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Film Analysis Of Little Miss Sunshine

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Little Miss Sunshine (2006), co-directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, follows a dysfunctional family on their journey to get their 7 year old daughter to the finals of a beauty pageant across the country in their VW bus. The film was nominated for 107 awards including the Academy Award for best picture and the Golden Globe for Best Comedy Motion Picture, and won 68 awards including the Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Best Original Screenplay. This middle class family from Albuquerque, New Mexico consists of Olive (Abigail Breslin)- an awkward little girl with high hopes of being a pageant queen, Richard (Greg Kinnear)- a motivational speaker failing in life, Sheryl (Toni Collette)- a mother of two who is …show more content…

The front view is shown again and at this point the diegetic voice of the announcer is overheard as the girl is mimicking the reaction and actions of the beauty queen presented on the TV. The voice of a man overlaps the girl’s actions and cuts of a close up of a man giving a speech explaining his nine-step program towards success. This is Richard. The camera zooms out revealing his presentation, framing him in the middle of the screen and following him as he walks around the stage. He is in a confident stance and the camera remains lower than usual, giving off the impression that he is in a position of power. The non-diegetic music continues as he gives his speech. A high angle camera shot is used showing him standing in front of a dark audience, but when the lights turn on, it reveals a mere ten people in the audience that appear bored. Quickly cut to a close up of hand on a bar, appearing to be a teenage boy of a relatively weak physique, bench pressing. This is Dwayne. The camera says at a close up aerial view, but quickly switches to a frontal view and he sits up. Again, there are multiple quick cuts presenting different exercises he is doing. The wide angle shows what appears to be his bedroom, consisting of much fitness equipment, and draws focus to the large portrait of Friedrich Nietzsche on the wall. The camera follows the boy to a calender where he crosses off a number in the upper 400s. As

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