OPENING SEQUENCE: One Fine Day

One Fine Day (Michael Hoffman, 1996) (from begininning to 3:05)

A classic rom-com staring George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer. This film is about two single parents who have possibly one of the most hectic days of their lives looking after their children whilst taking take of their fast paced careers. On top of this a blossoming romance starts to form, beneath all the bitterness. The opening sequence to this film is very calm and simple to contrast to the day to come.

The music starts very softly as non-diegetic sound (not that in the film world). The font is very long and thin on a plain black backdrop so that the screen is not clutter and is very soft and simple, which is reflected in the song. You can hear faint sounds of street noises like police cars and rain which are diegetic sound as you would expect to hear them if you were in the film.

The actors names appear on screen slightly bigger than the other names as they are 'the stars'. Michelle Pfeiffer and George Clooney, both very well known actors and so there are expectations that the film will be good. Suddenly a city skyline scrolls up into the black backdrop and we can see that wherever it is set is a large city, and on further inspection we can see it is New York as you can see the Empire State Building (if you didn't know this it wouldn't matter). This introduces the location. The camera tilts down and pans across an apartment building, while still showing credits. We see people in their homes relaxing, one playing a piano, and old couple playing cards. The music is very calm and slow which agrees with the actions of the other people in the buildings. However those people were not entirely in focus and so you know they will not be important in the story. The camera starts to zoom in on a particular window, and focuses in to show it is important. On a second look we see this is Michelle Pfeiffer. We instantly recognise her, and have seen her name in the credits before and can assume the camera will stop on her. Although she isn't doing much action she appears quite frantic and stressed. A cut to a shot actually inside her apartment rather than from her window draws you straight in to what she is doing. You can see she is very tired, and you can pressume it is late as it is dark outside. The rain reflects her mood well as it is very dreary. You then see a young boy through the window and she goes and kisses him on the head. We now know she is his mother

The song-"One Fine Day"

Originally by The Chiffons it was a very upbeat and happy song. This version is very slow and mellow because it is late at night, people are winding down, and Melanie (Michelle Pfeiffer) is tired. It also goes with the weather which is slow and dreary.
Lyrics like "one fine day, your gonna want me for you girl" show that there is going to be some romance involved, and we can determine that this will be between George Clooney and Michelle Pfeiffer.

This use of the song contrasts with the use of it at the end, in which it is up tempo and fun, because the hectic day is over and everthing is happy and the girl and the guy are together.
Here is the clip: