Analysis of the Opening Sequence of Clueless
The film “Clueless”, written and directed by Amy Heckerling in 1995,
is an adaptation of Jane Austen’s early 19th century novel “Emma”. In
order to translate the insular world of the provincial English town
into a modern scenario, Heckerling hit upon the modern American high
school, with its cliques and rituals. Although it appeals to a larger
audience, the target audience is the teenage generation and with this
in mind, Heckerling entertains us whilst successfully communicating
her views.
The film set the trend for a number of “teen movies” with its witty
satire of the superficiality of the American “MTV” generation and its
genre has been adopted by more modern films like “American Pie 2” and
“Mean Girls”.
The opening sequence of Clueless sets the scene beautifully and
immediately takes the audience into the world of the film’s main
character Cher. The film has the briefest of introductions with the
“Paramount” logo appearing simultaneously with the soundtrack, “Kids
in America”, being played over it. This breaks with tradition as this
logo, which is normally presented with sedate music or is in total
silence, is here included in the main body of the film. It is followed
by the film’s title in daring and colourful letters, in a pop up style
font. The way the producers have set out everything, it suggests that
they want to grab your attention, with the title graphics, but only
for a split second. They do not want any interruptions!
The first scene is short montage of Cher and her way of life e.g.
shopping, partying etc. It is filmed in a “hand- held” style with lots
of jerky m...
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...impression that the people are
listening but when the camera turns there is huge lack of interest
from the other students but Cher is wrapped in her own ego and isn’t
aware. There is a cut away shot of the teacher whose puzzled
expression speaks for itself. When it is finally over the pupils cheer
at the Statue of Liberty remark- the director is satirising. Cher
places her chewing gum back into mouth and at that point you notice
even that is colour coordinated to match her outfit. The “C” in her
report card reflects her debating ability.
Although, I can’t say from the opening sequence how the plot will
develop, the character of Cher is spoilt, self- centred and shallow
and can only improve. Clueless is not my type of film and from what I
have seen at the beginning, I would not necessarily choose to view the
rest!
The poem Loony Bin Basketball shows deeper meaning that even we cannot go to; my understanding of this poem is that the perspective of the person writing this poem is of someone stuck in a lunatic asylum, imagining themselves playing a basketball game with their friends. The first quote from the poem that I found helpful in my literary analysis was: “Catatonic Bill who's normal talent was to schlub days in a tub chair” this line supports my analysis because it describes one of the friends. I picked this line because it described what type of asylum and the people in it; Bill was a person with catatonia, a syndrome that makes you mimic people's speech and movements, not being able to move on your own. Furthermore, if Bill wasn’t able to move
Is it better to be loved alive or dead? In The Best American Essays edited by Lauren Slater, Toi Derricotte writes an exquisite short story “Beginning Dialogues” about the love for her dead mother, a love that was never there while her mother was living. The loss of her mother was not a poignant moment for her as she confesses, “I truly do not miss her like that, do not feel that irreversible moment of no return” (49). She navigates us through the stringent power her mother had over her as a child leaving us to wonder if when we feel love is as paramount as the feeling of love itself. Derricotte’s short story exhibits her sumptuous prose with vivid descriptions of her ambiance, her calamitous childhood moments, and her captivating ending.
Braff himself has a warm, easy-to-watch screen presence. He can say nothing during the lull in a conversation, while the camera remains focused on his face, and it feels right. Portman and Sarsgaard are also genuine, each wonderfully relaxed in their roles. Production design is superb: details in every scene are arranged well, and the photography, by Lawrence Sher, is - like the story and the acting – unpretentious, never distracting, tricky or cute. This film never seems to manipulate us; instead it engages us, arouses our curiosity and amusement, bids us gently to care about Andrew and Sam and even Mark, leaving us entertained in the best sense. This movie is as confident, as secure in itself, as comforting, as a well worn pair of house slippers or your favorite reading chair. A splendid film. Grade: A- (09/04)
Sydney: This script has everything! Exceptional dialogue! Intricate plotlines! Dynamic characters! It´s sure to be a hit!
