Post 32: Juno and Fish Tank Comparison

PLANNING:

Juno and Fish Tank are very different films, but they both star an independent female character, and share other themes, such as being an outsider in a crowd you’re unable to separate yourself from.

These two scenes, in particular, share a surprising amount of similarities, despite the amount of differences. At the start of each scene a young woman is walking up to a group, clearly different from them in her appearance and demeanour. Juno approaches the group with a slow and easy pace, knowing she stands out, and that Bleeker will spot her and come over to talk to her. The way she walks also implies that her intentions from her are calm and gentle - it’s likely that she’s planned this out in her head, so to catch him whilst he’s running and to convey her feelings properly. The part of the film before this scene, showing that she filled his mailbox with orange tic-tacs also implies her planning towards this moment. In Fish Tank, however, Mia is walking over with a purposeful stride, and stops to sit and watch the group dancing before the dialogue starts.

When the dialogue does start, the conversations go very differently, Juno and Bleeker’s is calm and heartfelt, as they both express feelings they felt unable to do before. In comparison, Mia and the group have a very aggressive conversation, which ends up in the bloodied nose of one of the women in the group. The format of these scenes are very linear, with clear beginnings, middles, and ends; the beginning of Juno/Mia walking up, the middle of the dialogue, and the endings of Juno and Bleeker kissing, and Mia, having head butted one of the women, leaving their meeting. One ends positively, and one more negatively.

The visuals of each film are very different, which is noticeable in these scenes. Starting with the way they’re shot, the beginning of the scene from Juno shows the group looking towards her before showing her, walking in the direction of the camera, whereas Fish Tank shows it more from Mia’s perspective, following her to the group, as if a documentary. The camera appears to be handheld, enforcing this documentary appearance even more. The resultant shakiness of the camera makes the scene seem more chaotic and in the moment.

There are lots of over the shoulder shots within Juno, as it's a conversation between two people, and in Fish Tank there are a few shots similar to this, despite this being between one person and a group. For Juno, it's just a simple way of showing their conversation, whilst in Fish Tank the over the shoulder shots emphasise how it is one person against a large group, and she still has the confidence to express her opinion and be violent towards them.

There are even more differences between the two films when you look at the mise-en-scene used, but sometimes it creates the same effect, despite it looking so different at first glance. Both Juno and Mia stand out from those around them. Juno wears several layers, but the clothing is quite understated, with not very bright colours. Those around her are wearing the school PE kit, which uses the colours of yellow and red, which are very vibrant, it also means they're not wearing as many layers because of the exercise they're doing. Mia too is wearing more layers than those she is approaching. She wears a grey tracksuit and black top which doesn't really draw the eye. Those in the group are wearing fewer layers, and the clothes are more colourful.

The last part of the scenes to compare is the sound used. In Juno's scene the sound is mostly diegetic, with the dialogue, which is the same for the scene in Fish Tank. There's a song in the Juno scene, but it's played as a part of the soundtrack, not a part of the scene, but the music in the scene in Fish Tank is a part of the scene, for the group to dance to.