Planning- Titles and Connotations

Titles and Connotation

The titles that will appear in our opening sequence teen angst film are the production company, camera director, main characters, the writers, who the music’s by and the editor.

Production Company: Chelsea Cox, Ellie Hancock and Rebecca Black

Camera Director: Chelsea Cox

Main Characters: Rebecca Black and Extras

Writers: Chelsea Cox, Ellie Hancock and Rebecca Black

Music: The artist we decide to choose

Editor: Chelsea Cox, Ellie Hancock, Rebecca Black

From my research I have found that bold, colourful fonts are the most popular for teen angst films which we are going to use ideas of titles and fonts from films like juno as we thought these really stood out and were unique. We are also going to give our fonts a human feel as we are going to put them on moving objects and bring them to life. This will make people more attracted to our film and increase our target audience.

Planning- Fonts and Captions

Fonts, Titles and Captions

The fonts we are going to use in our opening sequence are big, bold and white. We chose this style of font as it conveys the teen angst genre and coincides with our production logo. As the colour matches and it works well in contrast with each other. We also decided to use big bold cartoon font as it appeals to our target audience specifically and will help to widen the target audience as typical bubble writing and cartoon fonts appeal to the teenage audience a lot more than any other age group

Planning-Script For Voiceover

Script for the voice over:

2 Days Later... appears on the screen  

Holly: It all began in secondary school... I have always seen myself as the outsider of friendships groups. I've never been accepted by the 'it' girl Chanel. Just because she's got long brown hair, wears a tone of make up, has fake boobs and fake nails...Anyways enough about her.

Holly: So it was just your average school day, but this one particular day was different. I had friends, people actually smiled at me and knew I assisted. I mean I know deep down it's only because I was having party but I was popular for once so I didn't care.

Voice over fades out

Channel: (walks over to holly's table at the end of a lesson) Sorry about the other day

Holly: ( holly pauses, puts her pen down and looks up) It's ok, are you coming to my party?

Channel: ( with a sassy tone Channel says) It better be good see ya later

(she flicks her hair and struts off)

Voice over fades back in                                                                          

Holly: Deep down I knew I shouldn't be trying to impress her but her sweet 16th is coming up and I NEED AN INVITE!

The school day had finished and Holly went home to her parents packing up their bags ready for their trip away.

Holly's Mum: You will be ok on your own won't you? I've left all the emergency numbers on the fridge and some money in an envelope for any emergencies, remember to switch everything off when you got to bed and...

Holly: YES mum I get it! I'm going to be 16 in a day not 6.

Holly's Mum: I only say it because I care Holly

The night of the party

Holly: I'm excited but so nervous, what if it’s a shamble, what if don't look nice, what if...

Holly: The night was great...until I got Busted, it was an embarrassment. I'm now the school joke!

Threatening messages everyday, snide remarks, horrible name calling, why did I try and be a bitchy girl like chanel.

Planning- StoryBoard

Planning-Settings Of Our Opening Film

Busted Setting

Longsands Academy, St Neots

One of the settings where are going to film our opening is Longsands Academy, which is a secondary school in St Neots. We are going to include a variety of places within the school such as classrooms.

We chose Longsands Academy as one of our main settings as this is the stereo- typical place for a teen angst film. Also we all go to Longsands Academy which gives us access to use it as a setting.

We are going to have a mid-shot of the main character Holly sitting in a classroom whilst receiving loads of texts about her party the previous night.

Rebecca's House

Another setting we are going to use to shoot our film is Becky’s house which is in St Neots. We chose this location because it’s accessible as it’s close to town and it has good facilities for a party and filming.

We are going to use several rooms within Becky’s house such as the living room, kitchen and garden.

Characters Bedroom

The last setting we are going to use to shoot our film opening is a montage of different bedrooms to show teenagers getting ready. This will include a variety of different shot types like shot reverse shot, mid shots and the 180 degree rule.

We chose to do this as this is a stereotypical setting for a teen angst film as this is where most teenagers spend their time so conveys the genre and target audience.

