Analysis of another film clip involving a phone conversation

This is an example of how i want to edit my phone conversation between 3 / 4 friends, within my short film. I would like it 'split screened' as i think it's more comical and interesting to create however i still would like, like in this mean girls clip, to include the cross cutting edit feature like they included in the Sex and the City clip.

The cinematography

You only see a change within camera shots and movement when a character is having a conversation with another character over the phone. Since the screen is split into three sections initially, establishing the main characters having the first conversation and also establishing the main story behind this conversation, the director has to create some sort of attention to the characters who are speaking to one another so the audience does not become confused with which characters talking to which character. The cinematography starts with all the characters who are involved within this scene in a medium close up, as as soon as the first character begins to speak to another character on the phone, that character is then zoomed into a Close Up. Then as soon as the other character replies to that first character, again she is zoomed into a Close Up, same with the third character. It seems they do this to suggest the idea of they need to surround attention to the character talking, and the character reacting which is a strong us of cause and effect. The close ups identify the characters facial reaction thus the audience can connote that facial expression and identify with the emotion they are feeling at that time.

In these screen shots I have taken from the clip, you can roughly see the director takes close ups from the characters who are in mid-conversation with another character, and to see the characters facial reaction to what the other character is saying.

When 'Character 1' is in close up, she's explaining news to the blonde girl (Character 2) to the right of her over the phone. You can tell she's speaking to character 2 as there's a lot more movement and action taking place within her screen location, thus the director is forcing the audience to focus more attention to the right hand side of the screen. Character 1 is in close up, initially for the audience to see that she's talking

When the character 2 is shown in a close up, this is again, to show that character one is talking to her specifically, and also to show her reaction to the news in which character 1 is saying.

As character 4 enters the phone call to speak to character 2, character 3 is shown in a close up, which for the same reasons: to show the audience that she is specifically speaking so the audience don't become confused with which characters speaking to who, as also to show her personal reaction to the news shared within the phone call.

When character 4 has become involved with having a conversation with the others, she also, when talking or halfway through with being told some news is zoomed into a close up, this is for the same reasons as all the other girls are placed within a close up.

This is an interesting shot, as character 1, 2 and 3 all find out some certain news, however they can't inform character 4 of this. This personal secret is shown, by placing all these characters in close up leaving character 4 the odd one one. She's shown in medium long shot, which suggests the idea of her being far away from finding out this news in which all the other characters know about. By doing this you can see all of their reactions, and by this we can tell it's shocking news by connoting their facial expressions.

The characters are then edited out of the phone conversation, leaving just character 2 and character 4 in a confrontation. The characters are once again zoomed into a close up, which suggests the idea of a confrontation about to start and also to tell the audience it's a conversation between them two now, as the other characters have exited the scene. This also allows us to see their facial expressions up close as well as connote an emotion from these facial expressions in which they keep applying.

In conclusion, throughout this phone call only close ups and medium close ups / medium long shots are used, with no camera movement apart from at the beginning when the camera is panning and following character 2 as she picks up her telephone. It seems using simple repetitive cinematography adds to the humour of the concept as well as makes the audience become familiar in a short time with the characters who are speaking to which character, and with the narrative as well as it's nothing too challenging and creative which would make this scene ideal for the mainstream audience.

The sound

The sound within this clip varies. It's a clip which is determined on dialogue and diagetic sounds as it's moving onwards with the narrative. As we are introduced to the scene, there is slight non-diagetic soundtrack being played within the scene, however the music is light and suggests the genre to this film being a comedy. It starts the new scene off to a light and comedic start especially when the first shot of character 2, is looking, feeling and 'checking out' her bum in the mirror. Since the music seems very simple and light, it kind of introduces the characters characteristics of being kind of slow and not very smart, as ringing up other characters just to gossip and discuss negative news about their other friend 'character 4' suggests they don't take education or work very seriously, basically they don't have anything more worthwhile and better to be doing in their spare time. As soon as the news is broken to character 2 about what character 4 has said about her, the simple, light music suddenly stops, which suggests the idea of character 2 being in total shock and also angry. The pleasant music has stopped and replaced by only diagetic sounds, which like in sex and the city, suggests a personal moment for the characters as well as creates verisimilitude within the film.

Through out the scene, it is mostly dominated by diagetic sounds which contribute to the audience finding this highly edited scene easier to follow. The sound is usually created by cause and effect from one area of the split screen to another, such as 'beeping' from a telephone, to a phone 'ringing' in another area of a split screen and for that character to answer it. There's mostly dialogue within this scene as it's a conversation on a phone with friends, so this scene is dominated by the use of technology including beeping and ringing and dialogue.

