Easy A Film Opening Analysis/Inspiration for Our Film

There are a lot of long shots to establish where the film is set. The audience can easily understand that the film is set in a city due to street lights and buildings. Mid shots are also used in order to tell the audience what city it is set in (Ojai). Even if the audience does not know the place, it is easy to understand where it is set to give the audience a good idea about the setting. We also see close ups of the American flag to establish to the audience what country that this is set in. This allows the audience to understand the type of film to expect as there is a significant difference between films made in the USA compared to other films made in different countries.

The lighting of the opening scene is very bright and cheerful, which shows the audience that this movie has elements of comedy within it, and is generally light-hearted.

Mise-en-scene

Most of the students in the school wear casual t-shirts, jeans, shorts, trainers etc. There are a few exceptions to this, such as the people who are considered ‘popular’ are a set of females who wear, heels, short skirts and dresses. This gives the audience an impression that everyone must dress according to the specific category they belong to in order to fit in.

Sound

The singing in the opening song only consists of ‘da, da, da’ being repeated again and again. This helps to create a fun and positive feel. We also hear people talking in the background along with the school bell ringing to give us a sense that the film is set in a school. The audience expects to hear a lot of background noise as schools are usually full of noisy students.

Editing

Titles appear throughout the opening scene and are plain, white and sans serif. They are very simple and shows to the audience connotations of purity and seriousness which may refer to the narrative. However, the main title for the movie is shown in white and red. Red connotes love and danger, while white connotes purity and innocence. This may refer to the themes in the movie as love, danger, purity and innocence are all covered within the movie.