Generic Conventions

Generic Conventions

Fifty First dates
Straight away you can hear Hawaiian music and see a beautiful beach in the background with a lovely sun set. The films opening titles come up on the screen; the words are blue and ripple to create a sea affect. The shot fades into a kitchen where two women are talking. Following this there are several women talking about their holiday trip to Hawaii. The women have all shared their holiday having a romance with the main character Adam Sandler. The women talk about their own individual experiences with Adam Sandler’s character Henry Roff. It seems that he is playing them all along and does not want to get involved with any women in long term relationships. The shots cut quickly to create an image in your head of Henry Roff.

Love actually
At the beginning of the film you can see people at an airport arriving and being greeted by friends and family. You can see tears of happiness and huge smiles. People embrace each other as they have not seen them for along time. Hugh Grants character as the prime minister talks over the beginning. He talks about emotions and feelings and how he thinks the world is portrayed in the wrong light. You are only introduced to one character.

Holiday
At the opening of the film there is a gardener cutting the grass in front of a large posh home and a swimming pool, the shot pans to a man asleep on the sofa, (Hinting he has done something wrong as this is often the case when you find a man asleep on the sofa) the man proceeds upstairs where he shouts out “Kelly, Kelly “as he is looking for her. As he opens her bedroom door he has a shoe thrown at him confirming our judgement that he has done something wrong.
They argue about their relationship and that he has cheated on her.
As the two girls go through their break up, they hop online to get some relief that their not the only ones going through that. So they start talking over the internet and saying things like "how about we swap houses for a few weeks?" "where do you live?" And that’s when their new lives start.

Summary
In all three of these films the first character you see is not actually the main character, I think they do this to build up the scene for the character and letting you know something about them before the enter the scene, for example In the film The Holiday you can clearly see the house is large, there is a pool and they have their own gardener all before you see the main character Kelly, this lets you know what the character is going to be like.
In fifty first dates you are told all about the main character Henry Roff and his love life and romance all before his entrance in the film.
The Holiday and Fifty First Dates are both face pace and exciting openings to attract your attention to the film and keep you interested so you want to watch the whole film. Love Actually is different to this because Hugh Grant is talking over a clip where people are expressing emotions, this is done to create the mystery of Hugh Grants character.