Bridget Jones' Diary

The Extract from Bridget Jones' diary creates a feeling of sympathy and empathy for the character of Bridget Jones. It does this through the use of Mise en scene, camerawork, editing and sound. 

Firstly , the Mise en Scene involves a large portion of the extract showing Bridget Jones on her own in her flat, drinking and smoking by herself. As well as this, the room that she's in is very untidy, with  clothes and other items all over the place. The state of the room actually relates to her as it has been completely forgotten about and possibly even neglected. This makes us feel quite empathetic towards Bridget Jones, as it a quite realistic and not uncommon situation. 

Also, her loneliness is highlighted by the use of editing. There is a cross-dissolve of shots in her front room, showing her doing different things whilst on her own. This cross-dissolve shows the passing of time, and that she is alone the whole time. The fact that she is on her own for a long period of time and yet no-one even tries to contact her shows that no-one really cares about her, meaning that she is probably going to stay lonely for a lot longer. 

The sound used in the piece further adds to her loneliness and neglection. For example, the song that plays throughout the piece is called 'All by myself'. This provides a very clear link between the song and her. Also, the song starts off as non-diegetic, meaning that instead of her hearing the song, we are just linking it to her life. However, partway through the song, she starts singing along to it, showing that it must be diegetic. The way she sings the song indicates that she is summing her own life up through singing it. 

However, not all of the extract involves her in her room, or even her at all. For a brief moment, a close-up of  a crumpled up party hat on a pole can be seen. Even though this is not actually her, it still relates quite conveniently to her life, as it has simply been left there, but more importantly, its been forgotten about.