The scene is edited at a casual pace, giving it a realistic ambience another technique that many teen films use. Furthermore, in a tracking extreme long shot, the audience are shown a grand garden with a pristine lawn, many flowers and white stone statues, suggesting the girls are wealthy, which is another convention used to present the ‘mean girls’ in chick-flick films. In addition, the ‘mean girl’ image is supported by a close up of all three girls stepping on flowers, showing that they have no sympathy.
The costumes of the other girls, who we are introduced to in an establishing extreme long shot, play a role in presenting this genre as they each have their own colour, with even matching croquet balls, possibly showing that they have secure roles in, in this case, the conventional high school hierarchy used in ‘teen films’.
This could give the audience the impression that this character is the stereotypical ‘mean girl’ of the high school, linking to the idea of the use of the ‘teen film’ genre. The use of the colour red could present the idea that this character is powerful, which we are later assured of when a mid-shot shows her wearing a blazer with large, padded shoulders: a symbol of power for women of the time. Scrunchies were popular among teenage girls at the time (late 1980s) and they have been used over many years as props in chick-flicks and young adult films. For example, the first shot shown is an extreme close up of a girl tying her hair in a red scrunchie, with red painted fingernails. The mise-en-scene in the opening of the film is also of significance as it further solidifies the viewers’ assumptions for the film, whilst presenting new ones. By using these two fonts, the film opening could confuse the viewer as many genres are introduced, intriguing them to watch on to find out which assumption is true. The second font, however, is more masculine and its association with the Western genre could connote violence and drama, which are also used in the film.
The feminine font, used for the title ‘Heathers’, brings to mind the genre of ‘teen films’ and romance, showing that, in part, the film will follow conventions of these styles of film. The film begins with a black screen and credits, the font a mixture of a curling, feminine font and a font associated with the Western genre. ‘Heathers’, directed by Michael Lehmann, uses a prologue as the opening of the film, immediately introducing to the audience the story and main characters.