Film Opening - Clueless

Clueless opening scene
Mise-en-scene

The clothes that the characters are wearing are very bold statements – the main character is wearing a yellow plaid school girl outfit, with matching blazer and skirt. This will attract the audience as it is draws their attention to the main character and allows you to understand her personality in the opening scene as it shows that she likes to stand out from the crowd, meaning that she has a lot of confidence and doesn’t like to be ‘ordinary’. 

In the opening scene various different locations are presented to the audience, one of these would include a party. This is very stereotypical of teenagers as they are portrayed as rebellious party-goers who don’t like to listen to their parents. This will attract the audience as it will allow them to relate to the scene. 

Another factor of mise-en-scene would be the computer screen the main character uses in order to create her outfit. This is not a typical belonging of a teenager, so it shows that her family is wealthy and may give her everything that she wants, suggesting she has a spoilt personality. This is will cause the audience to become slightly jealous of her, as it would be every girls dream to pick out their outfit that easily in the morning.

Camerawork

A mid shot is used within the first 30 seconds of the start of the film, in order to demonstrate the main characters love for shopping. The mid shot used shows Cher carrying multiple shopping bags in her hands with a large smile on her face. This shows that she is happy with her purchases/happy to be shopping, in which teenage girls can relate to as shopping is seen as a stereotypical teenage girls favourite hobby. 

Another shot used would be a hand held camera of the car driving past. This is significant as it shows that Cher is not the best at driving and creates a chaotic feel due to the shaking of the camera and also allows the audience to feel more interacted with the film. This attracts the audience as it almost creates a sense of foreshadowing as the audience understand that something is going to go wrong while Cher is driving , for example her driving test later on in  the film.  

The last camera shot would be the bird’s eye view shot of Cher and all of her friends driving in the car. This allows the audience to understand the main characters social life more as you can distinguish the fact that she likes to be with her friends a lot of the time, which is relatable to other teenage girls.

Sound

A voiceover is used through the whole of the opening scene, in order to narrate Cher’s morning routine and also to introduce her to the audience. This allows the audience to feel more involved in the film as it makes the audience feel like the main character is talking directly to you. 

Another use of sound would the non-diegetic music used in the background – “Kids in America” This song has a very upbeat tempo and also reflects/foreshadows what the film will be about, as the song celebrates the youth in America, whilst the film is used to demonstrate how a stereotypical teenage can change from their rebellious state to being caring and kind. 

A use of diegetic sound would be when the tires are screeching as Cher turns a corner, this emphasises that she isn’t very good at driving, which some people in the audience may find amusing which will attract them to watch the rest of the film due to the elements of humour.

Representation

The film uses a blonde girl as the main character, which is stereotypical as blonde girls are seen as slightly ditsy which Cher is at times. This could attract the audience’s attention as they may want to find out if she has any other conventional traits or whether she counteracts these stereotypes. 













The main character is also of an upper class as you can clearly see their wealth is several parts of the opening scene. For example, the technology used to chose Cher’s outfit, the new car, the large grand staircase in the house and also the fact the family have a maid. Upper class teenagers are stereotypical spoilt and vain, which is demonstrated in the film by Cher. One piece of evidence for this would be when she is doing her morning routine and she is looking in the mirror at herself with a matching pyjama set on.

Use of titles

In the opening scene the title changes colour in order to engage the audience and highlights the fact that the film is about to commence. The font of this is also fairly simple and bold as the whole title is in capitals allowing it to be clearly identified. The font used is sans serif, which is a simple font that can be read easily, potentially suggesting that Cher lives a simple ‘clueless’ life.