Film Analysis: Jawbreaker (1999)

 FILM ANALYSIS: Jawbreaker (1999)

dir. Darren Stein

BBFC 15 , MPAA R 

Opening Length: 4 minutes

Budget: $3.5 million 

Box Office: $3.1 million 

Theatrical Distribution: international, 19 territories

Production Company: TriStar Pictures, Kramer-Tornell Productions, Crossroad Films

Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing

Synopsis: Three of the most popular girls at Reagan High accidentally kill the prom queen with a jawbreaker when a kidnapping goes wrong. (IMDB)

LINKS: wikipedia , imdb, art of the title, boxofficemojo

Trailer: 

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Possible Influences For My Film: The use of a clique, the killing method, the outfits and locker decor, the school setting, the stepping over books.                              

Companies/Idents: 

This was the only ident shown, which is conventional as it is the production company. The ident only lasted 5 seconds, which is unconventional and very short for the main ident in a film. 

Opening Shot: 

The first shot is an Extreme Long Shot (ELS) of a school corridor. This framing is conventional as films often open with an ELS or establishing shot, to set the scene. There is a voiceover detailing exposition of the scene and the characters that are going to appear. 

Titles:

The production, distribution, and director titles appear before the main title, and the linking words are in cursive, which the names are capitalised and in a sans-serif font. The cursive is a typical denotation of femininity, which works well as the primary target audience for the film is teenage girls. The titles appear and disappear with a s swirling effect, which matches the swirling of the sugar being mixed for the jawbreakers. 

The main title of the film is seen 4 minutes in, to transition to the main film. The colouring and effect on the title is similar to that of a jawbreaker, and the cursive font is used again, and connotes femininity. The black background and effect of jawbreakers matches the title well, and separates the title sequence from the opening, showing a clear transition.

Mise-En-Scene/ First Five Shots: 

This shot immediately reveals exposition about the characters. There is a voice-over describing them, which also gives exposition about them. They have a similar appearance and clothing style, but are distinct in the colours and varied, giving them the sense of a "clique", while also revealing their individual personalities. The school corridor is a relatable location for the primarily targeted teen audience. 

The stereotypical nerd is seen appearing. She is dressed in muted colours and is more modest, creating binary opposition within the characters in the scene. 

The characters personalities are revealed as they do not help the nerd and step over her. This denotes them as the popular "prom queen" archetype.

However, one of the girls stops and helps her, and this is emphasised as the shot tightens into a MLS. There is still binary opposition within the two characters (conservative vs exposed, muted brown vs bright pink, long loose hair vs short ponytail). This shot signifies that the pink member of the clique is different to the others and is kind and caring. This is a counter-typical representation of a popular girl in a clique. 

There is an ELS of the exterior of a house. This house is large, detached, has a big garden, many windows, and multiple floors. This reveals exposition about the characters and signifies them as wealthy.  

Sound: 

There is no audio-bridge over the idents, but there is a black screen with an initial voice-over that then transitions into the opening shot. Once the girls appear they are named as the "fabulous four" and described individually, revealing exposition to the audience immediately. It also accompanies the shots as when the pink girls is seen helping the nerd, the voice-over calls her "special", anchoring the preferred reading (Hall). For the main titles, a rock soundtrack with female vocals plays, conventional of teen films of the time, but once again appealing to the primary target of a teen female audience.