Analysing a Romantic Comedy: Easy A

Analysing a Romantic Comedy: Easy A

The opening scene starts some indie style music, Sweet Things – Changing the Seasons. This is a love song with a light beat which most Romantic Comedy’s use at the start of the movie. This appeals more to female viewers and ages of 16-25 years due to the style of music. The song relates to the whole movie which shows elements of foreshadowing. This is non-diegetic sound as it is part of the movies soundtrack and the characters cannot hear it or react to it. The mise-en-scene of the first 5 seconds of the opening clip has bight lighting which most rom-coms use. This makes the seen look more cheerful and colourful which appeals to the female audience. The location is based in the school grounds of a high school. We see the school in the far background of the shot, and a park like grounds more towards the camera. Editing used here is the credits which have been artistically places on the floor of the grounds. This makes the movie look professional and also the audience’s eyes are more attracted to this style of displaying credits. They use a white base text as it contrasts with the background so the audience can read it with ease. The camera is taking an establishing shot, on a track as the camera is steady and moving slowly forward. As the camera tracks forward, we see two teenagers walk into the shot and become main focus. This is an over the shoulder shot and they walk off into the distance.

Their costumes suggest they’re students in a school since they are in casual attire and wearing backpacks and holding files. We see more and more students walking around the shot space with their friendship groups. We see this as friendship groups as they’re talking to one another and showing gestures of being comfortable around each other. The credits are still being smartly edited in. The camera tracks forward more and swoops around to other students, and repeats a few times giving the audience a little more scenery piece by piece. The camera begins to pan, following a boy skating across a path making him the main focus for this section.

The camera uses focus pulls from one group of girls to another. All shots on the students have been long shots up until it focuses from a front view of one female group. 

This makes the audience think this group will be main focus of the movie. A mid-long shot is used, capturing a pouty facial expression, showing the girl is popular and important here. The camera tracks backwards showing the front girl is on her phone, as a prop, meaning she might be popular and goes into the story a little bit each more revealing new aspects. Her friends talk to her and leave, possibly saying a parting gesture but the girl struts with the camera reverse tracking showing she is leader. 

The focus is pulled to another girl as the leader bumps into her sending her files over the floor. This is used in romantic comedies a lot to make the main girl appear like a damsel in distress and not popular in high school. They use this as it makes the girl look helpless and the audience automatically sympathies with her. The camera pans down to the girl on the floor’s level. This uses a long shot but we can still see the girl’s perplexed expression and her uniform and bag suggesting she is a student. She scrambles on the floor for her file work as we notice no one helps her. She is on a low level connoting as she is seen as a low down priority person in the school. The lighting is a little darker here and may foreshadow she might have bad luck or a change of fate later on in the movie. We also get the sense she does well in high school and maybe associated with a ‘nerd’ as she looks worried about her work becoming dirty on the ground as she fumbles for her files.