Right from the start, during the Paramount studio logo, there is an upbeat pop song from a recognized artist, this acts as a soundbridge from the logo, to the opening titles, and from the opening titles to the film.
The opening credits are comprised wholly of magazine articles and article titles for the woman's magazines written by the female protagonist, this is easily told by how there is a picture of her in each article, a brief scene where she is talking her way out of a parking ticket, and then a freeze frame of that, dropped onto another article, making it seem like the article is being put together by editing software. During the film, the titles continue to progress, appearing on the screen even though the story has begun.
The female protagonist is introduced early on as a writer for a magazine, but she wants to produce more political stories, as is evidenced by the article on her computer, which a colleague says won't make it into the magazine, demonstrating both a glass ceiling and an aspiration, though she is already in a highly glamourised job, writing articles for a woman's magazine, and getting tickets to the NBA finals for free, whereas most people will pay hundreds of dollars to get in.
In contrast to the female protagonist, the male protagonist (the first man to be shown), is seen riding a motorcycle through a traffic jam in a black leather jacket and a black helmet, creating the ensemble of a "cool" rebel. He is spoken down to the women outside of the company building, despite the fact that they hold the same job. The women are all wearing proffessional clothes, this is called "power-dressing", whereas he is more flippant with his clothing, prefering to wear casual clothes.
Just Like Heaven
Again, the film begins with the studio logo with an overlaying piece of music, the song "Lust for Life" by Iggy Pop, which carries over to the film, becoming a sound-bridge. The titles continue on in the film for a long time, considering they are only opening credits.
The scene begins with an aerial shot, above a low cloud cover, floating down and rotating, as it goes through the clouds. This alludes to the title "Just Like Heaven" as it opens up on a rose garden in warm sunset light. The female protagonist is wearing a long dress and is sitting in a plastic chair, the first sign that something isn't right. A hand reaches across and touches her shoulder, saying "Wake up."
The scene cuts jarringly to the female protagonist in scrubs, wearing a stethoscope around her neck. She asks how long she was "out" and is answered with "six minutes", signifying already that she doesn't get enough sleep, which is then further shown by her copious coffee consumption. As a doctor, she is well payed for her work, and is a consumate proffessional, acting calmly and quickly in emergencies and well versed on procedure, she is looked up to by many of the staff, as they often ask her opinion or for her help in their jobs. Her boss confirms this as she obtains a position as "attending physician", when he comments that she spends a lot of time caring for patients. 26 hours of time. He tells her to go home, and before she goes, she has a phone call from her sister. Her sister is a housewife with two children, a typical nuclear family with an a-typical 7 room house, she also plays the part of match-maker for the female protagonist.
On her way to her sister's, the female protagonist is on the phone again, driving at night and in the rain, the audience already knows that she is going to be in an accident, as the scenario is a familiar one.
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