ADULT ROM-COM EG4 - Manhattan

WHAT I ENDED UP APPLYING:

• Diegetic titles (though here they really are part of the world)
• Voice-over of the protagonist 
• In the end the character of my protagonist changed from what I planned, and also someone I had in my mind who had a similar look to Woody Allan didn't have time, so the look and character attributes weren't applied, although some went over to the character of Rachel
• I also referenced Woody Allan in one of the sketches as part of my intertextual references to past classic romantic comedies and teen films

POSSIBLE POINTS OF INFLUENCE:

• The look of Woody Allan might be quite fitting as template for my outsider protagonist
• To have someone who is very l'art pour l'art like Isaac and Woody Allan in real life could also be fitting

Manhattan

Woody Allan, 1979

BBFC 12A/15 rating

Opening length: 

LEAD ACTORS: Woody Allan

                                 Diana Keaton

                                 Michael Murray

                                 Meryl Streep

GENRE: Romantic comedy (adult)

PRODUCTION COMPANY: Jack Rollins & 

Charles H.Joffe Productions

DISTRIBUTOR: United Artists (US)

BUDGET: N/A

BOX OFFICE: $40m (US)

TRAILER:


The opening scene here in high quality, missing the first few seconds of sound, , you can find a lower-quality version with that beginning here.

IDENTS:

Two idents, both with their signature sounds.

TITLES:
Only one diegetic title, that of the lighting scene of Manhattan.

NARRATIVE, EXPOSITION:
We get a sense of the character of the protagonist Isaac, however we don't see him, that being narrative enigma, the audience is invited to imagine how he looks like from the sound of his voice and what he says.
He is shown to have a very dramatic, verbal and l'art pour l'art personality.

GENRE:
The romantic atmosphere of a great city, and the voice-over talking about love for this city, is a more subtle and arthouse way of signifying the theme of love rather than showing characters who are going to go on the journey of falling and out of romance.

EDITING:
Black and white filter, this shows that already in 1979 there was nostalgia for this former medium of cinema, which recent films like The Artist still prove today.
We get a mixture of long and short takes, though there is no real change of pace in editing.

SOUND:
One non-diegetic track playing throughout the opening sequence, starting with a jazz riff.

TRANSITION TO MAIN FILM:

Black fade in after the non-diegetic music is over, and then we fade out to the four central characters of the film, and we have diegetic music of streets and of a busy restaurant.