Fatal Attraction - Opening

The film ‘Fatal Attraction’ is about a married man and his family being stalked by a woman he had a one night stand with. The opening of ‘Fatal Attraction’ is quite effective, as not much of the storyline is given away to the audience watching, in which there is a real focus on the family in ‘Fatal Attraction’.

In the opening of ‘Fatal Attraction’, sound, mise-en-scene, camera and editing are used.

Sound is used to create a sense of realism, and to give the audience an indication of what is going on in the film, as there is a large amount of dialogue used, compared to other openings. In the opening of ‘Fatal Attraction’, there are many diegetic/simple sounds used to create a sense of realism, such as the phone ringing, the closing of a door, footsteps and cars beeping. Also, in the opening of ‘Fatal Attraction’, there is non-diegetic incidental music being played, while the characters are acting.

Mise-en-scene is used in the opening of ‘Fatal Attraction’ to create a sense of realism in the film, and to show the audience the characters are in realistic settings, wearing realistic clothing and are using realistic props in the film. The settings used in the opening of ‘Fatal Attraction’ create a sense of realism because the domestic setting of a flat, and a party hall, are simple settings used every day. Furthermore, in the opening of ‘Fatal Attraction’ the props and costumes used also create a sense of realism, as the props (TV’s, sofas, lamps and books) and costumes (casual and smart clothing) used are used in every day life.

The different camera shots used in the opening of ‘Fatal Attraction’ are used for different purposes, as establishing shots (to establish the location/area the characters are in), panning movement (when establishing the location/area, and when all the different characters were shown at the party), medium shots (to show what the characters are doing in the shot) and close-ups (to show the facial expressions of the characters) are used in the opening of ‘Fatal Attraction’.

Editing is used in the opening of ‘Fatal Attraction’ to help the film flow, in which jump cuts (from one scene to another scene) and shot-reverse-shots (from one character to another character) are used in the opening of ‘Fatal Attraction’.