Planning-Characters

Planning Of Characters

Our main characters name is Holly and she is 17 years old in the film opening she is going to be wearing blue jeans, grey top and glasses. This is portraying the genre of teen angst as this is what teenagers stereotypically would wear at school. This helps us to portray her innocence when she is being threatened at school as it shows she's a countertop of teenager as she is wearing clothes that are not provocative and she is covered up.




Also in our film there is the other teenagers who are going to be shown in the school and they are going to be wearing normal stereotypical clothing for there age. Which will be wearing jeans and a tops/jumpers as they are at sixth form. They are all going to be dressed similar and as we are shooting in winter some teenagers may be wearing coats, scarfs and gloves which is what they would stereotypically wear to school or college as a teenager.

  

Also in our film Becky's mum and step dad are going to be wearing typical outfit for parents. For example her mum is going to be wearing jeans, a jumper and boots. For her step dad he is going to be wearing chinos, grey top and trainers which is stereotypical for that age group. Their outfits will be distinctly different to the teenagers so you can see from the conventions of the outfits and identify the different age groups clearly.

 

 

 

However when we do the party shots Holly's clothing is going to change dramatically as in the party scene she is going to be shown wearing a very short revealing dress. This will help further to identify the teen angst genre as this is a typical outfit for teenagers who are going out.

In our opening of our film she is also going to be wearing a full face of makeup with red lipstick which connotes the teen genre of girls dressing provocatively. Most of the actors in out film will be wearing a lot of makeup as this is what our genre would like to see it also helps to convey the target audience. The red lip also conveys promiscuous behaviour which is then shown in the party scene.

Planning-Risk Assessment

This is the risk assessment of several of our filming locations. In our group we all did our assessments individually, however we discussed the hazards and the likelihood of them happening. When we are filming we will use our risk assessment to make sure there are no accidents involving our cast at all by clearing all potential hazards prior.

Planning-Production Company Logo

Production Company Logo

We chose to use this as our production company logo as it reflects our production company because people will be able to relate our film to the Oscars. The Oscars are awards that you win when your film is nominated for best British film or similar, so it portrays that our film is up to a high standard.

To make our production company logo we used the programme photo shop to create the sophisticated logo. We used an image of an Oscar and we manipulated to get it to look the way we desired and made it our own. We changed the colour and fonts a few times until we got it the way we imagined it to be. As a group we all helped design and brainstorm for the logo.

We changed our original design of our logo as after class feedback we decided that it could be improved. The new production company logo is also better at targeting our target audience as teenagers are a more likely age group to watch things like the oscars and award ceremonies meaning they would be enticed into the film due to the logo alone.

Planning-Presentation Pitch And Feedback

This is our PowerPoint presentation of our research and planning for our film opening. We designed and planned our PowerPoint as a team taking equal responsibility for different parts of the PowerPoint to ensure we covered all areas of the brief.

When we presented our blog to the class I was absent however I contributed by making the slides on the PowerPoint and helping to plan the opening of the film. I did the settings and characters and helped to use different fonts and colours to make out slideshow appealing.

We received a lot of feedback on our presentation for example the rest of our peers in the class felt like our first draft of our company production logo didn't have enough relevance to our film. After the presentation we then decided to change our production logo to 'Oscar productions' as we felt like this would be more suited to our production company

Above are screenshots of the PowerPoint presentation that we presented to the class in our pitch. As a group we used teamwork to work together to add in all our ideas so we could create a detailed PowerPoint including all of our planning. We brainstormed beforehand to discuss ideas so that we all agreed on every aspect of the film.

