as the sound of the beach is often related to a sense of relaxation.

In addition, the speed of the camera movements when they pan across the characters is very slow which also adds to this laid back, relaxed atmosphere that is typical of the genre.

The first piece of information that we see at the beginning of the film is an ident telling us the distributor of the film, being Screen Gems. The ident uses red, sans serif typography that is formed in a straight line under a matching red logo. Sound is played during the ident that increases in volume as the ident begins to appear through the large red light that is cast before it. This then fades into darkness.

The next ident that appears starts with an abundance of blue dots. It quickly zooms out and it shows what looks to be a blue galaxy with planets moving around it. The matching blue sans serif typography which has a blue glow around the lettering then appears across this image by the letters coming in from all directions and forming the name of the studio, Relativity Media. Much like the previous ident, the sound that accompanies the ident increases in volume as the typography appears.

Then the titles appear which again tells us the distributor and the name of the studio used in the film. The serif typography is white on a black background and has quiet, gentle incidental music that is playing alongside it which then carries on into the flashback. Serif typography is typical of a romance film as it connotes elegance and femininity which also relates to the films target audience.