Genre and Teen Drama Films (BP8)

What is Genre?

The term 'genre' means category or type. It is helpful as it is used to group or frame different films according to what they are about. This helps the producers to make and market their film to the correct audience and it also helps the audience to choose what film they would enjoy to see according to the genre of the film.

A theorist named Altman has said that there are two ways in which we can talk about the genre of the film. The first way is Semantic, which is the way the film looks. The second is Syntactic, which is the story the film tells.

To help us quickly recognise the type of film we are watching that is in the same genre, they use similar features called codes and conventions so that we can have some expectations as to what we could see and what might happen. We will often enjoy watching how the film might use the codes of genre and how they would challenge it.

However the genres are regularly changing over time in order to keep the films interesting and unique so that the audience does not get bored which therefore means the codes and conventions of each genre can change over time.

Codes and Conventions.             

The codes and conventions of teen films were made in the 1950's when films like 'Rebel Without a Cause' and 'The Wild One' were made, which were known as Juvenile Deliquent films, and films such as 'To Sir With Love' which was about teen experiences at school.

The codes and conventions of films with these films are the common plots and storylines, the characters (which includes the stereotypical groups e.g. the populars , the geeks etc.), settings and locations.

The code for teen films is seen to be the concept of 'Coming of Age' and the conventions are:

• Adolescent characters
• Highschools/Homes/Streets
• Peer groups/Friends
• Teachers/Parents
• Popular music
• Romance

However, some films will change the way they use the codes and conventions. The films of the same genre that use the same codes and conventions in a distinctly different way are known as sub-genres. This is another way in which we can categorise Teen Film.

The first sub-genre is Youth Drama which is mostly focused on the social dilemmas faced by the main character, which most of the time is a male character.
The second sub-genre is High School Drama which is most of the time centred on the social groups in institutions, such as school/college or at home.

Blogging Health Check (Blogpost Task 41)

 

This is the feedback I have received from my teacher Dan.

 

"After a really excellent start, your blog posting seems to have stopped altogether. I expect you to have began posting production diaries etc by Thursday's lesson otherwise I will have to issue CFC. It has taken down your grade.

In your production diary, you should state what you intended to do, what you achieved and what changes are you making to your plans (if any) because of this. You need to be as detailed as possible here. What exactly happened each  day? How happy are you with what you've done? You also should post an account of what you do in each lesson also - if you edit, blog about what you are doing, what are learning about Final Cut etc.  You can do diary entries as group posts but should also some add some short posts about your individual contributions. Also consider your skills development - what skills have you picked up since you began. Remember, workshop is open every day for you to add blogs."

My response is:

I know I haven't been posting as often as I should be its because I have been so busy about the production of my title sequence that I have forgotten to post my information towards my production diary. However, I have now started to post more in light of this feedback as I have realized my mistake. 

Revisions to pitch and final decisons in light of feedback (Blogpost Task 40)

Personal analysis of the feedback of pitch and final decisions made:
We had a pitch feedback and due to this my group and I have made many changes to our final production of our title sequence. We are going to try to include lots of different shots such as close ups, medium shots, long shots, establishing shots and even over shoulder shots. We are going to try not to use too much dialogue and instead explain the story more by using actions of the characters and editing in sounds to give the audience a better understanding. We created a storyboard that we can follow so we can direct our title sequence more efficiently.
We decided to change the font of the title due to the criticism we received as it would best suit our theme if we used an Asian-like or Arabic font since our title sequence is foreign 'Haram':

Sound design (Blogpost Task 29)

To avoid copyright issues we have decided to make or use music from Garageband. Also for foley sounds we could get these sounds from non-copyrighted websites such as :
https://www.freesound.org/browse/
 
 
Here is a list of Foley sounds we may need:

• Bus horn
• Phone dialing
• Footsteps
• Moving of clothing
• Squeaky doors 
• Paper folding
• Doors opening
• Doors closing 

3 Media text that influence me (Blogpost Task 28)

 Title sequence Analysis:


I chose to analyse mean girls as an effective opening sequence as it’s my favourite film and its a perfect example of a Teen/High school Drama.


