Romantic comedy (Bridget Jones Diary)

Romantic comedy (Bridget Jones Diary, 2001, UK, Sharon Maguire)

Sound:
This short scene used almost no diegetic sound, apart from the non diegetic music which turned into diegetic due to her dancing and mining to it (playing air drums), this was done to show the audience her loneliness. This shows the audience how positive she still is even when she is on her own at Christmas. Another affect used in this scene is a non diegetic voice over, this is used to give the audience greater detail on Bridget’s life, she tells us how she is feeling through her voice and the ways she wants to change her life.

One more affect that was clearly noticeable was breaking the fourth wall (Direct Address) this is when the actor looks directly towards the camera and speaks to the audience. The affect of using this so that the audience emphasises that character as someone we should be siding or trusting. Due to this, it makes Bridget’s story connect more with the audience and making them feel more emotion for her.


Cinematography:
Tracking was used at the begging of this clip to follow Bridget walk pass other characters without having much said. The use of tracking showed us exactly where she was, on her own, and who she was talking to. From this shot we were shown that she was interacting with, no one, due to her talking to herself, this reinforces the loneliness of the character.
They then use an establishing shot to give the audience the knowledge of where this film will be set, the outside shot and the inside shot of the building. This lets the audience ask questions and guess where they are? In the outside establishing shot it tilts upwards to show the tall building where Bridget lives in, this could be symbolising the ‘mountain’ she has to climb every day, as well as how small she might feel compared to the rest of the world and others.

Editing:
This clip uses mainly cross dissolves, these are used to show time passing by, this is used very well in this genre because it can show time passing and show small changes in the scene such as Bridget moving around on the sofa, this gives and effect that time is moving on slowly. The long durations of the shots also support the effect of time passing slowly, this is because the shots seem dragged out. It also connects with Bridget’s feelings, being unhappy, depressed and down, this then makes the audience feel more sorry for her and can connect better with her and her emotions.

Mise en scene:
The costume of Bridget, pyjamas, normally refers to being depressed and feeling down, the costumes show the audience how she is feeling in a visual way. Also the colour red can represent the anger she could have inside of her at herself for being lonely on Christmas.
Low key lighting has been used throughout this clip, this refers back to the feelings of Bridget, feeling dull, and makes the audience feel sorry for her and makes them want to find out what changes she might make in her life to change it for the better.
There is a shot of a Christmas party hat, this is a good use of props. The party hat seems smash and broken, this could represent how Bridget is feeling at the moment. As well as it being damaged it is also all alone on the pole, away from everything else.

Titles:
These titles are look like someone’s hand writing, this links back to the title of the film ‘Diary’. This lets the audience know that this is her personal view of her life.

The clip has used rule of thirds for most of the shots, this allows space for the titles to appear while the clip is playing in the background, without interfering with the clip.