John Tucker Must DieOpening.

One part of the clip that I thought was really effective was the voiceover, the girl describes her life as the film matches each part. There is some clever dialogue that makes the audience laugh. The girl has a very chatty register which makes the audience engaged, as it feels like she’s talking to them. It also sets the story and tells us details about the girl without ruining the realism.

“It was in 7th grade when I realised I was invisible.”

Another part of the opening I liked was the editing. The special effects that were put on top. By almost making it cartoon like it added to the humour and attracted the teenage audience. Some of the cuts throughout the sequence are fairly fast, mainly to show how quickly the time is moving on, and varies the pace.

“That’s me! It wasn’t easy but in a few short months I went from sort of unknown to…”

Jump Cut

The costumes in the clip are all normal clothing nothing unordinary which lets the audience know the class they’re in and that they’re like everybody else, this enables the audience to relate to them. The costumes also relate to high school letting the audience know more detail about each character. The facial expressions of the characters show their emotions to others and a bit about their personality, I liked this as the expressions are very over the top but describe young girls well.

Shows their in high school and gives the audience detail on the character.

Shows her attitudes towards things and suggests what type of person she is via her facial expression.

The camera shots in the clip vary which makes the opening more appealing and engaging as it’s not all shot at one distance and one angle. The shots vary from low to high and long to close. There are many close-ups used to show the expression on the characters faces which also tells the audience how that character is feeling about a situation. There’s a master shot to set the scene and lock down the genre. Also in the clip are some high angle shots looking down on the girl to show how vulnerable and overpowered she feels.

Close-up shot Master ShotHigh angle shot

In the background there’s non-diegetic music playing. The music to begin with is upbeat and cheerful to show that the girl is a happy person and is optimistic about her not so good life. Also in the clip are a few diegetic sounds but none are that significant or noticeable they just add to the realism of the film. Other than the voiceover there is other dialogue, these all anchor down the genre so the audience know it’s a rom-com feel good film. Humour is used a lot in the dialogue to show this. The first time the audience meet John, the music changes completely and juxtaposes with the girls music. It is very masculine and fast to show his personality. He’s music is bubbly and cheeky it makes him sound like the perfect person that gets away with everything. This enables the audience to identify what Johns character is going to be like.