Synopsis

The basic story line of Busted focuses on a young teenage girl who attends her local secondary school, Longsands Academy. The first scene shows that this young girl is picked on for not being popular enough in her year.  In order to capture this I plan to use a long shot of a classroom showing the main character sat on her own showing other students who are sat on the opposite side of the class room laughing at her and throwing pens and pencils at her. However the main girl has had enough of having no friends and decides to make a Facebook event inviting a few people from school round for a gathering. She does this as a result of  her parents going away for the night. In order to show the Facebook event I plan to use different editing skills, which will allow the audience to see the Facebook notification and also see the reactions of the different characters at the same time. I will do this using a split screen effect. The opening of the film will then transition onto the different genders of teenagers getting ready for the party. I will film this using lots of different fast pace tracking shots in a few different teenagers bedrooms. This will mainly focus on the stereo and counter typical ways in which the characters are being displayed in the opening of my film. This will help the audience get a feel to the characters personalities. 

The story then continues to the party and how the invite went viral on social media, leaving her throwing a massive house party. Half way through the party and the plot of the story starts to unveil. The main character's parents come home from their over night trip as one of them left their mobile phone at home, I plan to show a slow motion close up of the mobile screen showing lots of miss calls from the main characters parents. This will happen whilst the party scene is going on, all the fast pace transitions, bright flashing lighting and loud music will create built up tension whilst the scene flips onto the mobile phone screen. This built up tension will also help when the next scene happens. The main girls parents come home half through the flow of the party. The mum goes up the speaker and cuts the music and everyone leaves in embarrassment for the main character. The opening of my film will then come to a close near the two minute mark, I will close the opening by zooming in on a clock at the main characters house showing the time that the party ended. This shot will then transition into another clock displaying the same time however this will be the school clock in the same classroom that the characters originally started in. So the opening of the film would have been in reverse from the night before, I am going to demonstrate this by using rewind sounds and to display a rewind button on the opening scene. I also plan to have a voice over of the main character explaining what is going on and how life as a teenager is, this will only take up a few seconds of the opening of my film. 

Research- Easy A Analysis

Easy A Research

In one of the first screenshots of Easy A it has the production company name to help introduce the film. It also shows you a panning shot of the city where the film is set. This can help the audience to get to know the location and demographics of the film more clearly.

In this screenshot you can see the name of the high school where the film is set. This ensures the audience can identify the genre straight away as the location is a high school and they will be able to know if they are the correct target audience early on in the film.

In the opening of Easy A in the screenshot the camera angle is a medium shot with a pair of shoes as the main subject, there are no characters included in this first shot. The lighting within this shot is high key which connotes the film is upbeat and conveys the genre of teen angst. Included in this first shot is the  title and the first part of the title is in standard writing, however the second part of the A is in a different font, size and colour which implies that it is a key subject within the film.

In this screenshot of the opening sequence the lighting has remained high key to clearly show the setting and convey the genre. The camera angle is a wide shot showing the courtyard at the high school which shows the audience the setting early on so they can identify the genre quickly. There are still no characters in the shot at this point which adds suspense and makes the watcher want to keep watching. There is also titles on this shot and they are the same font as 'easy in the title, however these titles look like they have physical presence as they are slanted and have their own shadow and even move with the camera angle.

In the next screenshot of the film opening sequence characters are introduced and they are shown to be crowded in the school courtyard and this emphasises the school setting which again identifies the genre of teen angst. The lighting is still high key which is stereotypical for a teen angst film. The camera angle used in this shot is a wide shot as it shows the depths of the field in the courtyard at the high school. Also in this shot it is even more obvious that the titles have a presence as there is a title between two characters which brings it alive even more.

In the next screenshot of the opening sequence we are introduced to the main character shown by a high angle shot to show us she is the main focus of the shot and is going to be an important character in the film. In this shot the lighting has dimmed and is no longer high key as she is in the shade which could suggest she is in trouble or having drama which is stereotypical for a teenager.

In the next shot it focuses in on the main character in the foreground of the shot which shows a close up of her to show her emotions. Also in the background of the shot you can see a secondary character and she is not in shot. The lighting also goes back to high key in this shot

In this screenshot it shows a low angle and close up shot so you can see the character clearly and it helps the audience to identify the genre further. This character also is shown in the centre of the shot which can convey that he is a strong authoritative figure in the shot and has a lot of presence within the film.

