Pretty in Pink Opening Analysis

I annotated Pretty in Pink which is a film produced by John Hughs in 1986.


First there is a Paramount ident which signifies that the film will have a decent budget and is probably well made. This is followed by white text on black backgrounds that say 'Paramount pictures presents' and 'A John Hughs production'. The font is sans serif and capitals which connotes that the film is a comedy and quite light-hearted. The entire opening is set in the morning which also connotes that the film is not going to be dark.


'Pretty in Pink' by The Psychedelic Furs starts playing and the black fades to the first establishing, extreme long shot of an American neighbourhood road with a old fashioned street cleaner driving through. These signify that the film is set in 80s America in a rural location.


This shot then fades to another extreme long shot. This pans to show a plain, off-white building with a carpark outside and barbed wire fencing. This is next to a railway track in the neighbourhood that was previously shown. The title 'Pretty in Pink' fades on and off in the same font that was used at the start. It continues paning to show more of the setting. The words 'Starring Molly Ringwald' who plays the main character then comes up (in the same font). Molly Ringwald had been in a few well known films before Pretty in Pink such as The Breakfast Club so was quite a respected and well known actress.


It then cuts to a series of close up and extreme close up shots of the main character putting clothes and make up on. These also give you an indication of the time period its set in as her clothes are 80s style. Names of other people come up in the same font as before until 3 minutes 15 into the opening. These include other actors, producers and other members of the the crew.


It then cuts to a medium long shot of the girl walking out of her bedroom door. This lets us see her full outfit which is pretty terrible even for the 80s and it also shows us some of the inside of her house which is plain. Her outfit signifies that she isn't going to be a very popular, fashionable person.


There is then a close up of her pouring a cup of coffee and saying 'it's 7.30' and 'daddy wake up', which anchors the fact that it is in the morning and also that she is probably going out somewhere. Then there's a medium shot of her walking into a dark bedroom where her dad is asleep. She walks over to him so it becomes a two shot and we are introduced to another character. He looks like he hasn't gone outside for a while. The daughter then starts telling him he needs to go get a proper job. This suggests that the daughter is more mature and determined than her dad.


That was as far as I got, it was a terrible film.