Opening sequence analysis- Legally Blonde.

Legally Blonde. 

The main company/ distributor ‘Metro Goldwyn Mayor’ is shown before the other key companies for this film and are shown again in the main opening titles. The titles show the actor names followed by the film producers, casting director, music director/supervisor,   costume designer, editors, production designer and screenplay. We see the directors name last before the main action starts. Then we see that it is based on a book so those who have read the book and enjoyed it would probably be keen to see the film version.

We see Metro Goldwyn Mayor’s logo then it fades to black and backs out again until we see blonde hair swaying. In front of this blurry background are the credits which are white with a pink glow. There is also music which is very upbeat and jolly because a girl is singing and the lyrics give us a clue to the type of film. The background may be blurred out so the audience only pay attention to the titles; only when the title of the movie appears does the background come into focus enabling the audience to see what is happening. In this case the camera backtracks and we see a girl brushing her hair from behind. 

The titles and the music continue over the action; here we see the actors names like Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson and so on. We then get a shot of a card being carried on a bike which clearly says ‘Elle’ and switches back to the original frame which the audience should guess is the main protagonist of the film. Then it switches back to the girl on her bike, it is a tracking shot to establish the location. It’s very summery and youthful so it could be set in America because of it’s exaggerated happiness and perfection. Through out the opening it switches back and forth between the main protagonist getting ready and the person on the bike. There’s a lot of tracking, point of view and wide shots to establish the place whereas the shots of the main protagonist consist of extreme close ups. 

We also get an impression of what she may be like via the pink coloured top, blonde hair, bling jewelry, heavy make-up, perfume, etc. These identifications clearly state that is a girly, teen movie. When we arrive at her destination we see that it’s a campus because there are young people, big dormitory houses, etc. We get a shot of the main protagonist’s name, Elle Woods, before we see her fully and another shot which is of a folder with CU Los Angeles; so immediately we know that this is a campus at California University. We get more tracking shots, some of which are in slow motion, of everyone passing around a card and signing it. During this sequence we see what the characters get up to like working out in the gym, cheerleading and doing make-up.  

It’s not until the end of the opening sequence that we see what the character looks like when Elle receives the card under her bedroom door which a small dog, presumably Elle’s, fetches to her. We see that it’s a card wishing Elle luck her and Warner, which we presume is her boyfriend. We know that this relationship is likely to be one of the main plot lines of the movie.