ART OF THE TITLE: LADYBIRD

https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/lady-bird/

I chose to research the film Lady Bird as it is more modern day and more comedic than the others I have looked at. Lady Bird is a 2017 American comedy drama film. It is based between Autumn of 2002 and the summer of 2003, it is a coming of age story of a high school senior girl who attends a Catholic high school in Sacramento, California. She gives herself the nickname "Lady Bird" and dreams to go to prestigious colleges in the city although her family have serious financial struggles, while she also has a strained relationship with her mum, who tells her she is ungrateful for what she has in life already. 

The opening for Lady Bird is extremely different to any of the others I have looked at, it is more realistic and relatable for viewers to watch. It starts immediately showing the audience the background of this girls life and what her life style is roughly like due to the school she is attending, before we are shown anything we hear the dialogue of a priest speaking 'the father , the son and the Holy Spirit' this instantly informs the viewer that religion will be a big part of this film. We are first shown a close up shot of a pink cast that has 'F*** YOU MOM' written on it, this mise-en-scene and camera work is extremely effective as it introduces us to the character as someone who seems to have the world against her, with her having obvious bad relationship with her mother and because she has broken her arm, it shows she has bad luck and bad things happen to her. There is then a hard-cut to the young girl surrounded by other girls who are taking part in this prayer while she stands there being uninvolved and not taking part, this shows us how her attitude may be throughout. 

The title is written a large gothic font while being placed on top of a shot of people walking down the aisle holding a large cross while walking towards a large painting of Christ. This juxtaposition is effective as it shows that the girl is surround by religion but she rebels against the classic stereotype of a young catholic girl. 

Throughout the opening there are lots of different mid shots of different characters, this focuses our attention towards them, telling us that they will have relevance to the movie and may be part of this young girls story. This is extremely useful as it introduces us to each of these characters. One in particular we see the boys side of the church where all of them are praying however there is a young boy who also is not taking part to the prayer this indicates that he is similar to the girl and wants to rebel against the strict religious system of their school, this foreshadows that they will connect some how later on. There is then a cut to a wide establishing shot of the whole room where we see 2 segmented sides one with all girls and one with all boys, this shows us the stereotype of a catholic religious school where boys and girls cannot learn together or be together. 

We are shown a shot of all the girls in class together praying holding their hands to their hearts, all the girls are dressed in their uniform they all look very similar with natural coloured hair, there is then a cut to a close up of Lady Bird, the mise-en-scene identifies how different she is compared to the other girls in class, she has pink highlights in her hair, dark painted nails, lots of necklaces on, piercings and rings. She is an anti-stereotype to the types of people who attend this school. 

There is orchestral music playing in the background throughout the whole opening it is quite soothing and joyful and fits with all the clips quite well, bringing them together. The editing throughout is mainly filled with hard cuts this assembles her life together that everything changes quite frequently and shows us the various activities that she hates in her daily life.