Ideas on our title

Some of the ideas for our title before we came up with 'Opposites':

• The not so perfect life of Aiden
• That kid called Aiden
• The Twist
• That stereotypical teen film
• Crushin'
• Crush
• Aiden Next Door  (AND)

We decided to use the name 'Opposites' as the name gives the audience an insight to the narrative. This is because the main character Aiden likes a girl who are very different to each other.

Settings

This will be a long/mid shot of Aiden and Tom walking out of shot and Kate and Jessica walking in. There are lockers around and doors to classrooms which clearly shows school environment which is very stereotypical to see in the teen angst genre. 

A high angle will be used here when Tom and Aiden are first introduced. The shot will be of them walking down the stairs and will be behind them. This further shows the school environment.

This extreme long shot/long shot will be used to show the boys (extras) playing football on the field. They will just be in the background and adds more realism to the school environment.

A long shot from the side will be Kate and Jessica walking.

This long shot will also show the boys playing football on the field.

Right at the beginning, after the title appears, this establishing shot will be shown. This sets the scene and clearly shows the audience that the setting of the film is in a school. We used this as it is easily accessible and is very stereotypical for films under the teen angst genre.

Ttiles and Names

The name of our film opening is 'Opposites'. We found that many Teen Angst films use shorter names and we decided to use this common theme. It is also simplistic and a few things can be inferred from the title, which is why we think it is effective. When the name of our opening sequence comes onto the screen, the font will be in Sans-Serif. This is because having a title in Sans-Serif makes adds character to the font and doesn't make it boring or too serious. This is also key because our film is aimed to be light-hearted so these tie in together very well.

This is what we plan will be in the opening scene, when all of the credits are appearing:

• Aiden unzips his school bag - A credit will be revealed in the bag. He will put into his bag some regular, typical school items such as books, pens, food etc.
• We see him getting his keys and the football. The shot of Aiden getting a football will be slightly emphasised, as the football is a key part in the plot towards the end of our film opening.
• Aiden leaves his house through the front door.
• There is a mid shot of his car. He opens the boot - Credit revealed - and puts his bag inside.
• He then closes the boot and the number plate is clearly visible - Credit on the number plate.
• A shot of the door handle - Credit on the door handle.
• A point of view shot from Aiden's perspective on the steering wheel - Credit curved around the steering wheel.
• The key in the ignition.
• A low angle shot first showing the car's back wheel, and then driving off - Credit left behind as the car drives away.
• The camera panning up to the sky which reveals the title - 'Opposites'
• Panning back down and shows an establishing shot of the school which is where it will be set - also a use of an ellipsis.

Film Company Logo

We chose the name Tomorrow Productions because the target audience are younger people and young people are always looking to the future in contrast to older people who may look back a lot. The word 'Tomorrow' clearly shows this.

Our initial idea was to call the company 'Tomorrow Studios' but we decided to use 'Tomorrow Productions' as we felt the word 'Productions' means that the company produces films.

The image of our logo is a cinema screen, which is white and the title is on the screen, in black. Black writing on a white background makes the logo clearly visible and shows simplicity. The image in our logo are the red seats and a cinema screen which is very stereotypical to see in a cinema.

Planning of Characters

Aiden - Main character

We decided to use a male as the leading role because based on our research, there were few films with a male as the leading role in the Teen Angst genre. The films that we found where there was a male lead role were: 17 Again, John Tucker Must Die and Superbad.

Aiden is a stereotypical popular boy who gets all of the attention and is also seen as a 'leader' type of character in his group of 'lads'. He is popular because he is seen by everyone as cool and funny. Aiden dresses in smart/casual clothing. which is stereotypical for a boy of his age. He also has a love interest, however she is an unpopular girl and his friends make fun of him because they think of it as weird how a popular boy likes an unpopular girl. This is also why the title is called 'Opposites'.

Kate - Aiden's love interest

Kate is your stereotypical not so popular girl character. She is quiet, shy, doesn't have many friends and feels as if she is invisible. She is Aiden's love interest however they do not interact with each other until the football hits her. She will also wear smart/casual clothing however they will be quite plain as she doesn't really care too much about what she wears.

Jessica - Kate's best friend

Jessica is Kate's best friend and she is also unpopular. Her only friend is Kate and they are very like each other and do everything together. She also wears typical smart/casual clothing.

Tom - Aiden's friend

Tom is Aiden's friend/ 'wingman'. Similar to Aiden, he is also popular as he is apart of a big friends group of boys ('Lads'). Tom also thinks that liking an unpopular girl is strange.

Each of the characters are 17 years old.

Starting plan for script

OPPOSITES

Characters: Aiden, Kate, Jessica, Tom and extras

 

Scene 1:  

Location – Aiden’s house/Driveway – morning

Aiden is getting ready- getting his books (he opens his bag and there’s a credit, he collects his books and there’s a credit on there too) and keys- he’s tired. He walks out of the house and onto the driveway, he opens the boot (which will reveal a credit) and puts his bag inside. He opens the door to his car (there’s a credit on the door handle) , he gets in (there’s a credit on the steering wheel) he starts the engine and drives off, (there’s a credit under the tire) the camera pans up to the sky and reveals the name of the film. The camera then pans down and shows a shot of the school (Ellipsis)

There is no dialogue in the first scene

·         A shot of Aiden’s phone we see him press play on Bad Reputation by Joan Jett

·         Aiden unzips his bag

·         He puts typical school related items in his bag- books, drink, football, crisps?