In this screenshot there is an over the shoulder shot used which shows the conversation easier. Again in this show the main character has the focus on her which the audience will be able to identify and it shows the teacher has less emphasis as you can only see his shoulder.

In the next screenshot of easy a you can see that both the girls are once again centre focus of the whole shot and this suggests they are the main characters through the entire film. Also the lighting is still high key although it is dimmed slightly but hasn't changed the atmosphere at all. The camera shot is a wide shot however it is panning with the characters to keep them in shot.

In this screen shot you can see the two main characters are in the lighting and the ones in the background are in the shade which suggests their not as important due to the change of mood in this shot. The fonts of the titles in this shot is continues use of making the titles have physical presence as they are shown to being attached to the sign as the characters walk past. The camera shot here is tracking as the characters are moving towards the camera.

Research- Film Habits

During half term I watched several teen angst films including mean girls and easy a to further my knowledge on teen angst conventions. I regularly watch teen angst films in my spare time as they appeal to me and I fit the target audience.

Research-Preliminary Task

Preliminary Task

Explanation

For my preliminary task myself and my group followed a detailed story board to create a mini film whilst incorporating many different camera angles and shots. We filmed all the different parts to fit together to create a sequence as our preliminary task. We had 3 actors in our film which started out with somebody approaching a door which we shot as a long shot so you can see the character clearly. Then we moved on to doing a close up of the door handle as it creaks to add suspense to out film. Lastly we then used both the 180 degree rule and shot reverse shot to film a short conversation between two characters. After filming we then had to edit our film on a programme called premiere pro so that it all came together and flowed continuously and didn't cut between scenes so quickly. During our editing we used a wide range of editing skills to improve our film further, for example we used cutting, merging and fade to black which helped our film to look more sharp.

What We Learnt

From the preliminary task I have learnt many different camera shots for example close ups, high angle, low angle and mid shots. I have also learnt how to follow the 180 degree rule which is where you film over the shoulder of and match on action. I also learnt continuity as our first attempt didn't work out so we had to redo it and have persistence. I also learnt how to use the editing programme adobe premiere pro and how to cut, merge, scale and fade to black to improve quality. If I was to redo this preliminary task I would improve the filming quality and think about the different camera shots differently to increase quality of our film further. I would also make the conversation longer so it didn't look rushed and untidy.

Incorporating Shots

In our preliminary task there was many different shots we had to incorporate into our film. For example we used close up of the door handle being opened which added suspense and tension. We also had to incorporate a shot reverse shot which focused on a conversation between the two characters which made it easier for the viewer to be involved in the film and to make the conversation flow better and focus on one person at a time. Lastly we also included the 180 degree rule which made the film flow more easily and not make the viewer confused.

Research-Juno Film Opening

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging Research

Angus, Thongs and Perfect snogging was released in 2008 casting Georgia Groome and Aaron Johnson as lead roles Georgia Nicholson and Robbie. Georgia Nicolson is fourteen, and is the usual, everyday awkward teenager who lives with her annoying parents and her cat Angus. Georgia as well as every other girl in the school has a crush on the Robbie who is in a local band called the Stiff Dylans. The plot revolves around her embarrassing and awkward diary entries where she writes about humiliating moments and her unfair life which seems to keep getting worse. Robbie is in a relationship with a stuck up blonde girl called Lindsay who Georgia expressed her hatred for and confrontations with. Georgia experiences a first kissed first love with her best friend and family, as well as wishing she was a different, prettier person and blames her parents and the world for it. At the end, Georgia ends up with Robbie and has her perfect 15th birthday party as well as realising a bunch of teenage angst lessons, coming to terms with growing up and accepting herself.

Setting

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is located and was filmed in London. The setting is a located in an English seaside town, where the colours are dull and the weather isn't dreadful and raining most of the time. This is connoted by the use of seaside fish and chip shops located in the filming of angus thongs and perfect snogging. It is no where near comparable to a glamorous LA town which makes the storyline more realistic and the teenage audience can relate to it more and be more involved in the plot as they can relate more.

