My Best Friend's Wedding's genre is obviously a romantic comedy aimed at a female audience. This is shown through the use of a pink backdrop, which has connotations of love as well relationships and is also a stereotype of a 'womanly colour' It is also the use of an almost hand-written style font. The four women in the opening makes for this to seem a woman dominated film and therefore more aimed at women, as well as the use of wedding dresses / dresses usually associated with weddings which again has connotations with and relationships. However, although the opening is about love and marriage, it is more jokey and 'tongue in cheek' than serious, adding to the genre of a romantic comedy.
Narrative / Character -
In terms of narrative, the narrative from this opening is quite simplistic as it doesn't directly relate to the plot of the film. The opening gives the idea of the film, the idea of relationships and love (genre), however the characters starring in the beginning scene aren't actually in the rest of the film and the storyline isn't directly related to the opening. There is not much narrative outline in the opening of this film. On the other hand, the characters portray the romantic-comedy picture perfectly as there are four characters, none of which are in the film, however all wearing wedding-style dresses and carrying stereotypical wedding objects (for example a bouquet of flowers) - this shows the romantic / love side of the film however the characters are also acting in a very tongue-in-cheek comedic fashion - most notably shown in the moment where the bride catches her own flower bouquet -this shows the comedic side of the film and sets up the audience for what kind of film they're about to watch.
Sound
In terms of sound, there is a non-diegetic soundtrack over the opening (a cover of the song Wishin' and Hopin'). The song is obviously from a woman's point of view and, because of the characters that are involved in the opening (four women in wedding-style dresses), the sound is obviously aimed to attract a young-to-middle-aged target market. The soundtrack used is the only sound used in the opening.
Lighting
The lighting throughout the opening is a high-key lighting. This is used to create a mood of happiness and optimism as the entire opening is creating a theme of the film being about weddings. The high key lightitng is used to make you think its a time of joy, which represents the weddings, and makes you think that the film is going to consist of a happy wedding vibe, as it represents the romantic-comedy genre. Similarly, the all-pink background of the opening not only shows a sense of romance and light-hearted film as it suggests the film is going to be about love and happiness - it also shows that the film is going to be more directed at a female audience as pink is a colour usually stereotyped towards a female audience and the film has used it to aim to attract them.
Themes
The opening, although not being directly related to the actual film, sets up the themes of the film as it suggest an idea of both romance and comedy. The romance shown through the mise-en-scene of the opening (the clothes the four characters are wearing (wedding-style, the objects used in the opening - a wedding bouquet etc). Similarly the comedic theme of the film is shown through moments in the opening where the bride catches her own bouquet, this is meant to show that the film is not as serious as it would seem, as it is about a wedding, however there are moments of comedy in it too. This the opening of the film portrays the rest of the themes in the film and tells the audience what to expect from the rest of the movie.
Titles
The titles in this film opening use an almost hand-written font. The font is a type of almost-handwritten style that is usually seen when in writing letters and in hand-written documents. This could be portrayed as showing the tongue-in-cheek, less-serious theme of the film as it is a less-formal font. Similarly, the font is the type of writing that is usually stereotyped towards a woman's handwriting as it is very curly and aesthetically pleasing and is the sort of handwriting that stereotypically is more likely to come from a woman than a man. This, in combination with the very pink background used in the opening, shows how the titles represent the themes and audience for the rest of the film.
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