In order to get a feel for the way coming-of-age comedy films begin, I decided to watch The Edge of Seventeen (2016), directed and written by Kelly Fremon Craig. This movie is about a girl named Nadine (portrayed by Hailee Steinfeld) who has struggled to fit in her whole life. She and her mother always seem to be against each other, and it gets even more difficult when her dad dies. Her older brother (Darian) has everything handed to him on a silver platter, while she has to struggle to obtain less. All she has is Krista, her best friend. But when Krista starts dating Darian, Nadine’s struggles get even tougher. This film addresses the themes of first love, family issues, friendships, and the problems teenagers face when they are discovering who they are. It employs a mixture of verbal, slapstick, and deadpan comedy, which makes the film pretty funny. I really enjoy this movie and immediately thought of it when I came up with the idea for this title sequence.
Some of the following images may be blurry, but the meaning behind them is still clear.
Mise-en-scène
Costuming
Nadine is wearing black sneakers, gray socks, a yellow skirt patterned with white dots surrounded by blue and red, a gray t-shirt with a red logo for a university, and a bright blue jacket with red, yellow, and white stripes and a fur collar. Her hairstyle is nothing extraordinary; it is wavy, maybe a little tousled. Her makeup is very minimal; so minimal that you wouldn’t even notice it. Her outfit doesn’t match, but the colors sort of go together in a way that grabs the eye. This disheveled appearance allows us to get an idea of Nadine’s quirky personality.
Mr. Bruner (portrayed by Woody Harrelson) is dressed, quite frankly, like a teacher (navy shirt with checkered dark green and burgundy lines) which doesn’t really tell us much about him other than the fact that he is…wait for it…A TEACHER! It may indicate a cynical personality, but we don’t really get that vibe until he begins speaking.
Lighting
High-key lighting is used throughout the intro. It shows that the action is taking place during the day and at a school. High-key lighting is a convention of many comedy movies, so it makes sense that it was used in this instance.
Setting
The title sequence is taking place at a school during the day. It is clear that the school day has already been going on for quite a while by the time Nadine arrives. A school setting fits the genre conventions of both comedy and coming-of-age films.
Props and Decor
The clip begins with a shot of Nadine’s feet getting out of a red car. The car is an important prop, since it often symbolizes freedom in coming-of-age films.
As Nadine moves through the school, we see various decor elements that indicate to us that it is in fact a school. We see kids with backpacks and books, lots of stairs and walkways, as well as a hallway full of lockers and bulletin boards. When she gets to Mr. Bruner’s room, there are desks, filing cabinets, bulletin boards, a globe, a computer that looks ancient, and lots of papers.
On Bruner’s desk, there is a half eaten wrap and in his hands is a book he is reading. These props (and the lack of students in the room) indicate that it is his lunch break.
Bruner picks up a piece of paper and pretends it is a draft of his suicide note. This prop was used to add dark humor to the scene.
Cinematography
The movie begins with an eye-level shot of the ground. Then, the red car comes into the frame and we see feet get out of the car. The shot focuses on the back of her feet. Center framing is used.
As the feet begin walking, we get get a tracking shot of them walking away from the car and towards the school. The camera then pans upwards to reveal the main character (Nadine) pumping her arms nervously as she walks through the school grounds.
There is a medium long shot of Nadine walking quickly down a set of steps. You can see her shake her arms a bit, as if she is shaking off something she did.
There is another close up tracking shot of her feet as the jog down another set of steps. They are slightly obstructed b y other people’s legs and feet, but it is clear which ones are Nadine’s. There is another mid shot of Nadine walking.
As she enters the school building, an extreme long shot is used. Then it cuts to a medium long shot of her, you guessed it, walking through the hallway.
extreme long shot
There is another close-up tracking shot of Nadine’s feet going up stairs. Once again, they are slightly obstructed by other people’s feet and legs. The constant close-ups of her feet and tracking shots of her journey through the school emphasize a constant state of frantic motion. Then there is another extreme long shot as she finishes climbing the stairs.
Next is a series of high-angle tracking shots of Nadine walking through the hallway. Center framing is used to distinguish her between the rest of the crowd.
There is a side profile close up shot of Nadine. It is still a tracking shot. You can see her hair blowing behind her as she speed walks through the hallway. She puts her hands on her face, almost like she did something she wants to take back.
long shot 
mid shot 
mid shot
Next there is a long shot of Nadine entering a classroom. It is a two-shot, since there is a teacher in the room. Mid shots are used during Nadine and Mr. Bruner’s conversation. Center framing is used on both of them. The framing shifts from a mid shot to a close up of Nadine in the middle of the conversation. This was most likely for comedic purposes. No over the shoulder shots are used in the conversation, which is most likely because the relationship between Nadine and Mr. Bruner isn’t a close one.
While Bruner is reading his “suicide note”, it shifts from mid shot to close up. This is only to emphasize a comedic point, and then it returns to being a mid shot. Nadine’s framing shifts back to mid shot.
Editing
The title sequence for this movie seems to start in the middle of the story. What I mean by this is that the events happening in the clip are not the first events of the whole story; there are events that precede it that we haven’t seen yet. This intrigues the viewer, instilling them with the desire to know more. The overall pace of the intro is fast. There are an abundance of match-on action cuts as Nadine walks through the school. When she gets inside and is walking past the lockers, there are multiple jump cuts that show the passage of time and to keep the clip fast-paced. The pace slows when Nadine arrives at Mr. Bruner’s room; shot-reverse-shot is used to show the conversation.
Sound
The upbeat song that plays in the opening is “Who I Thought You Were” by Santigold. There is a lot of ambient sound in the opening, such as a car stopping, footsteps, and people talking. Nadine’s heavy breathing when she finally gets to his room adds a comedic element to the scene, and it continues when she is out of breath when talking. Nadine speaks very rapidly and seriously, while Bruner speaks calmly and sarcastically. Nadine begins her lengthy speech with,”Look, I don’t wanna take up a ton of your time… But I’m gonna kill myself.” Then goes into a lengthy narrative about how she doesn’t really know how to do it but she thinks she’s going to jump in front of a bus. Mr. Bruner tells Nadine he was just drafting his own suicide note, which read:
“Dear everybody. As some of you know, I have 32 fleeting minutes of happiness per school day during lunch, which has been eaten up again and again by the same… Especially badly dressed student, and I finally thought, you know what? I would rather have the dark, empty nothingness. I really would. It sounds… relaxing. Have a nice life without me, f***ers.”
His tone is thick with sarcasm. All the dialogue in this clip screams coming-of-age, and also adds dark comedy to the film.
Conclusion
The Edge of Seventeen is a great resource for me to use when working on my final. I noticed that not a lot happens in the opening scene of a movie; most of it was just her walking, and then it was a simple conversation between two characters. It is fast-paced and lively. I think the way Nadine is costumed and may pull from that for my final
Sources
- https://www.springfieldspringfield.co.uk/movie_script.php?movie=the-edge-of-seventeen
- https://www.tunefind.com/movie/the-edge-of-seventeen-2016
- I streamed the title sequence from Netflix.
- I used various IMDB links throughout this post. Their specific URLs can be found when clicking on them.
A Lot To Learn 