Mean girls trailer deconstruction

1. MEAN GIRLS

2. Camera
When the characters are being introduced, medium shot is used.This is to show
that they are the main focus of that moment.This may help the audience to
distinguish the similarities and differences of each character, which can help the
audience also understand what each character is like.
The are quick swipe-pans in the cafeteria scene, which shows the
different types of cliques within the school.The swipes happen in time
of the voice over so that the audience can see exactly what is being
said.
Long shots are used during the school scenes as a way to lay out the atmosphere of
what high school is like as the target audience are people that go to school.This helps
the audience relate and connect to the film.
When longshots are used in other scenes like ReginaGeorge’s house, it is to show he
difference between a lavish lifestyle and a normal lifestyle. It may make the audience
intrigued to see how people of other status live.

3. Camera
Low angles and high angles are used to show he hierarchy between the
people at the school.An example of this is when the girl on the left (low
angle) was giving a speech about her popularity and the girl on the left
(high angle) was ready to catch her, as if she was a Queen and had
power over her.
Tilt is used in this scene to show the transformation from Cady’s normal look to
“plastic”. Informs the audience about changes that happen in high school and
how dramatic they can be.
Panning is used to show the audience different areas of the main location (which is the
school).This could be so that the audience are aware that it is the main location where
everything starts and everything ends. Also gets the audience familiar to the location so
that if they do end uo watching the movie, they’re aware of what it is.

4. Sound
The non-diegetic music used through out the trailer is upbeat and fun,
which represents teenagers so it would attract in the target audience
(teenage girls), also as it is the type of music teenagers listen to.
The narration (voice over) used in the trailer helps the audience understand what is happening
and gives a brief back story to each character and the events that take place.This may draw the
audience in more as they’ve hearing the narration from the point of view of a character around
their age, which could help them to grasp things from a certain perspective.
There are points in the trailer where the music stops to draw attention to
the stupid comments some characters make. For example, when Karen
Smith (dumb plastic) talks about being “psychic” and her having “espn”.
Another example of this was at the beginning where the teacher made an
awkward stereotypical statement in front of a class, which teenagers can
relate to as they have experienced many mortifying days.
.

5. Mise-en-scene
The colour pink is the most popular and most worn colour in the trailer.This
suggests that the genre for the movie is romance and that the gender for the
target audience are females, as pink is associated with girls and not guys.Also,
there are a lo more girls than boys present in the scenes, which supports the
point of the colour pink being for girls.
In the school scenes, the area is almost-always crowded.This can show that in
school, teenagers normally go around in cliques or groups.Can also show the
suffocation of high school and how every where teenagers go, it’s almost like
they have no privacy. Even in the more crowded scenes, the colour pink also
makes an appearance most of the time and girls are still the most shown
gender.

6. Edits

7. Codes and Conventions
Film production logo was shown straight away, from the beginning of the trailer. It is the first thing
the audience will see and since Paramount is one of the Big 6, the audience are likely to have a
positive thought about the type of movie the trailer is.
Film title – shown a few seconds until the end of the trailer so it’s one of the last things the audience
see.This may have been done so that they remember it more, that way
Music – Have non-diegetic and voice over (narration)
Followed
Not followed/changed
The trailer was 2:26 but normally, official trailers last
between 1:30 and 2:00
BBFC age rating –The trailer did not have an age rating
There is no release date for the movie