When I actually watched the first 3 and half minutes I discovered that the opening sequence was actually as effective as I first thought although it is one of my favourite films I felt that to write about it was disappointing as it doesn’t really ‘hook’ you in.
The first scene which we see is the title scene with a background of black and the names are written in pink – from this we can detect that the genre may be a chick flick, also from the name of the film ‘mean girls’ we gather it’s about girls.
We first meet the character Cady which she just seems like average girl she is the appropriate age for a school girl and dresses appropriately- authentic mise en scene, her mum and dad are also dressed appropriately to their character’s and the right age too, they live in a typical American style house – large and open planned. We then see a clip of a spelling bee which we stereotypically see a geek taking part in – this character has glasses, greasy hair and wears typical clothes which we would expect a geek to wear.
When Cady is walking up to the school she nearly experience’s a bus crash which is one of the only scenes which something which we would consider to ‘draw us’ in, the bus which she is nearly ran over by is a yellow school bus – this is a typical style American bus , this is authentic mise en scene.
We first see the title scene which has characters names flashing up on the screen – the background is black and the words are written in pink from this we could connote that the genre is a chick flick from the use of colour. Next we meet the first two characters who are the parents this is a low angle but also a point of view angle of the character who they are talking to – which is unrevealed for a few seconds which creates more suspension  for us. After a few seconds of the character being unrevealed we then see Cady face which is through an over the shoulder shot of both parents, through a wide shot we establish the setting and realise that they are standing outside of their ‘typical’ American style house. This title sequence inspires me because in the beginning of my Title sequence I will be setting a particular culture theme of a young teen female character.

 
 
Bend It Like Beckham:
There is a wide range of shots used in the Bend It Like Beckham opening title sequence. There are long shots which show the full length image of people which could present types of body language. For example when Jess is wanting to score a goal and she sees all her family (that are against her playing football) stood in front of the net, you can see their distress and anger towards Jess by the way they’re standing and portraying their body as if they want her to stop and they don’t want her to score the goal because it’s not right. Close up shots are usually used to show in-depth facial expressions. Within this title sequence close ups are used mainly during the arguments and disagreements between the family to show the real emotion on the characters faces. Two shots are very commonly used due to the amount of dialogue in the Bend It Like Beckham opening title sequence. Two shots show communication and interaction between the family members. There is use of an ariel shot within this opening scene when Jess is in a football match…The fact it’s an ariel shot helps capture the action clearly and you can see all of the team players because it’s from birds eye view, this way it is easier to see the body language and expression of each character. This inspired me because it sets the theme of western and eastern culture conflict.

 

10 Things I Hate About You first screen shot introduces the institution of the film through the large blue text at the centre down the bottom of the shot. The large size of the text suggests the importance of the institution and the contribution they had to the film. This text appears from the right of the screen from a blue thick line which then appears as a blue circle left of the text and it is stationary once centre of the screen. It then lights up gold creating the text to stand out to the audience even more, presenting its importance once again. The same production company is presented once again however in the same typography of the cast and crew which will soon follow. This ties the film in with the institution to present that they were the main production of the film. This time the text is right in the centre of the screen, standing out in a bright green colour. This text is animated and moving around fast as if it is sketched into the shot, creating a fun and upbeat feeling. This title sequence inspired me as it sets Teen/High School theme almost immediately much like how my title sequence is going to be like.

 

Sound planning and editing activity (Blogpost Task 27)

 

 

 

 

 

This is our remake soundtrack of '10 things I hate about you'. We used GarageBand to get sound effects that we thought best suited the theme of the title sequence which was  upbeat but yet engaging. Here is our video:

 

Extension Activity: (Blogpost Task 26)

Motion titles

In class we decided which template we would use to create our title sequence. At first it was difficult as we wanted it to fit the genre and the tone of the film. We finally decided on a template/font choice and its a rough draft. After filming and once we start editing our movie and it comes together we'll change about our draft and make it look genuine and professional. Our Production company is called 'Bluemoon Productions'.


Here is our chosen font: