mjlk;

1. Although they are surrounded by people they are the only people our eyes are drawn on. The
editing includes cross cutting – which lets the audience compare the two characters and the slow
motion effect allows us to feel like we are there with them. Non diegetic music is used with the
song ‘I Can’t Take My Eyes Of You’ playing in the back, which foreshadows the whole scene, and
makes it that much more intimate.

2. We are shown a closer shot of the two characters, which I just love. Their eyes are constantly on
one another, apart from when Jude Law smiles to himself, as the audience we desperately want
them to meet – however Mike Nichols cleverly extends the walk between one another to make it
that much more exciting. Without the use of speech we can already identify them as characters.
Natalie Portman shares a bright red bob cut which contrasts against her radiant youthful
appearance. Possibly telling us that she is adventurous, but her subtle smile gives her this slight
innocence. Jude Law, displays a suit and tie and glasses, stereotypically seen as someone with
intelligence and ambition. Despite their opposite qualities, they are both completely infatuated
with one another .

3. The non diegetic soundtrack suddenly cuts to a diegetic sound of the tyres screeching, and we
see Jude Laws face drop. The connection between the two is immediately lost and the story
turns from a love story to a tragedy within seconds. The director has done this deliberately to
possibly represent the harshness of reality. Challenging conventions of this happy ‘fairytale’ we
are brought back down to the brutality, of life.

4. My favourite shot of the whole sequence, setting is established in this frame, with a black cab and
yellow parking lines we know it is set in London.

5. Finally speech is shown between the two characters. ‘Hello Stranger’, which is used as a funny
idea that he hasn’t spent much time with her recently. From an audiences perspective we are
immediately relieved and we fall back into this hopeful idea that we want them to fall in love. I
also really like the POV shot – so we see it from his eyes and this therefore heightens our
emotion towards the characters. We are left wondering what is going to happen between them?
Is she is safe and ok? Making us want to watch on to find out.