Love Actually Opening

The scene opens with soft and slow non-diegetic music, showing a couple in a crowded place hugging as if they haven't seen each other in a long time, these denotations could connate that they may be in an airport and meeting each other again as the woman had a rucksack on her back which tells the audience that she may of been away travelling. The music gets happier when the couple start to kiss and when we start seeing other families and couples see each other after a long time.

A voice over by Hugh Grant comes into the opening as he starts to discuss the fact that all of these clips of people are all reactions to families and couples at Heathrow airport and trying to show the audience that 'love is everywhere'. The voice over by Hugh Grant is effective to the audience as he is a well known actor so therefore him speaking in the voice over gets your attention. The voice over is also effective as it shows the typical conventions of the film being a romance, as there is non-diegetic ballet music playing and shows love and happiness at a stereotypical such as an airport where most scenes in love films end, however this film subverts this as it is opening with the scene.

You are shown close ups of different people showing different kinds of love such as old couples, young couples, husbands and wives, mother and daughter and father and son. Hugh emphasises on the phrase 'love actually is all around' which relates to the title of the film and genre 'love actually'. The effects of all the close ups used show the audience the emotion on peoples faces, of happiness, love and joy which are all stereotypically related to a love film such as a romance. The voice over is again also effective as it also makes the clips of the people at Heathrow more special and shows the importance of love because if you didn't have the voice over explaining the meaning of 'love' and what was going on then you wouldn't get the same effect as it  in captures you as the audience into the opening which makes you want to keep watching the film to the end.