Comedy- Bridget Jones Diary

Narrative Structure.
The forth genre I chose to look at is Comedy, within the comedy genre the film I chose to look at is “Bridget Jones Diary by Helen Fielding. I chose this particular film because I have watched it before so remember it well which is the same as the period drama film that I analysed “The Others” with watching this film before and remembering it, it will become useful when it comes to talking about the narrative structure and technical aspects. I watched the middle part of the film of Bridget Jones Diary.

Bridget Jones Diary is a comedy film which was produced in 2001. The part of the film I watched is the middle part. The middle part is from chapter 14-15 which isn’t very long but it feeds you enough information to give you an idea at what happens in the start and end of the film and the way it is structured. The middle of the film that I watched is linear because it is shown in order. The film is ordered chronologically, the middle part starts of showing Bridget Jones played by Renée Zellweger walking into what looks like an office with Hugh Grant who plays Daniel Cleaver, he is reading some paper work and walking back into his office, the man tells her to go home and take a bath, then they will have dinner later as they are talking to each other there is a bang in the background, at this moment Bridget Jones is suspicious of what it was thinking someone else is in the building as well as Daniel Cleaver. Bridget walks off down the hallway to see if she can find out what the bang noise was. Bridget and Daniel Cleaver agree to have dinner later whilst Daniel Cleaver finishes some more work for an hour and then he will go to her house for dinner. As Bridget is leaving she walks past the coat rack to see a pink sparkly cardigan hanging up in the hallway, she immediately stops thinks for a second and runs back up the stairs as Daniel Cleaver is calling her as he then runs back up the stairs chasing after her. Bridget storms to Daniel Cleaver bedroom through the door and opens the en-suit bathroom door. Whist the door is opening the shot speed becomes very slow, at the same time there is calm music playing which creates an effect on the viewers creating tension and anticipation with the soothing music leaving us wanting to carry on watching. As Bridget opens the en-suit bathroom she sees another woman Lara played by Lisa Barbuscia sat on the edge of the bath holding an extremely large book in front of her. The music carries on playing creating more anticipation as the camera pans around slowly to show both reactions on the Lara and Bridget’s faces, they both look shocked and angry. The camera keeps focusing back and forth onto Lara and Bridget showing their reactions whilst the camera focuses on Bridget we can see from a far distance that Daniel Cleaver is walking up behind her not knowing what to say.  The camera then focuses onto Daniel Cleaver leaving the woman just in focus. Whilst Daniel Cleaver is explaining to Bridget who the woman is, Lara acts all innocent. Bridget turns to Daniel Cleaver looking at him very cross whilst the camera focuses on Bridget waiting for an answer from Daniel. 

The techniques used to tell the story is that it follows a women looking for a perfect relationship with her new boyfriend when it all goes wrong. At the start of chapter 14 when there is a mid shot of Bridget and Daniel walking into an office/ work area talking about how Bridget wanted to see a friendly face and she wants to see him gives us a sense of feeling that Bridget is his girlfriend straight away. The film Bridget Jones Diary is a realist film, more realistic on the love front. Bridget Jones Diary has an opening ending to chapter 15 as it isn’t the end to the whole film it is only the end to the middle scenes, so therefore it leaves us on a cliff hanger, leaving the audience with a mixture of questions on what happens next.

Technical Aspects.
The technical Aspects used in the middle part of Bridget Jones Diary are, the camera work. This is a noticeable feature during the middle part, chapters 14-15. There are techniques used such as; Mid shots when characters are walking, zooming shots are used to lead to close ups which grab the viewers attention more, Extreme close ups are used to show characters facial expressions which lead to over the shoulder shots of the characters talking , long shots are also used. Long shots are used to show certain scenes, when the characters are talking generally and walking, like when Daniel and Bridget are walking into Daniel’s office talking about arranging dinner(0.38.51) as they start talking the camera then goes into a panning shot of them walking and standing talking (0.38.52) Zooming shots are also used especially at the beginning of chapter 14 when Daniel and Bridget are stood talking, when there is a sudden banging sound in the background, at this point  we see a close up of Daniels face trying to convince Bridget that no-one else is in the flat but them (0.39.05) Bridget then turns around to look around her but she doesn’t see anything, as she turns back to look at Daniel we see she has an unhappy and suspicious facial expression as she starts questioning Daniel because she is convinced that someone else is in his flat.  (0.38.52). The zooming shot then leads up to an extreme close up of Bridget’s face as she gives Daniel a suspicious look and questioning him. There are only a few long shots used in the middle part like when Bridget is walking to Daniels bedroom with Daniel following her whilst the camera shows and over shoulder shot (0.39.19) after she hears the banging sound in the background of them talking because she thinks someone else is in Daniels flat but as she storms through the door she doesn’t see anyone so thinks nothing of it, the camera shows a quick long shot of Bridget stood there in Daniels bedroom but then it cuts to a jump cut and a mid shot of Daniel smirking at Bridget (0.39.21) Close up shots are used frequently throughout chapters 14&15 to show the characters emotions, this is noticeable a lot of the times not only seeing all of the characters faces but when Bridget doesn’t see anyone else in Daniels bedroom she seems distraught and doesn’t know what to do, feeling like she’s losing her mind. (0.39.24) the other close up shot that is noticeable is when Bridget is leaving Daniels office so she can go home and prepare for their dinner later and as she is walking past the coat rack by the front door, Daniel hands he bag to her when she turns around and then she sees the pink sparkly cardigan hanging up so she storms back up the stairs (0.40.11). Some shots are very obvious but others aren’t so obvious during the middle part of the film. During some scenes there are slow motions used which is noticeable and obvious that they have been edited to add special effects, the slow motions used create suspense and anticipation to the audience making them want to carry on watching the film to find out what happens next, As I’ve stated before (0.40.23). There is also soft soothing music playing which also creates anticipation on the audience along with the cinematic effects.

Throughout the middle part of the film the lighting doesn’t really change dramatically, as the lighting is generally natural throughout chapter 14/15. The middle part engages its audience because of the cinematic effects used the anticipation and the suspense keeping the audience’s interest levels up. The middle part engages its audience because it has no horror or crime in so it’s a typically funny film being a comedy genre.  There are a few noticeable edited scenes as you can see they have been edited the way they are shown because you can see the effects used like when there is a slow motion shot of Bridget stood in the door way of Daniels bathroom because there is another woman in there like she thought when she heard the banging sound in the background of them talking. Like I stated before at this point not only does the cinematic effect used create anticipation and suspense of the audience but the music that you can hear at this point does because as an audience you are expecting the character to speak straight away or do something horrible to the other character but in actual fact there is a moment of silence before Bridget speaks, the music also prepares the audience to expect something to happen like in the film The Others and Oceans Thirteen.

These Cinematic techniques used to create an effective meaning to the audience and making them want to carry on watching with the cinematic effects used, also creates suspense but also excitement for its audience because it draws them in whilst they are watching the film. I couldn’t see any noticeable scripting that the characters used but the other noticeable cinematic technique I could notice was the editing that I mentioned before.  The suspense that I stated before with the cinematic effects are noticeable to building a story as it is shown in chronological order, the same as the film The others.