Analysis of Hitch

          The establishing shot is a close up of a women lying in bed and a voice over begins. This scene quickly changes to focus on another woman at work talking to a man and then as she looks away the man appears desperate in continuing to look at her whilst the main character's name (Will Smith) is shown in a small font at the side of the shot. The scene changes again to a lady walking down a street and there is a cut away shot which the camera lingers on, of a man clearly trying to impress her. As the voice over says "or" discussing the various scenarios, there is a long shot to establish the scene of a stage and a point of view shot of a woman dressed in Shakespearian clothing. There is then a cut to a male character as the camera zooms towards him with an eye line match of him starring at the women. The shot quickly cuts again to a close up of a a women getting her 'mail' whilst holding a small dog and as she walks out of the shot, the by-stander in the background suddenly turns towards the camera and speaks directly to the audience. 

There is then a cut away shot from the master shot of him speaking as we see the female enter the lift. The camera then returns to the master shot of a close up of Will Smith who continues to speak to the camera whilst there is a cut in of him lifting a puppy out of his bag which is very ambiguous to an audience. There is a cut to one of the earlier scenes where they are in a sweet shop as the working lady walks by and the man stares at her longingly which cuts in to a close up of his expression. The scene then changes again to a yoga class where the man who was trying to gain the lady's attention earlier appears to be continually doing this to the woman's confusion. As the camera goes back to seeing Will Smith placing the dog on the floor, the ambient sound of the lift door closing shows the dog of the lady running out of the lift to see the other dog as the woman shout after it. The woman is then shot in the lift trying to stop the lift. Parelell edited with this is Will Smith walking out of the building with the woman's dog and his importance is shown through the composure of the frame being in the middle third and walking with clear confidence as well as the mise-en-scene of his costume of a dark suit conveying wealth and power. He then walks out of the shot as he passes the dog to another man who we identify with seeing before in the Shakespearian scene and then there is a medium shot of Will Smith walking away as if a mysterious figure whilst the other man appears to be setting up a fabricated scene as he instruct a cab to move near to him. Then another shot is juxtaposed with this of Will Smith in a different suit and he shakes has with another man in an everyday street scene in New York. Then there is a cut to another situation where he is shaking hands with someone else who we assume to be his client from the words in the voiceover: "that's where I come in". The camera goes back to the 'lost dog' scene as it pans from a high angle to a low angle shot as the woman runs forwards in shock. There is then a shot of the man getting up off of the road holding the woman's dog and the audience is able to understand that the scene was pretend and created to allow the man to have a chance with the woman by 'saving' her dog. 
         This opening is quite effect as it has a voiceover which is a common convention of rom-coms. Additionally by using a well known character such as Will Smith the film gains credibility and instantly a comic aspect due to the association with other films he has starred in. By him speaking directly to the camera the verisimilitude is disrupted however we gain an understanding of the type of film which is about him having clients which he helps to 'get the girl'. This opening also deviates from some aspects of rom-coms as it creates a sense of mystery as we are not shown the full picture until the end, and so this is an effective aspects to attract viewers.