Mise en Scene

In the plot of the film the teenage girls have several sleepovers which is a stereotypical thing of teenage girls to do. In the scene you can see the pink bedrooms of the characters which emphasises they are girly girls who enjoy gossiping and talking about boys at sleepovers which makes to more relatable for the target audience. There is a lot of girly events in the film such as eyebrow waxing, tanning and talking about underwear. This helps to identify the age where teenage girls are becoming self conscious and are trying to find ways to make themselves more appealing to the opposite sex. The teen angst target audience will be able to directly relate to this as they are likely to be going through the same struggles for examples boys problems and trying to stay thin.

Research- Clueless Opening

Clueless Opening Sequence Conventions

The film opening starts with the production company logo which is paramount. It introduces the company by showing their logo and through a cartoon sequence which is shown throughout the film opening.

The title is introduced in the film through a smooth transition from the production company to the logo. The title is in the same font as before which stands out and is very colourful. Their is a change of colour from the last shot and this is done to keep the audience engaged and it helps to highlight that the film opening is about to start.

In this screenshot there are many teen angst conventions to cover the genre clearly. Firstly the main character of the film is shopping and this is a event that the target audience enjoy throughly and would be able to relate to. It also highlights the fact that stereotypically when girls are shopping they are happy. The fact that this is shown quite early in film shows that teenagers may be able to relate to the main character and will be more enticed in the movie and will want to watch it.

Mise en SceneMise en scene was crucial when creating the characters personalities and egos, this was mainly through costumes and make up all iconography of a stereotypical female, as you see in the picture above the girls are shown in short skirts and popular fashions of that era, the mobile phones suggest the girls came from wealth and this was also portrayed in locations set in the girls homes, one example was Chers home which props were used alot showing off her cars outside and the posh interiors and technologies emphasizing her wealth.

The Settings

I have previously mentioned that the film was set in Beverly Hills, known for its celebrity status and wealthy residents. This impacts the film as it creates the characters to be young aspiring celebrities and fashion icons, brought up with brand new technology the girls are all portrayed to be fashion-conscious and attached to their phones all the time. 

Research- Production Companies

The name DreamWorks suggests that this production company can be perceived as a factory which is in the process of making dreams for its audiences. This is further emphasised through the use of a night sky, clouds and a crescent as these aspects are associated with night time where dreams will take place. A glow is used on the moon and the young boy in order to bring it forward to the audience’s attention, potentially suggesting that this production company aims its films towards a younger target audience. All of the important aspects in this logo are a light colour which connotes the idea that dreams are supposed to be innocent and pure.

Universal uses a sans serif font of their company in order to emphasise the idea that the films they have produced are loved world-wide or even by the whole universe which is also in capital letter. This is then further emphasised by the use of the world and space behind the title which enables the audience to see a visual representation of how many people supposedly love these films. The use of the white company title against the dark space colours allow it to be brought to the audience’s attention in order for them to identify the fact that this particular company has produced this film.

The main colours on the MGM logo are black and gold which instantly suggest power and authority. Also with the lion in the centre which shows an animal of strength, power, pride and leadership, connotes that the company are professional and have a lot of expertise due to the old fashioned nature of the logo as it involves film tape. The roaring tiger shows they're fierce and a competitor; other companies should be afraid. The gold shows they have wealth.

Reseach-Severn Title Sequence Analysis

Title Sequence Of Severn


Timings of openings

2 seconds- Image of a book with pages

6 seconds- Still image of a book with the writing 'new line cinema presents' also on the screen

10 seconds- image of a pair of hands, distorted and in black and white

14 seconds- actors name appears on the screen 'Brad Pitt' black background with white creepy writing

18 seconds- close up of fingers with blood and mud on then and holding a small silver blade

22 seconds- flashing across the screen with white don't and fades to black

31 seconds- shadows flash across the screen as well as another actors name 'Gwyneth Paltrow'

