Analysis On 'Mean Girls'
From watching the opening sequence, it is clear this film is a coming of age / high school drama genre with an aspect of comedy, much like the beginning of the film I would like to create. The genre of this film is established in different ways. For example, this film is set on site of a college/high school, a specific location for this type of genre, as the main characters who are the 'coming of age' in these films, moving on in life and experiencing different problems everyday, are usually aged between 13-20, the age where college is the main highlight of their day, whether it be for the better or worse. To help the audience understand where the film is set, pan shots are used to show Cady's surroundings. Some of these films tend to have features from chick flicks in with them and this film is a prime example because the main character is a teenage girl, who comes across as being unpopular, therefore leading to her feeling uncomfortable in herself. This results in people laughing at her and creates a horrid atmosphere throughout her college life, which is usually the specific feature in a chick flick. This feature found in the film helps us to establish the genre.
The image below helps us establish where the film is taking place, i.e. at and around college.
The above two images show the pan shot used to inform the audience of where this is filmed.
This image shows us who the main character is, 'Cady', a typical teenage girl, on her way to college for the first time.
Another way the audience becomes established with what the film is about is through the narrative techniques and theories used. This film uses Tzvetan Todorov's stage theory where the movie starts with an equilibrium of her day to day life. The audience learns how the main character is a loser and the opening sets up her relationships, or lack of them. Another feature that is quite specific to the genre, 'coming of age', is the use of 'Exposition'. This is where a character, usually the main character, provides some background information to inform the readers about the plot or theme of the film. In the case it is 'Cady' who speaks and informs the audience of why and how she came to be at this point in the film. Alongside this feature, there is the use of 'Restricted Narration' which is when the narrative is tied to one character and the audience only sees or knows what they know. In this film, the audience knows and sees what 'Cady' does as she is the one who is telling the story. This feature is quite popular in these kinds of films as this genre normally has someone who comes across as a 'geek' or being unpopular and how they find their inner self, which is what this film is beginning to reflect.
The use of narrative theories and narrative techniques help to reveal insights into the development of the characters to the audience. By using 'Exposition', the audience get an understanding of what background 'Cady' has come from and shows that she is someone who is not used to the 'normal' routine of going to college and therefore doesn't have many friends. As well as this, the use of 'Restricted Narration' helps the audience understand how this character is feeling. We see we 'Cady' feeling very nervous, vulnerable and quite unhappy as she is starting this new college, without having any experience of what it is like, as well as having no friends.
These techniques also contribute to the tone of the genre and are used show 'Cady's' feelings and also help establish the un-easy tone to the film. Because we see how nervous and vulnerable 'Cady' is, it creates this un-easy tone and we as the audience aren't sure how 'Cady' is going to react to people laughing at her. It makes the audience feel sympathy towards her and the are intrigued how she will react.
This image below shows the other students laughing at 'Cady'.
Editing
Throughout this title sequence, certain editing techniques and camera positioning are used to connote to the audience what genre this film is. It commences with Cady and her parents discussing her day ahead at college and the camera positioned at a low angle looking up towards her parents. This connotes the message that although Cady is sixteen years old, she is being portrayed as being smaller and younger. Perhaps this is reflecting how she feels when her parents are talking to her and we as the audience are immediately filled with sympathy towards her. This is quite commonly found in these type of genres as the main character is sympathised at the beginning of the film so we can see them growing up from this child and experiencing difficulties along the path to eventually becoming a mature adult. This low angle camera positioning and over the shoulder shots is found further on through this title sequence when we are given shots of Cady's teachers and fellow students. Again the camera is positioned to make the teacher and other students look more dominant with Cady portrayed as being the weakest. Again it states what this genre will be about as this feature is commonly found in coming of age films to emphasise the journey the character has made.
These images show the low angle positioning of the camera that connotes how Cady is feeling at this point - young and weak.
This image shows an over the shoulder shot, which portrays Cady to be the smaller and weaker one out of the two students.
Another way camera techniques help us establish the genre is by the use of shot reverse. This is used to portray Cady's state of mind and is something found quite often in coming of age films. Thus the audience understands the character, who they are and how much of a journey they have made by the end of the film.
The images above show the use of shot reverse shot to connote to the audience how the character is feeling, quite often found in these genres.
Another feature found in this film is the use of long shots, followed by medium close up shots. These are used quite often in coming of age films to show how excluded and small the character feels compared to the rest of the characters. Again it develops the story to show how she will overcome this, fight back and become a better person for it. These images below show the different shots.
The other opening credit titles are portrayed the same, one word being bold and the other slim. Again this reflects the storyline and genre.
The main music is a song called 'Rip her to shreds' which listening to the title suggests a sense of strength and power. I believe this is done to reflect the journey the main character is taking and some of the emotions she needs to have to tackle this journey. This is something quite often used in this genre where people are growing up and finding their strengths and weaknesses. The band who performed it, 'Boomkat', are known for their music in other chick flicks/coming of age films such as 'Crossroads'. The two members at the time were in their early twenties, the age after the teenager years where you find out who you really are. I believe their music is used for this type of genre as maybe they have been thorough the same experiences and wish to portray their feelings about it through music.
Analysis On 'Kick-Ass'
From watching the opening sequence of this film, it is clear to see that this genre is also a coming of age/comedy, much like the film 'Mean Girls' and the opening of a film I would like to create. In this film. One common feature found in coming of age films is the specific location and theme, which is usually that of a high school/college in America and occassionaly some scenes shot in the main character's house. This is to reflect the character's journey. They start this journey as a child and progress into a mature and grown up person, something found in all coming of age films.
The following images show the location shots, one set at a college and the other at 'Kick-Ass's' house.
Another feature that helps establish the genre of this film are the characters used. The main character, 'Kich-Ass', is portrayed as a bit of a geek, someone not popular in his school and definitely somebody who doesn't have much luck with girls. This is a prime example of the type of character in this genre as the story is based around how this character comes out of themselves and becomes popular. Supporting the main character, you also get his best friends who are also usually portrayed as geeks, and the 'popular' girl, the one the geek can never seem to get, as shown in this film too.
The following images show some of the characters in the film, especially the main character, 'Kick-Ass', found in the middle of his mates in the image below.
We also understand what type of genre this film is from the use of narrative techniques and theories used. A theory that nearly always seems to be found in these types of films is the Tzvetan Todorov's five stage theory. The movie starts with an equilibrium of his day to day life and from this the audience learns how the main character is a loser and the opening sets up his relationships and who his friends are. This is much like the set up for 'Mean Girls'.
Another technique used is 'Restricted Narration'. This technique is when the narrative is tied to one character and helps the audience understand how this character is feeling. In this case, we understand 'Kick-Ass' to be feeling unpopular and wanting to be a better person and feel wanted by others.
Something else found in this film is the use of an ellipsis. This is seen in the shot where Kick-Ass and his family are sat around the breakfast table. We see his mum suddenly dying and then the shot is focused in on the breakfast cereal box containing a bee. The following shot shows the same box and all the characters, apart from his mother, in the same postion. It emphasises that nothing new has happened, nothing exciting in his life, everything is the same. This use of ellipsis also links to another feature, 'Exposition'. This is where there is some narration that provides background information to the audience, much like Ellipsis does. This is quite common in this genre as we learn how this character came to be how he is and why he is so unpopular. It is also to create this mood of sympathy towards him. Like most of these coming of age films this so the audience can feel for the character and want him to change to a better life, especially as his mother has died.
The following images shows the use of an ellipsis.
Editing
Throughout this title sequence, there are certain editing techniques and camera positioning used to connote to the audience what genre this film is. The use of 'shot reverse shot' shows 'Kick-Ass' looking at the 'girl of his dreams' and a following shot of her actually looking at her best friend. This is followed by another shot of her reaction to 'Kick-Ass' and it's one of disgust. This is usually how the relationships between girls and boys are in coming of age films as the main character has to win the guy/girl of their dreams over to show how they've found their innerself.
The following images show the use of 'shot reverse shots'.
With regard to the titles, they are edited as though a superhero is flying through the sky and they appear as titles in the cloud. This is done to reflect the childish side of this genre. The other titles and time titles appear as being quite funky and chunky, something that you would expect to see from a comic book and this also reflects the superhero idea.
The music used in this sequence, 'Stand Up', seems jolly and cheerful, and the creators are a band known as 'The Prodigy'. They started out as a normal band, practicing in an attic, but wanted more in their lives and did all they could to become something better. This is much like 'Kick-Ass' wanting to achieve bigger and better things in his life.
The video clip below is the music clip used in this film.
No comments:
Post a Comment