·         We see him getting his keys and football

·         Aiden leaves the house through his front door

·         He opens the boot and puts his bag inside

·         He shuts the boot- and we see the number plate

·         A shot of the door handle

·         A POV shot of the steering wheel

·         The key in the ignition

·         Shot of the wheel

·         We see the car drive away

·         A shot of the sky revealing the title, Opposites

 

Scene 2:

Location – the school & corridors

Multiple shots of Kate and Aiden – we see them walking around the school (Aiden first, then Kate.) with their friends – general buzz of school life heard – voiceover from Aiden and Kate showing their personalities.  

·         Following the last shot the camera pans down to reveal the school  - LOUD BELL & which fades MUSIC TO FIREBALL BY PITBULL

Voiceover from Aiden:

Hi I’m Aiden. I’m 17 and I’m in my second year of sixth form. (Screen freezes) I’m the popular one. (The popular one appears on the screen.)  It’s the same record every day. Eat, sleep, sixth form, repeat. And occasionally the odd game of football. It’s not easy being the popular one, there’s certain expectations you need on your cv.  1. Dress nice. Good clothes are essential. 2. Be funny. Nobody will care if you can’t make them laugh.  And 3. Have a girlfriend. You need to have constant gossip 24/7 otherwise your celebrity status wont exist. I’d say I have 1&2 down but I still need to get no.3. I’ve seen all the girls here, and none of them interest me. Boring, bossy, b***h. This is my mate Tom!(Aiden sees Tom and chucks the football to him) Tom goes to catch the football (screen freezes – the wingman appears on the screen) Aka my wingman.

 

(As Aiden leaves the voiceover changes to Kate)

 

Voiceover from Kate:

I’m Kate I’m 17 and also in the second year of sixth form. (screen freezes) I’m  the unpopular one. (The unpopular one appears on the screen.) No one knows who I am to be honest. I’m the invisible one without an opinion. At the moment life’s on a loop. Eat, sleep, sixth form, repeat.  Nothing ever happens here. The same faces, same gossip, same bitches. All the girls are clones. Contoured and highlighted.  The only person who would notice if I went missing is Jessica. (Close up on Jessica – (screen freezes – the best friend appears on the screen) She’s been my best friend since primary school.

Scene 3:

Location – the field

 We see Kate and Jessica walking to the sixth form building - there talking. The camera switches to the boys playing football on the field. Kate and Jessica walk past and football hits Kate in the head.

Jessica: What do you have next?

Kate: Media, what do you have?

Shot of the boys playing football- they make the goals out of their bags

Jessica: Law. How long till first period?

Kate: Um (looks at her phone) 3 minutes

Shot of boys playing football – someone scores a goal – shouting and celebrations       

Aiden kicks the ball to Tom but he misses 

Music cuts out fast when Aiden kicks football – silence –

Slow motion of the other players faces as they realise what’s going to happen

And the football hits Kate in the head

There’s a shot of the footballers laughing/shocked – Aiden feels guilty and walks over to help Kate

Kates on the floor rubbing her head

Aiden: are you ok?

we see Kate ignore him and get up.

 

Sound and Music Planning

We have decided to included the sound 'Bad Reputation' by Joan Jett. This song is very upbeat. We choose this song because it is rebellious, this represents teenagers, therefore the audience may be able to relate. It also gives the audience an insight on the characters behaviour/personality. This song is going to play at the beginning, therefore the audience has insight that the film will be light-hearted and upbeat.

 

We will be adding non-diegetic sound of a car engine turning on and the car wheeling screeching, when driving away, this will emphasise that the boy can drive and is traveling, it will add suspense, as the audience wants to know where the protagonist is headed.

 

A non-diegetic bell will be added when the title appears. This helps with the ellipsis as the bell shows him driving away and then the next shot is of the school, the bell helps show the passing of time. The bell also lets the audience suggest that the setting of the film will be in a high school, this setting is very stereotypical for teen angst films.

 

The second song we decided to use in the opening sequence is 'Fireball' by Pitball, this song is also upbeat and fun, the song is quite comedic and helps to add the humour to the scene.

 

We will be including two voiceovers. This will be by the main character 'Aiden and his love interest (later in the film) 'Kate'. This will helps the audience understand their personalities. We decided to also give 'Kate' a voiceover because this shows her opinion other than just the main character.

With the two songs - 'Bad Reputation' and 'Fireball', these songs are quite upbeat and light hearted/calm and 'Fireball' is quite humorous. Based on my research into other Teen Angst films, such as Easy A and Superbad, the music in both of those films are also upbeat and quite chilled out. Superbad also contains quite humorous music which is why we decided to implement this into our opening sequence.

EDIT: Due to copyright we had to change our two songs to different music which was copyright free. The songs that we used still follow the theme of being upbeat and light hearted.