34 seconds- close up of a pen writing on paper, 2 images of this image overlapping, so one looks like a shadow, one more actors name 'Richard Round tree'

37 seconds- red filter over camera, slightly blurry picture with bits of random writing flashing across the screen

41 seconds- image of scissors cutting up photography films and lots of shadows in the shot

46 seconds- small photograph of a child in black and white, this is over more photographs and pages of writing

50 seconds- close up of a newspaper cuttings in a birds eye view, drop of blood splattered on the page

56 seconds- actors names 'John Cassini, Reginald E.Cathay and Peter Crombie'

60 seconds- extreme close up of a thumb smudging ink on a black page, POV shot

67 seconds- Writing in the background, blood like smudges in the foreground with black marker pen on top of that

71 seconds- black background with an image of a boys face in the right hand top corner, black marker pen going through his eyes. White writing 'casting by...' in the foreground

74 seconds- red filter over the camera again, boys face in the same place again but completely crossed out this time with black marker pen and red over the top

77 seconds- top half of the shot has a red filter, image of photos(dark room) bottom half of the image is upside down of a pen writing, Writing in the foreground 'music by Howard Shore'

87 seconds- close up of dirty thumbs and a line of tiny hooks, writing in foreground 'production design'

90 seconds- books of writing with a page of handwriting on the top, the page is upside down

94 seconds- photographs in the background, clear filter over the camera which has black smudges and dots all over it. Reminds me of looking through a microscope or splattered blood.

99 seconds- extreme close up of dirty thumbs playing with a needle, black background

103 seconds- lots of flashing images and quick cuts

Last 15 seconds- lots more flashing images, more writing which includes 'produced/directed by...'

128 seconds- film starts, end of title sequence

Research- Teen Angst Task

                                  Teen Angst-Research Task

Significant teen angst films- trends or changes in genre over time

1967- To sir with love, James Clavell

1984- Footloose, Herbert Ross

1995- Angus, Patrick Johnson

1995- Clueless, Amy Herckerling

2003- Freaky Friday, Mark Waters

2004- Mean Girls, Mark Waters

2004- 13 going on 30, Gary Winick

2009- Fish Tank, Andrea Arnold

2010- Easy A, Will Gluck

2014- The fault in our stars, Josh Bloone


The general trends in these teen angst films are that a majority of them are love/romance, such as To sir with love, Angus, The fault in our stars and 13 going on 30. Another trend that has changed and become more apparent over time is girls being portrayed as older than they are in films such as Freaky friday and 13 going on 30, this trend is more popular in films nowadays. Lastly a lot of teen angst films include a teenage girl trying to fit in with the crowd in films such as Easy A, Mean girls and clueless as this is a stereo typical thing of teenage girls nowadays to be seen as older than they are.


Section 2- Detailed Analysis Of The Opening Sequence Of Mean Girls

Titles
The titles of mean girls are bold, vibrant and bright purple, this clearly helps to the viewer to identify the genre straight away. This will then help to attract a wider audience as they can clearly convert the genre straight away

Camera Shots
In the opening sequence of mean girls there is a close up shot of the parents speaking to the teenager about her first day at school. A close up shot is used here to show the parents emotions and to show the setting clearly which is a high school. By showing the setting it clearly shows the audience that it is a teen angst film and will attract the correct target audience

Mise En Scene 
The mise en scene that the director has used for setting and actors is that it is set in a stereo typical high school, and one of the first shots is in the school canteen which clearly shows what type of film its going to be. This in turn helps to attract a wider audience as teenagers can relate to being at school as this is where they spend most of their time and can relate to school life.

Sound
The sound in the opening of mean girls is a upbeat non diegetic sound which represents loud lively teenagers in a high school. This also helps to convey the teen angst genre as it sets the theme and atmosphere straight away.

Representation
The representation of high school children in mean girls is that all the teenagers are portrayed as trying to fit into the right friendship groups. One of the opening scenes is a teenager called Kady walking into the canteen and gazing over at all the already established friendship groups looking dazed.