Textual analysis essay - Section 3

Mean Girls Burn book - 3:05

Mean Girl Textual analysis

I am going to be writing a textual analysis essay on an extract from the film 'Mean Girls'. The extract is 3:05 minutes and the extract shows the main character Regina George and her friends going to Regina's family home after a day at school. One of the main characters called Kady is the new girl at school who transferred from Africa. The editing of this extract is done so well that the audience wouldn't know the film has been edited, apart from the clips changing from clip to clip.
The extract starts off with the girls driving into the drive of the house and the shot shows the whole of Regina's huge house. This is an extreme wide shot as the camera is establishing where the scene is set. It provides the correct information needed for the audience to figure out where it is set even though it doesn't show a lot of detail. We also at first see the car driving into the drive with the song 'Milkshake' playing in the background. The music in the background is a non-diegetic sound as it has been added  to the extract after being recorded.

The first time the characters are scene is when they first get out the car. Regina gets out first followed by her 3 friends. The newest friend then states "wow your house is really nice". The three main girls Regina, Gretchen and Karen are a clique at there high school called 'The Plastics'. Kady wants to try and be a plastic to find out information for her real friend Janis.
Regina is wearing a pink cardigan, with a white vest and black leather mini skirt. All four of the girls are also wearing pink tops because it was a Wednesday and on "Wednesdays we wear pink". This is a famous line from mean girls. As the extract continues they close the doors of the car and enter Regina's home. This shot is a wide shot because we can see the characters entering a room and also can see a lot of the background. This also allows the actors to move around without the camera constantly moving and following them. In the background we see the hall way of Regina's home, it is modern and is a nicely designed home. We see plants and statues which suggests that they have money. As the girls carry on walking into the home Regina says hello to her younger sister who is dancing in front of the television wearing red trousers and a white long sleeve top. The younger sister is called kylie and she has long blonde hair just like Regina. The shot of Kylie is a point of view shot because we see what Regina is seeing. A point of view shot draws the audience into the action and makes them feel like they are getting to know the characters better.

Regina and her friends carry on walking into the big, modern kitchen where we soon meet Regina's mother who has long blonde hair and is wearing a bright pink matching tracksuit whilst holding a little dog in a red fluffy outfit. At first we see the whole of Regina's mum, this is recorded by a dolly sharp. A dolly sharp is when the tracks are laid on the set to create a smooth movement of the camera which can follow a moving person. The camera then zooms in to Regina's mother which makes the shot a medium shot, showing no more than half of the character(waist upwards). Regina's mother then introduces herself to the newest friend Kady and says "welcome to our home" going in for a hug. At this point the camera completely zooms into her mothers breasts. This is an extreme close up which provides a lot of detail and creates a humorous tone. The music in the background (the non-diegetic sound) is still playing to give the scene an informal vibe. The girls have a quick chat with Regina's mum and she offers them a "hump day treat". The four girl then leave the kitchen walking back through the living room past Regina's younger sister still dancing.

The extract then immediately shows Regina's room. The room is a big beautiful room with a big red crushed velvet bed which has 'princess' written on the wall behind. The carpet is grey and there is a blue sofa at the end of the bed with pillows all over it. There are posters on the walls of the bedroom of famous people singing. There are big wind windows at the far end of the bedroom. It is a typical dream bedroom for a teenage girl. Once the audience has seen her bedroom, Kady says "wow this is your room" and Regina replies "it was my  parents room but I made them trade me". This suggests that she is a spoilt child and gets what she wants. Since entering the bedroom a new piece of music has been added to the scene. This again is a non-diegetic sound as it has been added to the scene. We then see Regina, Gretchen and Karen looking in the mirror at themselves. This shot uses loose framing because its a long shot and it gives the people being filmed more freedom to move around. The camera then zooms into Kady's face when she says "I used to think there was just fat and skinny". This is a close up as she is filling up the majority of the shot which provides a lot of detail, especially for the emotions of her face. It then moves onto each individual character as they all start to complain and pick out things that they don't like about themselves. These are all close ups aswell because they show detail to what the characters are complaining about. The music in the background is in time sync with the actors speaking. It is a diegetic sound because when they first entered the bedroom Regina asked her friend to put music on so it is just the music playing in her bedroom.

Regina's mother then enters the bedroom with the 'hump day treat' that she was talking about earlier in the extract. She walks in with a tray of four cocktails whilst saying "hey you guys happy hour is from 4 to 6". As she walks in we see the background of Regina's bathroom which looks white and beige and very modern and her big chest of drawers with lots of items on top. All four of the girls each take a cocktail and Kady asks "is there alcohol in this". This is a shallow focus shot because the camera is focusing on the character which creates the background to become blurry. This is done to separate the character from their surroundings. The camera then goes straight back to Regina's mother with her immedietly replying "oh god, no honey what kind of mother do you think I am". The shot of the mother is a close up to show that she is being serious about their being no alcohol in the drink which is also shot in shallow focus to separate her from the surroundings.
The lighting throughout the extract mainly remains the same. It is bright to establish that it is the day time, apart from when entering Regina's bedroom it gets a little darker because the room is darker shades.