Atonement

http://youtu.be/nqjEXD0T5Lo Atonement tells the story of a 13 year old aspiring writer who misinterprets her sister and brothers love and causes a roll of events which have repercussions on the rest of her life. When the film first opens, the credits appear. They appear in the form of a typewriting font. The sound of a typewriter typing can be heard in the background. This could signify that this is a story being told, and not events as they happen. It also highlights that its in a different era, as it isn't being typed on a computer which is the device we would use today.

This shot then cuts to one of a doll house, by the design and style of this house we can automatically assume that it comes from a wealthier person. It could also signify for the audience childhood, or innocence as we know that a doll house is a child, normally a girls possession. From the doll house the camera then tracks through a series of toys and dolls. This therefore confirms to the audience that this scene involves a child. The sound of typing can still be heard in the background, thus suggesting, that because the child isn't playing with his/her toy, we could note here the idea of loss of childhood. The camera then begins to tilt, showing the rest of the bedroom, and confirming the presumption of wealth as we can tell by miss en scene that anyone who inhabits this room comes from considerable wealth. The shot then completely changes to a close up on a characters face, we see her very blue eyes, we could associate this with the earlier idea of innocence - this shot highlights the girls childhood. She then gets up and walks, runs throughout the house, we see through her dress that she is obviously from the past - presumably 1900's. The sounds of the typing in the previous scene begins to blend in with the piano of the next, therefore linking the scene. The camera then comes to a different position passing the girl in the bedroom, we see she isn't in the room alone and there is someone dressed like a maid. This highlights that this girl is from some sort of middle/upper class family, and therefore is highlighting the gaps in social groups right from the beginning of the film.

The girl then continues through different halls and rooms of the house, we can see by the setting too that this is a uniquely designed and wealthy house, therefore highlighting the gap in social groups compared to the maids washing in the other room. The light used in these scenes is very low-key, highlighting the different areas of shadow and light, would it be too bold a remark to say that these shadows represent secrets? It then switches to a long shot of the girl walking toward the camera, however she suddenly looks off camera to the left, we can hear diegetic sounds of birds, suggesting that what she is looking toward is outside. We then get an eyeline match of the girl seeing what she was looking at. We see a young man dressed in scruffy clothing, however when we hear is voice, he sounds more upperclass, therefore we could draw a contrast here. Also, audience interest will be maintained here, as it will make the viewer question what significance does this man hold to the young girl? A tracking shot is then used when the girl returns to the house, we can hear the music begin louder, more prominent. We could suggest then that the conversation the girl just had with man holds some prominence within her. To end the opening scene the camera zooms in on the girl closing doors, this too could represent some form of secret, therefore maintaining viewers interest about the relationship or prominence of the scenes which just unfolded. The target generation for atonement is the older generation. There are different aspects to it which could interest male and female viewers alike. This is unusual as we would most often associate romantic dramas with female viewers. Overall i think the opening of atonement is very good in the sense that it keeps the audience interest maintained without giving away information which will be crucial to the storyline. It would be one of the top films of this genre for me.