Legally Blonde - opening sequence analysis (till 3.16)

The opening of Legally Blonde instantly sets the genre of a film as a clear romantic comedy due to the instant credits that appear over the blonde hair that fills the screen as the film begins. The credits are in curly girlish white writing outlined in a bright pink glow. Also the non-diegetic music is pop music that starts straight away which helps to convey the genre. The opening sequence helps to keep the viewers intrigued almost instantly due to the fact it hides the character to begin with, we don't get to see her face just what she is doing. We see the character do typical girlish things such as brush her hair, paint her nails and shave her legs as the credits are still running. The time in the opening sequence has been compressed slightly and it shows a montage of different scenes put together. The lyrics from the music 'perfect day' suggest something about a prefect life as we see in the beginning lots of people being happy in the sun and the main character being 'perfect' as she is getting herself ready. A lot of the cinematography connotes the romantic feel with all of the pink and the fact they are in a sorority house full of girls. Also there is dancing and fashion and relationship ideas introduced through people and objects that can be seen within the scenes. The opening sequence is filled with stereotypical 'american teenager' ideas such as the riding the bike in the sun, getting ready with all the makeup and the small dog and the sorority house etc which makes it very clear and it is obvious that the genre is not being kept a mystery from the audience. The credits have been placed over the top of the filming making them stand out clearer and easy to read and focus on. This opening uses cross cutting and a parallel narrative to show different things happening in different places at the same time, showing the sense of journey though and giving a perception of time within the film. The continuity editing is invisible and you do not actually realise that the scenes are changing as it is so smooth and doesn't have a sense of jumping at all.