Mise-en-scene within the film clip.

The first important thing to note, is the idea of the three girls, character 1, 2 and 3 who are all included with this 'secret' are speaking to each other in their bedrooms. The bedroom is usually a personal space for an individual, therefore by sharing this secret about what character 4 has said and done the location makes sense, as the bedroom is usually considered as a private and personal space for any individual, which means these three characters must trust on another. However, the only character who is not in their bedroom is character 4, whom all the other characters are negatively discussing therefore being left out of the important private and personal conversation. I really liked this idea of placing the three characters having the conversation within a bedroom with the fourth character being purposely left out of the conversation and the secrets, purposely being the odd one out of the group and not being allowed to enter there private and personal discussions.

The colour of the phones they are using are also a strong indentifier of the characters characteristics and also how they are acting and what place they are having within this conversation. Character 1's phone is red, this could suggest anger towards character 4 as character 1 is the one who's discussing and gossiping negative news about her. It suggests she really must hate character 4 with a passion and also connotes the idea of being revengeful.

The colour of character 2's phone is white. This suggests the idea of purity, calm and also it's a very simple colour which could suggest slowness and stupidity. The idea of this character not really wanting to be involved within this gossiping and secrets about character 4 fits well with the colour of the telephone she's using. This also reinstates the slowness and stupidity this girl has when she mistakes the character she's talking negatively about and resulting in talking negatively to the girl, she's talking and gossiping about.

Character 3 + 4 telephones are both black, this could suggest they are both very similar in how evil, mean and dark they are. These telephones connect both characters in a way, either they're playing each other at the same game or they have the both smart, evil ideas for something. Either way these telephones are a strong indication of these characters basic characteristics are deep down, which other characters may not realise. This links back with the idea of them having this phone conversation in their rooms, which is their personal and private space where they can really be who they are as in a bedroom, no one is watching. This is expanding on the idea of voyeuristic pleasure in which audience can get from films especially when it focuses on a private conversation in a girls room.

The idea of character 2 having blonde hair also reinstates the idea of this girl not being the smartest character in the world. As many associate blonde hair with dopey and stupid characters the director seems to have purposely support this stereotype in making a character like this. By using stereotypes it creates expectations for the audience therefore making it easy to realise the genre of being a romantic comedy / comedy. With the audience being able to expect certain characteristics from a character who looks a certain way, it enables the target audience to widen as it's not a film which needs a lot of thought, it's just a funny, feel good film.

The Editing.

This is a scene which is dependant on editing, as it's a phone call the editing needs to be perfect so the audience follows which characters talking to which. For this phone call, they've used split screen whereas in Sex and the City, they used a more complex edit for their phone conversation. I feel split screen is a good idea for a comedy and for a younger more mainstream audience as it's a lot more simple to follow the whole conversations amongst the character, as it seems more comedic for the audience as you can show characters doing funny things at the same time of the conversation. For example, as character four in in the conversation, she also seems to be comfort eating a large baguette which is very random and humorous. Also before character two answered the phone, we interrupted her feeling and looking at her bum in the mirror, which once again is a very random and humorous thing to see:

Also the positions of the characters within this conversations, where abouts they are on the screen is a strong indication to which type of character they really are. It seems like the two bottom girls are the sly, mean ones of the group who are basically on the same level, they may not like each other however, this may be because they are so alike and want the same things, to the the ringleader in the group.

The positions of the split screen also determine 'who's side they're on' when character one is telling character 2 they character 4 has been discussing negative and horrible things about her, which initially came out by character 3 discussing it firstly with character one. It seems they want to get character 2 on the left hand side of the screen to the 'good' group, however they don't realise character 3 is just on 'the same' level as character 4. it's shown in the editing and through the dialogue and narrative. When character 2 is finally told by character 1, how horrible and mean character 4 has been to her behind her back, characters 1 and 2 are pushed out of the conversation leaving characters 2 and 4 on the screen. It's interesting to note the edit places character 2 on the left hand side, which is where the other two girls where originally positioned.

Overall this has been a very positive clip to analyse, as this phone call has been edited a totally different way to how sex and the city was shown. The split screen i feel would be more appropriate for the kind of audience i would like to attract as the younger audience may find it easier to follow the idea of who is on the phone with who. Also we have to take no that the contrast between Sex and the City and this Mean Girls clip is strong, as in this clip there are 4 girls all included within the same conversation, whereas in Sex and the City it only includes 2 characters having a conversation. Within my short film, I'm interested to try out both editing techniques as well as the idea of location and props being used by the character and in the scene to identify my characters personal characteristics and possibly their goal from the phone call.