Easy A (Directed by Will Gluck)

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

To begin Easy A establishing shots are used such as mid shots of the Ojai, California sign, USA and California flag, to an Ojai North High School sign. This is showing us the exact setting and to expect an American high school scene. So it is a "real place where the action and events of the film occur."(1)

What the film has in common with The Perks of Being a Wallflower is that the two main characters both begin with talking directly to the audience. Olive's voice over anonymously begins with no sight of her until 45 seconds later. This POV shot gives the impression that we are the camera searching for the speaker heard and we follow a skateboarder, and search through groups. The final camera close in is a mid shot of a girl wearing a white singlet in the centre of a group. This leads us to believe she is the voice over speaker but soon realise we are wrong once she bumps into Olive, the correct main character. The voice over is "a text spoken by an offscreen narrator can act as the organising principle behind virtually all of the film's images,"(2) where in this case makes sense of what would just be a long establishing shot of high school students without it. The shot is created to be misleading and because of the length our anticipation keeps on building as we want to see who the speaker of the voice over is. 


Since Olive is knocked over and American high schools typically have 'cliques,' we categorise her as unpopular. The shot on the left, a high angle shot justifying this idea of Olive being inferior to others surrounding her. She did mention she "used to be anonymous," although she comes across as the most confident of all four film characters. 

There are also three layers of sound during this shot. The sound from the people at the school, Olive's voice over, and the pop song playing in the background. The song being nondiegetic and the voice over as "internal diegetic sound."(3) This is once we finally see the correct main character whom the mysterious voice belongs to the shot cuts over to her video log. The use of video logs to the viewer is where the voice overs are derived from which also creates a very personal story-telling relationship between Olive and the viewer. The video log is also a close up shot of her, feeling more intimate and trusting in the comfort of the character's own room. Coming-of-age films are meant to be relatable and feel personal so these clips help with relating to our own young reality.

To see through the eyes of Olive, POV shots are used. One is to introduce Mr Griffith when gathering her belongings from the ground. She tilts her head up and sees him from a low angle shot which is "the position from which a person" in this case Olive, "is seen."(4) This shows his superiority as a teacher and presents him as an authoritative character.

(1) Corrigan and White. The Film Experience, Chapter 2, Exploring a Material World: Mise-en-Scène, Page 71. Bedford/St. Martin's.

(2) Corrigan and White. The Film Experience, Chapter 5, Listening to the Cinema: Film Sound, Page 193. Bedford/St. Martin's.
(3) Corrigan and White. The Film Experience, Chapter 5, Listening to the Cinema: Film Sound, Page 186. Bedford/St. Martin's.

(4) Corrigan and White. The Film Experience, Chapter 3, Framing What We See: Cinematography, Page 105. Bedford/St. Martin's.

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. 

We Are The Best! (Directed by Lukas Moodysson)

(Bobo is the youngest of the coming-of-age films all of which belong to their schooling days.) 

In We Are The Best! the conversations at the start are used as background sound whilst the opening credits are displayed. The sound here begins the film before we see any of the characters involved. This creates questions in the viewers mind as to what to anticipate and see in the opening scene. Once "Happy Birthday" is being sung in Swedish the accompanying visuals cross over with an objective POV shot of Bobo lasting about a second. "The specific object highlighted within a point of view is the shot's focus,"(1) and we take notice as she is the youngest one present. Bobo clearly looks unimpressed and out of place and does not participate in the birthday celebration spirit. 

The music used is diegetic as the first song played is during the party, and then Bobo puts her earphones in to listen to her punk music shown by a wide and then close up shot. The volume of sound is tailored to seem realistic such as when Bobo is in the bathroom the party music sounds soft. Then when she opens the door and walks through the main room the volume is much louder, which is how it would be in reality. 

In the over the shoulder shot of Bobo in the bathroom mirror the only sound is the

background song playing and there is an absence of dialogue. Only a sigh escapes her mouth and she appears sad when looking at her reflection. The viewer would come to the conclusion that she is not very happy with either what she sees on the outside and possibly what she knows is on the inside. Self doubt being relatable to the audience. 

