Mean Girls (Directed by Mark Waters)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVT2YKP_bG4

(Mean Girls and Easy A are two similar American high school coming of age films although in the opening sequence seems to relate more to The Perks of Being A Wallflower.)

In Mean Girls the first low angle subjective POV shot is very clever in that it appears two parents are preparing their small child for their first day of school when in fact Cady is a sixteen year old freshman. The shot then tilts up to their level with the following over the shoulder shot showing the main character is a teenager. This sets up Cady's introduction with her voice over.

After a recorded sound of a shooting camera is added to signal a photo being taken, her voice over has been pre-recorded after the introduction of Cady and her parents. The camera noise being a sound effect which would have been created by a foley artist.(1) A pop song starts playing instead of the previous musical instrumental when she starts walking on the school grounds. The nondiegetic song stops once a disorientated Cady bumps into her teacher Ms Norbury and her coffee and donuts spill all over her and the floor. The song lyrics prior to this mishap builds and repeats "she's so dumb, rip her to shreds." The selection process being "the director consults with the...picture and sound editors to determine where music and effects will be added,"(2) So the end result of the song has meaning in this placement since Cady appears dumbfounded and high school can be a rough place where she could get 'ripped to shreds' by her peers. 

She begins with no friends just like Charlie in The Perks of Being A Wallflower with a similar mid shot walk into the high school grounds. There are also her hand held camera POV shots intertwined with mid shots to show her sense of disorientation. "Handheld shots are frequently used...to create an unsteady frame that suggests movements of an individual point of view,"(3) evident in these shots. With the last close up shot we see her eyes shift from side to side showing her confusion over how to compose herself. The other students her age bump into her and burn textbooks which we see unsettle her in this new surrounding. 

"The first day of school was a blur," Cady's voice over tells us with the depth of field focused on her. When she says "blur," the people surrounding her appear blurred. As for the depth of field "an image can be framed to create perspectives and meanings"(4) so there is a brief literal connection between her words and in the close up shot. 

Also alike Charlie, at lunch break she resorts to sitting by herself locked in a toilet cubicle to eat her lunch. The long shot zooms into a close up, seeing through the cubicle door. "Close ups show details of a person or an object, such as...the character's feelings,"(5) where here we sympathise towards Cady's loneliness on her first day. In terms of coming-of-age, she is starting from the bottom of the school where the only way is up for her character.

(1) Corrigan and White. The Film Experience, Chapter 5, Listening to the Cinema: Film Sound, Page 187. Bedford/St. Martin's. 
(2) Corrigan and White. The Film Experience, Chapter 5, Listening to the Cinema: Film Sound, Page 187. Bedford/St. Martin's. 
(3) Corrigan and White. The Film Experience, Chapter 3, Framing What We See: Cinematography, Page 118. Bedford/St. Martin's. 
(4) Corrigan and White. The Film Experience, Chapter 3, Framing What We See: Cinematography, Page 113. Bedford/St. Martin's. 
(5) Corrigan and White. The Film Experience, Chapter 3, Framing What We See: Cinematography, Page 109. Bedford/St. Martin's.