CLUELESS

The film Clueless was released in 1998 and is about the life of a young girl named Cher. The opening of the film involves Cher and her friends doing what they’d normally do through their day. However, the scene then skips to Cher getting ready in the morning choosing her outfit for the day using an electronic wardrobe system. Throughout the opening sequence we are shown scenes that occur during her morning, although Cher herself does not always feature in them. Instead, her voice is used as a voice over of her thoughts. The opening sequence then skips to Cher and her friend Deon at school gossiping, meanwhile once again, Cher’s thoughts are used as a voiceover. Before all of the action however, there are the titles and credits. They have been put in bright bold colours which could be done to catch the eyes of the audience, the font has also been put in contrasting colours to the background to make them stand out even more.

Camerawork 

The camerawork in Clueless starts off using a Birdseye view of the tops of the girls heads therefore enabling the audience to see that they are in a car. It then moves into a midst of Cher carrying shopping bags, whilst this is occurring the camera is also tracking her as she walks. Next, there is a montage of a number of shots of Cher and her friends. Furthermore, the camera is held at a slight low angle of Cher which may be done to suggest her popularity and superiority over others. This angle continues onto the next clip to also show superiority.

In addition to this, the camera does a pan of a whole pool party scene which has more than likely been done to create an atmosphere and set the scene for the audience. The camera then goes back to the clip filmed at the very beginning which continues as a Birdseye view. Following this, an over the shoulder shot of Cher looking at herself in the mirror is shown, which in a way acts as a point of view shot. Although, it does suggest that we as the audience are not important enough to view her exact view point which results in us being behind her as though we are her friends rather than her.

Whats more, a two shot occurs when Cher and her father have a conversation, this is done to show that they hold a relationship. The camera shot then moves on to a close up of both their faces when they get into a heated argument, therefore we get a better sense of their feelings through their facial expressions.

Finally, at the end of the opening sequence a high angle of Cher in her car is panned across the screen to give the feeling of motion of her in the moving car.

Sound

Firstly, the sound is mainly upbeat stereotypical girls music, which sets the atmosphere of happiness and excitement. But, the music is joined by the laughter of the girls in the car which also links to the idea of happiness. Once the clip changes from Cher being out and about with friends to being alone in her room, the music changes from upbeat to quite calm, slow and very techno, due to the fact that she is in her ‘element’ choosing an outfit from an electronic wardrobe machine. The music also repeats ‘fashion’ over and over as it relates to what is being observed in the scene. Secondly, Cher as a voice over of her father walking down the stairs states that he is “terrifying” and the maid who is viewed at the bottom of the stairs makes a worried scream to show his power. The fact that the maid is shown beneath the father at the bottom also implies she lacks importance and he holds authority over her. Thirdly, when Cher and her father are in shot together the music become fun and comedic, to represent the awkward father, daughter relationship.

Editing

Firstly, there is a montage of different clips of Cher and her friends, to give the audience a feel of their characters in a  short space of time. There is then numerous wipes, which occur when the car drives past the screen. The car represents the wipe and a new clip is then shown straight after. Furthermore, when we view Cher and her father having the argument each time to shot swaps from face to face it has been edited so that their eyeliner match up even though they have been taking in completely different shots and not in continuity.

Mise en Scene

The main locations throughout the opening sequence are Cher’s house and her car.The costumes worn by the characters are very 1980’s, as the girls are wearing things such as tartan skirts in obscure colours with matching blazers and the men are wearing suits. These outfits represent them as being rather wealthy and from a well educated family. All of the young characters have been dressed to look as though they are average teenagers who attend a regular school. Therefore this film does not need to include and extreme styles of makeup of costumes, especially as the content of the film is based on a girls daily life rather than say a horror film.

Alicia Fuat