Compare & contrast ”Pretty in Pink” & ”Clueless”
The two videos we watched were ”Clueless” and ”Pretty in Pink”. The main characters in both films were girls but from very different backgrounds. Cher was the main character in ”Clueless”, she was from a wealthy background, Andie on the other hand was from a poor family and was the main character in ”Pretty in Pink”. The two films were made almost a decade apart; ”Clueless” in 1995 and Pretty in Pink in 1986. In both films there were many differences.
They are filmed in America obviously speaking in American accents e.g. tomatoes, vitamins, their currency in Dollars, where as we use pounds. The cars drive on the opposite side of the road as we do. There were many differences from Britain i.e. the fire hydrants along the streets, the students don’t have to wear uniforms for school. The students also attend debate class which is not a lesson n our timetable.
The fashions and cultural differences are comparable between the two films. Andie, the character from the poor background has earrings in one ear and no earrings in the other ear. Boys and girls wore their hair long, the girls had permed hair. Their clothes were dull, drab and skirts were long. Andie made her own clothes where as Cher had expensive outfits which were colourful & bright, their hair was even dyed bright colours.
Cher in ”Clueless” has a wealthy father who is a lawyer and earns $500 per hour; they live in a huge expensive house with a maid. Andies father in ”Pretty in Pink” works part time, they have very little money and their house is small & shabby.
The camera shots in the two films are very different. The camera shots at the beginning of ”Clueless” shows Cher, the main character, on her way to school, it shows an overhead shot of her in her car. Cher picks up her friend Dion; the camera introduces the new character with an overhead shot. When they arrive at schools the camera shot is of them walking towards the school chatting. Murray, Dion’s boyfriend, arrives and the shot is a close up with music playing, the music suggests that Murray is popular. Murray & Dion start to argue with each other so it goes to a tracking shot of Cher walking up the path towards the school. During the debate class, when Cher is speaking, a tracking shot films down the class, it takes no one taking any notice of her or the lesson.
The introduction of ”Pretty in Pink” shows tracking shot moving up Andies leg, as it moves up it suggests Andies style and personality. It shows Andie making her toast, compared to Cher in ”Clueless” who has a maid to make her breakfast. During the classroom shot it shows the two girls who bully Andie; the shot suggests that they dislike Andie because she is poorer than they are. Duckie is Andies friend, it shows a tracking shot of him walking up the corridor, and this shows he is a popular person.
”Clueless” has lots of sounds and music which introduce us to different characters and scenes. At the beginning Cher is doing a voice over as the film starts and a song called ”Kids in America” is playing, which tells us what the film is going to be about. Before Cher picks up Dion, there is a voice over with music playing in the background. As she arrives at Dion’s house the music stops when the dialogue between them both starts. When Murray arrives in the scene there is dialogue between them both, the music is played to show Murray’s popularity in the school. When Cher leaves them she is doing a voiceover about boys. When she is speaking in the debate class, quiet patriotic music starts to play.
”Pretty in pink” starts with silence as the title is on the screen, this was the first film which did this. The music starts when we see Andie. As the dialogue begins the music starts to fade. The scene which shows Andie at school the music is playing loud. The music changes when Duckie arrives and as the students enter the classroom, the music fades and the dialogue starts.
I enjoyed both films but I preferred ”Clueless”. The colours in this film were much brighter than the colours in ”Pretty in Pink”. I thought that ”Pretty in Pink” wasn’t as good because the film was a bit dull and this made the film look less exciting. The reason why the shots in each film look different is because the camera technology is very different because the films were made just under a decade apart. With the camera shots being different it makes the film look a lot better and the camera angles looking a lot more advanced.
