The Devil Wears Prada: Opening scene analysis

The Devil Wears Prada DVD cover

The Devil Wears Prada is a movie directed by David Frankel, starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway. The opening sequence begins with a black background, no music and the credits are rolling. The credits are written in beige and orange. Both credits have a old Hollywood feel to it, creating a feminine, fashionable start. The black background fades out and the scene fades in to a steamy and unclear surface. The camera follows down the surface, whilst the credits are shown and we see a hand enter the scene and wipes the steam off the mirror, which wipes off the titles and the reflection of Anne Hathaway brushing her teeth is shown. At the same time Suddenly I See by KT Tunstall starts playing, creating an upbeat, exciting tempo to the film. At this point we are immediately attracted to the film, we are aware of the genre of the film, which is a comedy/drama/romance and instantly want to see more. 


An establishing shot of New York City is on screen with "Devil Wears Prada" across it. Next we are shown multiple shots of different women getting dressed elegantly and fashionably. In comparison we are see Anne Hathaway getting dressed differently to the women shown. The women are putting on makeup, curling their eyelashes and choosing what to wear from a whole wardrobe of clothes. Whereas Anne does not bother putting as much effort into getting ready for the day as the other women are. They put on lipstick whereas she puts on lip-balm. We see this through close-ups and zooms, which helps us get an idea about the type of person the protagonist is. She arrives outside a tall building looking up, as the camera tilts up to what she is looking at. She goes inside with a long shot showing us how different she looks from all the other "glamorous" women walking into the same place. 


The opening scene ends with a medium shot of the lift doors opening, as anne walks out as she leads us into the film keeping us wondering where she is going and what she is going to do next. The whole film is absolutely brilliant and is definitely one of my all-time favourites.