Breakfast At Tiffany's Analysis

The extract I have chosen to analyze is a 3-minute opening sequence from the film Breakfast at Tiffany’s. I will be looking at how cinematography and mise-en-scene are used in the scene and how audience meaning is created. Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a 1961 film directed by Blake Edwards, starring British actress and fashion icon Audrey Hepburn playing the lead role as Holly Golightly. The film was adapted from a book written by Truman Capote in 1958, and then made into a film in 1961, grossing ,000,000 worldwide.

Holly Golightly is the neighbor to the struggling writer Paul Varjak who is intrigued by her beauty and quirkiness. Holly is a young independent woman who strives to be a high climbing socialite with a perchance for high-fashion and wild parties.Soon Paul discovers the vulnerability Holly has at heart.

The scene begins with an establishing shot which is a shot that is a convention in movie openings; this shot allows us to see the time and the setting of the film: early morning New York City, Manhattan.

Whilst the yellow taxi is driving down the street it gives the viewer a chance to see the surroundings in the frame, such as the buildings, which would make the audience realize it is in New York suggesting there is a great meaning as to why the film takes place here, Tiffany’s store is situated in New York. . As the taxi carries on moving a tracking shot is used to follow the taxi to where it stops which helps keep the current subject in the frame.

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A woman emerges out of the taxi and stands still on a spot this giving the audience a chance to analyze her attire; in terms of mise-en-scene the character/subject’s costume appears to look elegant as it is a long black dress. In colour psychology this colour gives protection from external emotional stress, and creates a barrier between itself and the outside world, providing comfort while protecting its emotions and feelings, and hiding its vulnerabilities, insecurit…

Paul Varjak Character Analysis