In The Breakfast Club
there are many establishing shots that help us transition from one scene to
another. An example of this is at the end of the film after Claire and Bender
kiss, Claire is seen getting into her car and we see Bender still standing there.
As Bender is still standing, the scene cuts to Mr. Vernon in the library
reading the letter Brian wrote to him explaining who they think they are. After
this scene, the movie cuts to Bender once again but this time we see him
walking on the football field leaving with his fist in the air during the final
scene.
In the movie we see different types of shots, ranging
from close – up to reaction shots. An example of a close up shot is when the
characters are in the library eating lunch we see each character up close and
then all at once. An example of a reaction shot is when they are all sitting on
the library floor, while Claire and Bender are arguing with each other, we see
Claire then we see Bender and so forth. By doing this we see each character and
their emotions and reactions to what is happening in this particular scene.
These scenes could be shot as a master shot or as a sequence shot.
An eye level shot is the scene where they are sitting on
the library floor where they are revealing about themselves because it allows
us to see all of the characters at once. Bird’s eye view is towards the end of
the movie when Claire gives Bender her diamond earring. Here the bird’s eye
view angle allows us to see the differences between them. Meaning that we see
Claire’s pink nail polish and we see Bender’s black fingerless leather gloves
too. A high shot would be at the end when all of the students leave, we see Mr.
Vernon reading the letter. During this scene we not only see him but the whole
room at a bigger perspective. This angle also makes Mr. Vernon’s assignment
seem little now that Bender, Claire, Allison, Andrew, and Brian are all friends
with each other. In the final scene of The Breakfast Club we see Bender walking
down the football field at a worm’s eye view. This scene especially with the
angle shows Bender’s strength and new found confidence in himself. During the
final scene, we as the audience see all of the characters and our eyes follow
the camera movement from one to another and so forth, almost like we are really
there. Throughout the scenes where Bender and Claire kiss, and Andrew and
Allison kiss the camera movement rends to become slower to capture the
movements and moments. Almost as if they are trying to freeze time and stay in
that moment forever.
The Breakfast Club has a couple of motifs in the movie.
One of the more notable motifs is the characters social ranking in high school
and being casted as stereotypes. This means that each character belongs to a
specific group of friends at their school. Claire who is a “princess” belongs
with the rich, popular kids who are usually towards the top being the center of
attention along with the jocks. Bender is a “criminal” who belongs with the
rebellious kids. Bender has a bad attitude and comes from a bad family who
doesn’t treat him well. Andrew who is an “athlete” is also very popular, and
like Claire is usually at the top and is the center of attention. Brain is the
“brain” meaning that he belongs to a lot of clubs including the math club,
physics club, and the Latin club. He’s also very smart and is basically every
parents dream child. Allison is the “basket case” being the weird kid, she
doesn’t really have any friends and she is a compulsive liar. She decides to
come to detention because she doesn’t have anything better to do.
A second motif is their home life. Bender doesn’t seem
like he has a good one, his parents ignore him and don’t care about him, which
is probably where he bad attitude comes from. Claire on the other hand has
parents who don’t reinforce rules. This is shown in the beginning of the movie
when she is getting dropped off for detention and her dad is telling her that
skipping school to go shopping doesn’t make her a bad person, to which she
replies can’ t you get me out of this? Her dad also tells her that “he’ll make
it up to her.” For Andrew his dad has influenced him to cut up and goof around
like he did in high school. Andrew also struggle with trying to be number 1 and
be perfect in his dad’s eyes. Allison doesn’t really have much interaction with
her parents which might mean that they ignore her or don’t pay much attention
to her. She also seems to lack communication skills. Brian is pressured by his
parents to do well in school. This is shown when his mom drops him off and she
tells him that “he better use this time as an advantage” while he’s in
detention, to which Brian responds that it won’t happen again.
The shots in the movie are both fragmented and lengthy.
The lengthy shots are for the longer scenes in the movie. The point of cutting
to each scene is so that there is a smooth transition from each scene. The
cutting of the movie is manipulative, it doesn’t leave us wondering what
happens next or what’s going on? The personality of the filmmaker is very
apparent throughout the movie, John Hughes is very involved with the movie. The
rhythm that the editing establishes with each scene is very smooth and flows
together well. Editing is a minor function in the movie because there isn’t too
much that needs to be edited in the movie.
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