Love Actually opening two minute Analysis

At the beginning of the scene we hear a mans voice, belonging  to Hugh Grant, speaking over the top of the images on screen. Automatically we recognise the voice which draws our attention  to the film because we know a well- known actor is starring in it so we may be more inclined to watch it. Unlike other Rom-Coms there is no real intimacy in the opening towards the characters that feature in the film. There is however, intimacy featured in general throughout the opening of the film as it shows people meeting at the airport and being glad to see each-other .Rather than introducing the characters in the opening there is a voice over narration, belonging to Hugh Grant. This makes the opening feel story like and therefore engages the audience as they are being spoken to directly.
 
All the shots are short which follows the convention of fast paced openings to Rom-Coms. It also suggests that there is a lot going on at the beginning of the film, this should engage the audience as they will be drawn in in order to see what's going on. Whilst Hugh Grant is speaking we see a range of different shots of couples, friends and family at the arrival  gate at Heathrow airport. We see mid shots of families running up to greet one another. The shot switches to a close up of a member of the families face. We see she is smiling and her eyes are wide open. This connotes that she is extremely happy because her facial expression is happy.
 
This is conforming to the typical conventions of a love and romance film. Conventions of a romance film are love,happiness and friendship. Love actually adheres to most of these. This is effective because the audience expect to see these conventions in a romance so when they see love actually conforming to these they will be more inclined to continue watching.

 As the scene continues, we see more mid shots of people. They are conforming to the typical convention of love. We can see this by the use of close ups. We can see by their facial expression that they are happy and love the person they have approached. This links with the non- diegetic sound of Hugh Grant speaking over the top of the scene. He is talking about love and how it is all around and the scene is just showing shots of people exchanging love and happiness with one another.

The scene then changes to Bill Nighy. He is in a recording studio trying to record a song for Christmas. His character is subverting the usual conventions of a romance film because he isn't particularly good looking. Characters in a romance film are usually good looking so Bill Nighy, being old and not particularly good looking, is subverting the stereotype.
 
Bill's character is introducing a comedy element to the film. He continually messes up the lines of the song which leads to him swearing. This is a comedy element in the film because naturally, he is a funny character so him swearing at messing up the lines is showing the audience that the film is conforming to the genre of a Rom-com.