In the opening scene of Remember the Titans a riot breaks out over the death of a black student. During this scene there are a number of cinematic techniques used to set the scene for ‘chaos’. These techniques include the medium close shot, characterisation, camera movement and sound that combine to create a sense of impending doom. Medium close shots were used effectively, to allow the audience to see the facial expressions of the black and white crowd and the size of the crowd. Characterisation can be seen through the actions and speech of the white and black crowd. Words like “murder” were used the black crowd and signs quoting “where is the justice”. The white crowd shouts in anger towards the black group demonstrating their strong hatred towards black people. Camera movements such as panning, both left and right were used with great effect, to highlight the deterioration in the
The computer HAL is malfunctioning and tries to get rid of the crewmembers. The only survivor is Dave Bowmen, who decides to disconnect HAL, and heads toward the Logic Memory Centre Room.
...r, this movie is lack of depth of storyline. The audiences can even predict what will happen in the next scenes. Moreover, the ending of this movie is too cheesy and irrational according to me. If only they change the ending to become more interesting and rational, I will give a four or five stars out of five. In spite of a lame twist ending, this movie is a perfect example to show that managers should be able to motivate and challenge their employee. It is important to remember that a happy employee means a productive employee.
In his short story, "The Strangers that Came to Town", Ambrose Flack is showing that true freedom is about being accepted. He shows this theme using many parts of the story. He shows it through characterization, the plot, and also the setting. Although freedom can mean many different things, such as freedom of speech, or freedom to express yourself, Flack uses and provides a lot of support in the story, using the Duvitch family, as to why true freedom is about being accepted. Despite what freedom may mean to other people, I also agree that true freedom is about being accepted, and can only be reached upon acceptance.
“Into The Deep” by Spencer Kayden, a play inspired by Jules Verne writing, is about people’s experience with the sea on a ship then to a submarine. “What’s Down There?” by Mackenzie Carro explains about the exploration of the sea by humans. Humans and the deep sea have a complicated relationship because humans have not studied deep enough in the sea, so they don’t know much about it.
Having your life planned out for you is like being chained to a stone wall. The further you try to go, the more the chains pull you back. In the novel, Into The Wild, Jon Krakuer creates a magnificent story of a young man named Chris McCandless. Chris McCandless drops everything he has ever owned and begins to travel in disguise to get away from any expectations society has placed upon him. Into The Wild introduces the rites of passage through Chris McCandless’ journey in life; with every location Chris visited he gained his own independence. Krakuer creates rites of passage with the explanation why he isolated himself from society, and what he needed to go through to gain his supposed ‘independence’.
For this assignment, I have chosen to review the paper called “Silence on the BART Train: The Urban Passenger as a Situational Identity”. This student was looking into why people tend not to talk to each other or doing any form of socializations when taking the BART. The study venue was the BART, and the identities that were studied were normal people taking the BART, who were called “urban passengers” who abstains from any social interaction.
After climbing the tree Scho found a place where several supple branches were knit to make a dangerous chair, and sat there with his head coming out of the leaves into the sunlight. He could see the other two boys down below, the ball going back and forth between them as if they were bowling on the grass, and Glennie’s crew-cut head looking like a sea urchin.
As Dill drank the Coca-Cola from my sack, the look on Scout’s face made me both amused, and a little offended. Everyone automatically just assumes I’m drunk all the time, and that's the way I want it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I'm a fan of being drunk. But if everyone thought that, they wouldn't judge me for what I do. I hang out with negoes all the time. And the look I get from people when they see me with my family, is as if I have committed a sin. What if, I have a coloured wife and mixed children. They’re people too. Of course, the white folks treat the coloured folks as if they’re trash. If I seem drunk all the time, people would just blame my behaviour on my state of intoxication. I find myself beginning to explain myself to Scout
In my own opinion I think this film is great. I think this because it
In summary, the script shows great potential as an independent film, but would suggest re-examining the features that are not as well understood.