Analysis of the opening sequence of August Rush.

August Rush was released in 2007, and stars Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keri Russell Freddie Highmore and Robin Williams. The film follows the tale of a young orphan's search for his parents, using music as his guide in a contemporary Oliver-twist style.

August Rush begins with parallel editing of two scenes, one featuring a man playing in a band and the other a woman playing the cello in an orchestra. The man is playing in a Irish soft rock band, in a gig hall with lots of fans cheering them on. The woman is in a classy orchestra, wearing an elegant dress. The mise-en-scene in each of these clips accentuates the contrast between the two characters. For example, the clothes and the setting they are in, shows a division in class and background. Camerawork is also used to reflect the contrast of characters. In the clip of the woman, the shots are long and focus mainly on the cello and the woman's face, whereas in the clip of the man, the shots are very varied, and a lot of shots taken of the band are taken from behind the audience, including more of the setting and making the atmosphere look more hip and rock n' roll like. Also in the man's clips, fast cuts are used to quicken the pace, differentiating the man and woman's lifestyle. As the film is predominantly about music, sound plays a key role in the opening sequence. When the man is on screen, the soft, Irish rock that his band is playing is on. However, when the woman is on screen, the audience can hear classical orchestra music.  As the credit's start to appear on the screen, the length of shots of the woman and the man shorten considerably, and the music changes from diegetic to non-diegetic as the allocated music for the two different clips overlap each other. This signifies the merging of the two character's worlds, and suggests that this could be a recurring theme throughout the film. Towards the end of the credits, both characters start to look uncomfortable and not content in their roles, this suggests that the characters are ready for a change from their conformed life, indicating a reason for how and why their lives may become entwined later in the film.