A Cinderella Story - Opening

00:00 – 01:53

Sound
Non-diegetic sound is heard from the very beginning of the distributor logo’s, the music heard is instrumental which keeps in theme with the fairytale opening. The music increases once a castle is first seen by the audience however there is a voice-over on the top of it speaking the line “Once upon a time”, which also keeps in theme with the fairytale opening. The voice-over is used frequently throughout the clip in order to tell the story of the characters past. The diegetic sound is parallel to what is happening on screen, for instance the noise of cars on the road when the characters are driving.

Editing and Framing
The characters are positioned in the centre of the frame so that the audience’s attention is drawn to them the most. The font of the titles keeps in with the theme and the edits of fade in/out help keep the audience’s attention on the text as well as the background behind the text. The light speed edit from one scene to the other, such as from the batting cage to the diner, help keep up with the voice-over as well as creating continuity so the audience doesn’t become confused.

Camera Shot and Movement
A tracking movement has been used to show the mountains before the castle is seen and it is used to show the father running after his daughter, this movement keeps up with the idea that the voice-over is living her in own fairytale as well as keeping up with the action. Zoom out has been used from the snow globe to the daughter and father to remind the audience that the castle isn’t the actual setting for the narrative, from this a long shot has been used over the city to show the audience the real setting for the narrative.  A crane shot is used over the car when the characters are driving to show the audience a closer view of the setting as well as the two characters together. The pan movement has been used to show the diner and its relevance to narrative and characters. This movement is used showing a woman carrying glasses to some children at a birthday party; this could suggest that the female doing the voice-over could be one of the characters at the party reinforcing the relevance and importance of this place to that character.

Mise en Scene
Naturalistic lighting of the sunlight and lamps within the diner create verisimilitude, so the audience feel as though what they are watching is real. The setting is shown through the use of camera shots and movement however the diner could be an important setting for the narrative and possibly a meeting place for the teenagers since it is stereotypical for teenagers to have a meeting place where they get together to gossip. It is hard to distinguish the different stereotypes that will be seen in this film due to the opening being set in the past however the clothes/props/child’s body language and gestures are all explained through the voice-over.