CB/Deconstruction of Love Actually

 Love Actually (Richard Curtis,2003)

Director-Richard Curtis

Writer-Richard Curtis

Production Companies-Universal Pictures,Studio Canal,Working Title Films and in association with DNA Films

Distrubutors-Universal Pictures

Stars-Hugh Grant,Liam Neeson,Colin Firth,Laur Linney,Emma Thompson,Alan Rickman,Keira Knightley,Martine McCutcheon,Bill Nighy and Rowan Atkinson

Running Time-135 mins

Rating-15 due to moderate sexuality,nudity and language

Filming Locations-London,UK and France

(Budget- £30,000,000)

Box Office Gross-$407,971,235 ( USA,2003),  £81,697,392 (UK,2003)

Here is the trailer for Love Actually:

Sypnosis-The characters are falling in love, falling out of love, some are with right people, some are with the wrong people, some are looking to have an affair, some are in the period of mourning; a capsule summary of reality. Love begins and love ends. They flirt a lot. They are all flirting with love. At all ages and social levels, love is the theme. Romantic love and brotherly love is the hotchpotch through out the movie. Most of the movie is filmed in London, during Christmas and the characters all ended up at Heathrow airport a very uplifting note.

Tagline-Very Romantic.Very Comedy. or  The Ultimate Romantic Comedy

Opening Analysis ( 2 mins)

Deconstruction of shots in opening scene-

• Camera pans and focuses on certain 'loved up' people.There are alot of people, we get a sense it coud be busy aiport/station?
• Close-ups to show true happiness by peoples smiles and lovingly gesures e.g. kissing and hugging.

Different people of all ages,shape,race and gender were shown either huggng or kissing showing their gratitude of love.There are some snapshots at the side, showing the diversity of people represented and shot types.The first snapshot is shown near the beginging and is a side-shot/mid-shot  a mother with her two daughters running to her for a hug.The other snapshot is a close-up showing a couple kissing which is a unique shot of them almost 'poking' out of the crowd.I also noticed with this shoti that it forms the outline of a love heart, the couples heads being the top and the bottom of the oveheart shaped by the peoples shoulders (who are stood infront)intentional or not, it looks impressive

Soundtrack
The opening sequence starts with slowly played orchestra, which gradually fades at the end into Bill Nighy Singing! In my opinion I think this style of music is light,calming,peaceful and creates some sort of serenity.This music is thought provoking and makes the audience think about our loved ones and they refelct on the happiness it brings to people.As the music is not too distracting we concentrate heavily into the action on screen and listen contently to every wood the voiceover has to say.The music highlights what he says for it is light and romantic,setting the mood for the rest of the film.The voice over is spoken by Hugh Grant.He mentions that whenever he gets gloomy about the state of the world -(he's the prime-minister) he thinks of the arrivals gate at Heathrow Aiport-(anchors location of footage).He continues to mention that a general opinion of people say we live in a world of hatred and greed.He see's that love is everywhere, whether it be dignified or news worthy, but it's always there.He says theres fathers' and sons',mothers' and daughters',husbands' and wives',boyfriends' and girlfriends' and old friends.He then brings up te controversial subject of the 'Twin Towers' accident. Stating that,when the plane hit the tiwn towers, that the phonecalls from people on board were not  messages of hate or revenge but  messages of love.Finally, he concludes that if you look for it, he has a sneaky feeling that love is all around.

Film Titles

The first titles that are shown are the production and distrubution titles.These titles are in a soft edged font white font.The soft edged font is commonly used in Romantic Comedies to mirror its lightheartedness compared to a much sharper font that would be used in a horror film.The White font on a black background also quite often used but is puzzling to why it is for most would think it looks like a serious drama.The rest of the film titles come in after the 2 mins.Before the 2 minutes is over,there are different shots of people hugging and words come on the screen repeating what the voiceover has just said.The voiceover says ' Love Actually is all around'.When he says one of those words, that words comes up on screen.The words except is are in a white coloured font whilst the word 'is' is in a red font.This empthasises his point that love IS all around and cold also conntote that this is the case in the film.The font then quickly fades and the words 'love' and 'actually' come together whilst the other words fade out.However the word 'Love' turns into the red font that was on the word 'is'.The colour red links to themes of romance and lust which links to the genre of the film.Highlighting love symbolises that film is based upon this.

Mise-en-scene

• Airport-People carrying Suitcases and travel bags and terminal signs.

Any influence?-The colour of the film titles, influenced our colour scheme of fonts and the speeds of the fading of the titles also appealed for ideas to our opening.The speed of fading of the shots also took our interest whilst the shot types that were used to show emotion also interested us to use them.The close-ups of people, showing emotion in detail, we thought was a great idea for it engages the audience to feel emotion too.