The Holiday Opening Sequence

The first two things seen on the opening sequence are the logo's for Columbia and then universal, once these have faded the two companies are repeated in text form which high lights there importance. The shot then changes to a male and a female kissing with up beat happy music with a pond and nice surrounding, this connotes to the viewer that the film is likely to be a romantic film. Whilst this is happening along the bottom center, The names of production companies involved in making the film are displayed, this is in order to give them recognisiton and credit.

Then, we are introduced to our first character, Jack Black is seen working at a desk, he is shown first because it gives him recognition and also tells the audience that he is one of the main characters in this film. Whilst the camera is showing what the character is doing, in the bottom right hand corner names of actors who are in the film are shown, the first name is Cameron Diaz, this is because in the story line she is one of the main characters and also she is a very well known actress so would be put first out of everyone else in the film, it then goes on to say Kate Winslet and Jack Black etc.

Whilst all this is taking place, narration begins to happen to provide a prologue to the film, this is so that it sets the scene for the people watching the film and helps them gain a better understanding to the character that is speaking. She speaks about love and quotes shakespeares words about love which once again tells the audience that the genre of the film is romance.

The screen slides across to black as the tempo of the music picks up and then the title of the film is shown, it is done like this because when the new shot fades in, it is in a different location with different actors but it tells us that the actions taking place in both different places are happening simultaneously to one another. The next bit of text seen is the names of the people who helped with casting, music and costumes, this is further back in the sequence because they deserve recognition however they are not as important as other names shown earlier.