The film begins with the Universal ident animation, showing that this is a universal film (a Comcast company). Then comes the Focus Features ident (also Comcast) and the A24 production ident as well. This establishes the main companies involved.
It then fades to black leaving only a Joan Didion quote about Sacramento, establishing the setting. Joan Didion was a feminist, and very spoken out about anti-establishment, counter culture, who talks about societal expectations. Joan is a reasonable role model for Lady Bird, so it makes sense for her to asociate with her.
There is then a cut to a shot of a mother and daughter together with their eyes closed as though they are sleeping. The shot is birds eye view, though not quite a close up
The characters are physically similar, lying eye to eye as equals. They take up the same amount of space in the frame, they wear similar clothes, have similar hair, and sleep in similar positions. From the very first shot of the film, we as the audience understand that these two people are exactly alike, but they, as characters, don’t realise that. They are the same; even their breathing is synchronised.
There’s a J cut, where the sound starts before the image (also known as a sound bridge) and this overlays with dialogue:
“Do you think I look like I’m from Sacramento”
The first diegetic sound heard is a question, reflecting the theme of identity in the film.
The next shot is a wide shot of a hotel room, leaving the two characters silhouetted against light of the window but not entirely shadowed.
Lady Bird is shown to look in the mirror and ask questions about identity, while her mother cleans, knowing her place. These are clear stereotypes of age and identity.
Lady Bird sits more central within the frame, but both her and her mother are centrally framed. Here, while Lady Bird doesn’t see the similarities of her and her mother, the audience does deliberately.
Throughout the film, when Lady Bird forgets to be mad, both her and her mother share a few cute peaceful moments together.
This short sequence ends with another j-cut sound bridge connecting it to the car sequence.
From here, the sequence can be broken into two parts: the car journey, and the school.
Car journey
The characters sit listening to an audio book in the car. The book is a novel about a mother’s love, that ends with a mother nursing her child, called Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck).
A very wide shot shows that the road is long and the journey is slow, creating a kind of visual metaphor.
Lady bird is shown to sit in passenger seat, both due to her age and the fact that her mother holds the power in the relationship, and the characters share an understanding moment.
At this moment, they hold equal dominance. They both respond the same way, sharing a glance in understanding.
Both characters are shown in profile. Here, the 180 degree rule is broken, making the image visually jarring. This shows that the characters are moving in different directions, displaying that there’s no more peace between the characters. This again is a visual metaphor, they’re both moving in opposite directions both mentally, verbally, and in life. They are moving away from each other relationship-wise, and also away from the original topic of the conversation.
At this time, there is no non-diegetic sound, everything heard by the audience is seen or implied.
Cut back to a (through-the-windscreen) two shot. This shows the calm moment before Lady Bird leans forward to turn on the radio. This is the catalyst, the moment that sends the previous dynamic completely out of the window.
There is a moment of disharmony where the peace between them is shattered, causing a “chain reaction of overreacting”. The anger and tension between them increases as this chain reaction goes on, when one gets upset with the other, retaliating and upsetting the first.
Here, both characters sigh audibly, an aural recognition of their mutual anger.
The sequence continues cutting between master shot and profile shots, with raised voices dominating the diegetic sound. The argument sits with us as an audience, because we feel like we are actually witnessing it. There’s no music to detach us from this moment.
There comes a literal turn in direction, a shift in the visuals and this demonstrates that the argument has intensified. The volume of dialogue gets louder, profile shots become shot reverse shots.
The editing favours Lady Bird, representing her as the main character. The shot reverse shots are unbalanced, a lot of the time we see her reaction to her mother’s dialogue instead of her actually saying it.
Looks between each other become less frequent, they actually stop acknowledging eachother visually.
A wider profile shot shows Lady Bird unbuckling her seatbelt, accompanied by diegetic sound (seatbelt and road noises.)
This is the first of a series of bad decisions that Lady Bird will make to hurt her mother. It's a childish gesture, but Lady Bird is so caught up in her own head that she can’t see it.
We realise the peace at the beginning was an exception instead of the norm, and are left with the scream of the mother.
School
We then cut to a shot of some upside down writing, written from lady birds pov “F*ck you mom”. This is on a cast, which insinuates that this injury is from the car incident. The cast is a garish shade of pink, and it stands out like Lady Bird wants to.
A close up of the cast introduces a short montage of the school ‘s assembly.
Everyone does the “catholic gestures” except Lady Bird. She is centrally framed, and she stands out because she wont join in.
The editing to the beat of the non-diegetic music contrasts the previous sequences, where there was nothing but diegetic sound.
A gothic title is shown over the religious setting, in the oldest font you could think of, the complete opposite of what Lady Bird would write herself. This reflects yet another way that Lady Bird contrasts her surroundings.
Following this title there is a montage of short clips of Catholic school life. Lady Bird’s school is very traditional, working in classrooms and reciting religious prayers (I think? I'm not religious) on a regular basis.
Thought every moment, Lady Bird is desperately trying not to fit in, looking bored through classes, breaking rules, and all together being “aloof”. This establishes her character and characteristics for the rest of the film.