Stuck In Love (2012) Deconstruction

Stuck In Love (2012) Deconstruction

This film opens with the Millennium Entertainment and Informant production company titles before a 'fade-in' (where the shot gradually and smoothly appears or disappears from the screen) technique is used to transition to the main sequence. As soon as the 'fade-in' technique is complete non-diegetic music is played (sound or visual element of a fiction film that does not exist in the diegesis, meaning that the music being played cannot be heard by the characters in the film). The camera then pans down an English lesson's calk board during an extreme close-up the opening credits superimpose on the screen. The camera then cuts to a mid-shot of one of the main characters (Rusty Borgens). He is looking over his shoulder. Typography superimposes the mid-shots of Rusty looking at one of his class mates (Kate) as a voiceover of Rusty talking about Kate is played (non-diegetic sound).
As the words appear on the screen a sound effect of a pencil writing is used.

A close-up of Kate shows that her nose is bleeding. The way that Rusty is shown to be looking at her, tells the audience he has some sort of feelings towards her. In the mid-shot where Kate looks up she looks directly at Rusty who then proceeds to tell her that her nose is bleeding. Further mid-shots show Kate grabbing a tissue and cleaning up her nose, whilst Rusty hesitantly looks at her. These shots then cut to a wide-shot of Kate walking out of the classroom and putting her rucksack over her shoulder. The camera uses the 'cut' technique to transition to a new shot of Kate's boyfriend walking up to her and kissing her in the hallway. The camera then immediately cuts to a mid-shot of Rusty looking at them and bowing his head in disappointment. The audience now knows that Rusty has some affectionate feelings towards Kate as his head bows and his face drops from a smile to a rested mouth at the fact she has a boyfriend.

       

The non-diegetic music has now stopped and for rest of the opening there is just a close-up of Rusty's sister (Samantha Borgens) talking about how she lives her life. As she is talking, again, typography of her sentences superimposes the screen for the beginning part of her monologue and the sound effect of keys on a keyboard is played over the diegetic-sound (can be heard by characters) of the noises in the bar they are stood in. The lighting has also changed from the lit-up hallways of the school to the dim lighting used in the bar in which Samantha is situated.

Conventions identified:

• Fade in & cuts
• Non-diegetic music
• Panning
• Lots of close-ups/ mid-shots
• Different uses of typography
• Voiceover
• Sound effects
• Diegetic sound
• Mixture of light and dark lighting