'The Notebook' Opening Review.

An opening title sequence of a film is important to inform the audience of main characters, a rough storyline and the type of genre which is expected of the film that can be shown within the first 5 minutes of the production. 'The Notebook' is a 2004, Nick Cassavetes production adapted from the award winning novel by Nicholas Sparks focused around the genre of pure romance and love between two main characters within the story. The romance is distrubuted by New Line Cinema Productions and shows significant detail and effects in the opening to encourage the viewer to review the main techniques showing the type of film which is to be expected.
An opening scene of a beautiful sunrise over a lake is shown together with classical deigetic sound of a piano accomplishment to create a sensual and romantic feel of the film, emphasising the genre of romance which is to be expected. The opening credits and title of the film is used by simple, plain and small font to create a main focus on the sunrise background and to show a simplicity effect of love when introducing the film itself, relating to the gentle music at the beginning. A boat sailing across the lake is then shown, followed by a flock of birds, slowly gliding across the sky to create a more beautiful scene, giving imagery of beauty and gentleness which can then be related to 'The Notebook' and it's plot.
The camera angles and pans at the start are all incredibly slow and gentle, giving a more relaxing theme to the film which flow easily with the diegtic sound in the background which both together make the viewer much more relaxed which also gives the romantic feel to the film.
A few minutes into the film, a voiceover of Noah, one of two of the main characters is heard by the audience which is slow and casual, immediately representing him as one of the main parts to the story. The quote he uses, "I've loved another with all my heart and soul, and for me that has always been enough" exaggerates the genre of romance in the film, relating to loving another and the imagery of his heart. The film moves on to Noah beginning to read Ally, his soulmate and other main character to the story a diary which then moves onto a flashback of them meeting when they were both teenagers. The setting of him reading is set in a conservatory on a warm day, surrounded by flowers, showing how it is lighthearted and cosy, relating again to the aspects and genre of the film.
The scene of the carnival uses close up shots of Ally, as if we are seeing through the eyes of Noah and his love and admiration for her at the start of the movie, as the camera moves very slow and focuses on her face. The camera then zooms out to show a wide shot of the scene in which all the characters are shown yet still focuses on the connection between Noah and Ally, emphasising the love they have from each other in 'The Notebook.' The credits, setting and diegetic sound of the opening of 'The Notebook' all together create an atmosphere of romance and set a basic plot between two characters at the start of the film through different editing techniques used throughout.