I chose to analyse mean girls as an effective opening sequence as it’s my favourite film and its a perfect example of a Teen/High school Drama.
When I actually watched the first 3 and half minutes I discovered that the opening sequence was actually as effective as I first thought although it is one of my favourite films I felt that to write about it was disappointing as it doesn’t really ‘hook’ you in.
The first scene which we see is the title scene with a background of black and the names are written in pink – from this we can detect that the genre may be a chick flick, also from the name of the film ‘mean girls’ we gather it’s about girls.
We first meet the character Cady which she just seems like average girl she is the appropriate age for a school girl and dresses appropriately- authentic mise en scene, her mum and dad are also dressed appropriately to their character’s and the right age too, they live in a typical American style house – large and open planned. We then see a clip of a spelling bee which we stereotypically see a geek taking part in – this character has glasses, greasy hair and wears typical clothes which we would expect a geek to wear.
When Cady is walking up to the school she nearly experience’s a bus crash which is one of the only scenes which something which we would consider to ‘draw us’ in, the bus which she is nearly ran over by is a yellow school bus – this is a typical style American bus , this is authentic mise en scene.
We first see the title scene which has characters names flashing up on the screen – the background is black and the words are written in pink from this we could connote that the genre is a chick flick from the use of colour. Next we meet the first two characters who are the parents this is a low angle but also a point of view angle of the character who they are talking to – which is unrevealed for a few seconds which creates more suspension for us. After a few seconds of the character being unrevealed we then see Cady face which is through an over the shoulder shot of both parents, through a wide shot we establish the setting and realise that they are standing outside of their ‘typical’ American style house. This title sequence inspires me because in the beginning of my Title sequence I will be setting a particular culture theme of a young teen female character.
Bend It Like Beckham:
There is a wide range of shots used in the Bend It Like Beckham opening title sequence. There are long shots which show the full length image of people which could present types of body language. For example when Jess is wanting to score a goal and she sees all her family (that are against her playing football) stood in front of the net, you can see their distress and anger towards Jess by the way they’re standing and portraying their body as if they want her to stop and they don’t want her to score the goal because it’s not right. Close up shots are usually used to show in-depth facial expressions. Within this title sequence close ups are used mainly during the arguments and disagreements between the family to show the real emotion on the characters faces. Two shots are very commonly used due to the amount of dialogue in the Bend It Like Beckham opening title sequence. Two shots show communication and interaction between the family members. There is use of an ariel shot within this opening scene when Jess is in a football match…The fact it’s an ariel shot helps capture the action clearly and you can see all of the team players because it’s from birds eye view, this way it is easier to see the body language and expression of each character. This inspired me because it sets the theme of western and eastern culture conflict.
10 Things I Hate About You first screen shot introduces the institution of the film through the large blue text at the centre down the bottom of the shot. The large size of the text suggests the importance of the institution and the contribution they had to the film. This text appears from the right of the screen from a blue thick line which then appears as a blue circle left of the text and it is stationary once centre of the screen. It then lights up gold creating the text to stand out to the audience even more, presenting its importance once again. The same production company is presented once again however in the same typography of the cast and crew which will soon follow. This ties the film in with the institution to present that they were the main production of the film. This time the text is right in the centre of the screen, standing out in a bright green colour. This text is animated and moving around fast as if it is sketched into the shot, creating a fun and upbeat feeling. This title sequence inspired me as it sets Teen/High School theme almost immediately much like how my title sequence is going to be like.
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