Johnny English Film Opening

James Hunter

Johnny English is a 2003 British action comedy film parodying the James Bond secret agent genre. The film stars Ben Miller, John Malkovich and Rowan Atkinson. The screenplay was written by the James Bond writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, along with William Davies. The film was directed by Peter Howitt.

Mise-en-scene

Costume – the costume in the first couple of minutes of the film is dark which may connote mystery or secrecy. It also works well with the low key lighting helping Johnny blend into the back ground (lighting comes later). When he has entered the room, there is a young woman wearing a short, black dress which connotes corruption. The clothing is informal as Johnny is wearing a burglars outfit whereas the woman is wearing a short dress in an attempt of possible seduction.

Mise-en-scene

Lighting - the lighting for the majority of the opening is low key as it is dark. This is because it is night-time and it is the best time for Johnny to break into the house. The darkness signifies mystery as to why he is there. Near the end of the opening there is high key lighting where the woman turns on the light to reveal herself holding a gun.

Mise-en-scene

Actors – the main actors in the opening are a woman and Johnny himself. The facial expression on Johnny’s face when he has just entered the building shows knowledge of weapons and firearms. Whereas the expression on his face when the mysterious woman reveals herself is an element of surprise. On the woman, however, the expression on her face seems to be an element of annoyance. The way they communicate with each other is in a flirty, but formal way. The body language on Johnny is relaxed showing he is calm, but the woman’s body language is tense.

Mise-en-scene

Make-up – in the opening to Johnny English, the only make-up worn is by the woman, black eye shadow and pink lipstick which tells us that she’s not that innocent, but she’s not that slutty either. It may also be black to show that she is either evil or mysterious. She is also made to look attractive to try and make Johnny get distracted from what he is supposed to be doing.

Mise-en-sceneProps – the props used in the opening couple of minutes are 3 guns with one being held by a woman which challenges the stereotype of a woman because we wouldn’t usually think of a woman holding a gun. This is to make herself look more powerful than she is. The other 2 are being held by guards which meets the male stereotype, these are used because guards often carry firearms to protect a complex. In the room there is a sofa which the woman is sitting on to make herself look as powerful as she can be. There is also a table which has a box on top which contains a piece of paper which Johnny picks up, this must be important because the woman holds a gun to Johnny when he’s holding it and threatens him.

Editing

The editing in the opening of Johnny English is mainly slow with a few fast edits. When he fights off the guards, there are 3 fast cuts, this shows that he takes 3 actions to fend off his enemies. There is a little section of shot/reverse-shot which shows that Johnny and the woman are having a conversation and the audience gets to see what they see. The sound effects in the opening 2 minutes are the sound of the guards guns cocking which signifies they are ready to fire at him. Another is the squeaky toys that Johnny uses to occupy the dogs, this connotes that he knew there was going to be some form of canine guarding the complex.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc8yCP_SbOU

Camera

The camera shots and angles used in the opening are made up of: close ups, mid-shots, longshots, over the shoulder shot, a two shot and a point of view shot. These are used so that we are able to see Johnny’s body language and facial expressions. The only time we see a point of view shot is when he turns and faces the 2 dogs so we see what he sees himself (1:06-1:15). The two shot is used to tell us that there is a conversation going on between the woman and Johnny.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc8yCP_SbOU

Sound

In the opening to Johnny English, the majority of the sound is non diegetic which is the main soundtrack for the film. The diegetic sound we hear are the dogs barking and the guns cocking. There is a little bit of dialogue towards the end of the opening with the woman and Johnny. They talk about how Johnny over-estimates his powers over women. There is also a line when he has the guns held up at him. He says “Ahh, the Heckler & Kokh G-36. quite deadly in the right hands.”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc8yCP_SbOU

Enigma

The enigma in the opening of the film is:Who is the woman?Why is Johnny breaking in?What does he need?What is that piece of paper?

Genre

The genre of the film is an action/adventure/comedy. It has lots of jokey parts and funny slipups by Johnny himself.

Audience

The audience that this film is made for, is for those who like the action/adventure movies with a bit of comedy in it. This film has a lot of comedy in it. This was made for the teenage/young adult age range as is has a lot of comedic scenes.

Film Opening Conventions Met?

In the opening, we get introduced to one of the key characters (Johnny)and we see the studio and production company names. What we don’t get which challenges the conventions are the actors’ names. There’s non-diegetic music for almost the whole opening 2 minutes. We get enigma but we don’t get the title of the film. There’s not much action in the first 2 minutes but we find out that the opening was just a dream that Johnny was having.

What I Think

Overall I think that this is a good film opening as there are plenty of questions to keep the audience wondering what is going to happen in the film. It has a little bit of comedy and a bit of action which the average action lover will like.