Bobo and Klara are noticeably defensive when the two other girls question and insult their 'punk' appearance. So we see that they begin in the film with arrogance. Bobo's character is easily annoyed evident when the band boys sarcastically call them "the prettiest girls in town" which they later shout into the microphone turning the insult into music. Zooming and tracking shots are also frequently used by a hand held camera. Movement through a film shot "re-creates a quality of vision that has always been a part of the human experience"(2) but can be adequately represented through film technology. The camera movement in this instance is reflected from the two energetic young girls on screen. 

When Bobo and Klara are on the phone the sound the clip of Bobo listening to Klara's parents is muffled to imitate the real sound we would hear through a telephone. "We watch one actor begin a line and then watch the listener as he or she continues"(3) with the sound being muffled on the listeners side. There are also no voice overs inserted with Bobo's voice so we feel less of a connection to her compared with the other three films but we can still sympathise towards her character. Her young innocence playing a big part in our sympathy as the audience finds this relatable to their once young naïvety. 


(1) Corrigan and White. The Film Experience, Chapter 3, Framing What We See: Cinematography, Page 105. Bedford/St. Martin's. 
(2) Corrigan and White. The Film Experience, Chapter 3, Framing What We See: Cinematography, Page 116. Bedford/St. Martin's. 
(3) Corrigan and White. The Film Experience, Chapter 5, Listening to the Cinema: Film Sound, Page 192. Bedford/St. Martin's. 

The Perks of Being A Wallflower (Directed by Stephen Chbosky)

Opening sequence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQPhbA1luzw

(Opening sequences for coming of age films introduce the main character in their purist form of innocence and doubt preceding their journey of self discovery. For the following four film analysis posts I will be looking closely at cinematography analysing the different shots and also sound and how their execution enhances the stories.)

The Perks of Being A Wallflower feels a very personal film with main character Charlie being introduced when he is writing a letter directly to the viewer. There are no front on shots of Charlie until two and a half minutes in but he is cleverly introduced by an over the shoulder shot where we see his reflection in the window. The blurriness of his reflection gives a slight sense of uncertainty as to who he really is since he appears out of focus at first. "Please don't try to figure out who I am," Charlie says along with the mysterious shot whilst we do exactly what he says not to; try to figure out who he is.

Charlie barely participates actively in school and has no social life outside of his family so he has a large amount of room to grow for the rest of the film. The mid shot of him walking in the school hallway shows him disconnected from the other students. "The power of framing...involves careful construction by filmmakers"(2) which here sheds light on his loneliness and ‘difference’ from these kids his age. He has a tendency to hide away from attention and stay under the radar and yet this must be the very reason for him being a victim of bullying. 

In terms of sound a pre-recorded voice over has been used for the opening shots once Charlie is in the picture speaking directly to the viewer. His voice over meant to "connote trustworthiness."(1) This already puts the viewer in amongst the film so that they feel a part of the main characters life. Shots continue to be at the eye level including over the shoulder type shots of what would seem a student watching all of the scenes. This would be what we’re meant to feel, as though we’re a student watching Charlie. The background music and voice overs pause once Mr Anderson’s English class begins. This signals a sense of reality since there is no ‘background music’ to peoples lives. So the nondiegetic music briefly stops. Point of view shots are also included giving the viewer a sense of what it is like to be Charlie and Mr Anderson when they are conversing. 

The background music in general creates a sense of continuity from shot to shot, to have a seamless effect with the jump cuts. The song “Asleep” by the Smiths is played on a mix tape from his sisters boyfriend as diegetic music since it “has its source in the narrative world.”(3) Music plays an important part in the film for Charlie and there is a theme of soft toned, and at times sad music such as “Asleep.” The listening of this for the first time marks the start of the music he discovers throughout the film. The choice of soundtrack also reflects on the characters calm and usually sad mood. Charlie in this panning shot is focusing solely on the words of the music, "sing me to sleep." The shot seems rather intrusive on his personal space and time as he slouches on his bed listening to this tape.

(1) Corrigan and White. The Film Experience, Chapter 5; Listening to the Cinema: Film Sound, Page 193. Bedford/St. Martin's. 
(2) Corrigan and White. The Film Experience, Chapter 3, Framing What We See: Cinematography, Page 106. Bedford/St. Martin's. 

(3) - Corrigan and White. The Film Experience, Chapter 5; Listening to the Cinema: Film Sound, Page 286. Bedford/St. Martin's.