She's All That (Opening)

0:00-1:50

Distributor: Miramax Films

Sound:

The film begins with non-diegetic sound through the use of music. The song is youthful and has a heavy beat, indicating that the female character may be quite serious, but the overall tone of the music immediately implies that this film is that serious and the main characters are probably going to be young teenagers. Diegetic sound is heard through dialogue in the opening. An example of this is when Laney goes to wake up her brother. The way she speaks to him shows she has authority and allows the audience to quickly wonder why she can speak to her sibling in a parental way.

Editing and Framing:

The action constantly fades in and out during the beginning of the film, allowing the audience to understand that time is passing but also show she is putting a lot of effort into her work. The frame during this time is also filled with her and her work, which gives the impression to the viewer that she takes her school work seriously and emphasises that art in particular is her specialty. This idea of being hard working and passionate about a subject isn’t the way that many teenagers are stereotypically portrayed, which immediately shows her to be different. When Laney talks to her brother, straight cuts are used to create verisimilitude and help the audience relate to her character easily and the situation she is in.

Camera Shots and Movements:

Mid-shots are used of Laney when she is trying to wake her brother up, showing her in the same clothes and her reactions to what he says. This allows the audience to see that she has just finished her work whilst everyone else slept, reinforcing the idea that she is hard working. The camera also tracks her as she walks towards his door, indicating to the viewer that she is an important part of the narrative. Close-ups are used to show Laney’s hands when she is working and the paint when she uses it. These all have connotations of being creative and strongly suggest she is an imaginative and artist character.

Mise en scene:

Laney wears a yellow top with brown sleeves and apron in the opening of the film. The apron she wears links with her painting but the odd mix of colours suggests that she is trying to express herself through her appearance, which is a stereotypical trait of teenagers. Also, she wears glasses which portray her to be a geek characters as glasses have connotations of being intelligent. When Laney is painting, the lighting is quite dark, indicating that what she is doing may be private as well as linking with her doing it in her basement where there wouldn’t much light realistically, so this style of lighting creates verisimilitude.

Titles:

The titles used in the film appear at the beginning of the film but do not show up on screen in one fixed place. The animation used in the titles link to what Laney is doing, which is painting. For example, one piece of text appears to be squished down and then stabled to the work. This reinforces the idea that art is an important part of the narrative and highlights Laney to be an important character as she is the one making the piece. The font and colour used look like paint and again links to what is happening on screen, allowing the audience to not become distracted by too many colours.