Risk Assessment for Teen Angst Task

Risk -	Probability/Level (Out of 5)-	How to avoid -
Dropping the camera	3	Keep the strap on your wrist or neck at all times.
Slipping over	2	Be more cautious on wet days and watch your step.
Football hit head too hard	1	Don’t throw the ball with much force.
Car	2	Be careful when filming around it e.g. Under the tire
Playing football	2	Don’t slip over, kick it too hard and be careful in wet conditions
Filming near roads	2	Don’t go too near roads while filming things

 

Feedback on our Teen Angst pitch

After our pitch we got some feedback from our class

They said:

·         They liked the fact that our protagonist was a male

·         They liked our transition shots – where the titles come up

·         They liked our production company and logo

 They said we could improve:

·         On how detailed our plot is

·         How the opening starts

·         Which sort of shots we use

Our production company and logo went down very well they liked

·         That the background was a cinema

·         The red stereotypical chairs

·         That our logo appeared on the screen

·         That the font stands out

Teen Angst Pitch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CNGM9IkWLQ

 

Teen Angst Film Titles Annotation

Wild Child - Wild means destructive, reckless and out of control. Because it says child, the immediate thing that comes to your head is a teenager, because they fit the criteria of being 'wild'.

Mean Girls - 'Mean Girls' are a group of people in schools, alongside many other groups. This shows the audience that the film is in a school and involves teenagers. They are usually a group that are not liked by people, meaning there will be conflict/clashing opinions/arguments which stereotypically happens in teenagers lives.

16 Candles - Candles suggests that it is somebody's birthday, and 16 shows that it is someone's 16th birthday. Usually with someone's birthday, a party comes along with it. Partying is stereotypical for teenagers around that age. With many teenagers in the same place at the same time, similar to schools, there is likely to be arguments/conflict and possibly embarrassment.

Superbad - This title can be seen as juxtaposing in a way. This is because the word 'super' is generally used in a positive way, but having 'bad' after it gives it a completely contrasting meaning - This being someone being very bad/mischievous.

A lot of these titles have 'negative' words in them, such as bad, mean and wild. This could show the negatives that teenagers deal with and portrays these in Teen Angst films.

Teen Ansgt Title Sequences

Teen Angst Title Sequences

Juno:
Expectation of film - Coming of age
Music - Folk, upbeat, happy. Positive film - care free, light hearted
The intro is cartoony, everything looks like it's drawn. Fun, children. Associated to a teen audience.
Comic like font, sans serif, different bright colours, fun. Emphasises important actors and name of film
Setting - near shops, park - teenage football team. Gives the impression of a teenage high school.
SunnyD - teenagers and children. Sipping straight from the carton.
Casual clothing, red jacket, jeans, converse

Easy A:
Setting Ojai - California, sunny
High school - everyone looking happy, doing there own thing, other than her
Main character - making jokes, light hearted
Non-diegetic voiceover, humour
Voiceover + music = sound layering
Music, happy, calm, care free
Casual clothing, and smart clothing for teacher - expected
Panning down and tracking at the start
Montage, range of different shots at the start showing the town.
Stereotypical crowds - 'popular' vs 'unpopular' bumping into each other - Shown quite clearly
Students are walking diagonally, titles are placed accordingly

Angus Thong and Perfect Snogging:
Setting - Halloween party, running through the streets, teenagers implies that there will be a school. Bedroom - stereotypical props.
Music - upbeat, positive but the girl is in a bad situation, ironic contrast
Stereotypical groups - misfit and mean girls

Target Audience For Teen Angst Task

Age - 15-18
Location - Western Society - UK, Europe, America. This is because cultures are very similar and other cultures may not understand the concept.
Gender - Both
Income level - Does not matter
Education level - Does not matter
Marital or family status - Very likely to not be married. Have brothers or sisters, may relate to it
Occupation - Supermarket/waiter/waitress
Ethnic background - Does not matter

Personality - Having a sense of humour
Attitudes - Open minded because they will not have seen it before
Values - Friendship, family, relationships
Interests/hobbies - Interested in films
Lifestyles - Balancing education, work and social life. Conflicts between relationships/family/friends
Behaviour - Open to new ideas

Are there enough people that fit my criteria? - Yes, because I feel like my description for my target audience describes a typical person aged around 16-18.

 

Film Company Logos



Film Company Logos

 

DreamWorks Logo: 

 

The main colours consist of violets/purples/blues. These colours connote luxury and sophistication. The colour purple is also rare to see in nature, meaning that it can connote mystery. The picture in the middle is a child sitting on the moon with a fishing rod. The fact that there is a child on the moon connotes that the films they create are imaginative because children are generally imaginative. He is also sitting on the moon which further connotes imagination and mystery. The different shades of blue/purple also connotes night time, which is when people dream. The clouds have moonlight shining onto them, which makes the logo more 'magical' or fantasy-like. The font used is Serif, which connotes that is not serious and more fun and calm.

 

Universal Studios Logo:

 

The image used is a picture of Earth, which connotes that the films that they distribute are shown and enjoyed globally. The background is black, which emphasises the stars, showing that it is in the universe, meaning that Universal Studios could be enjoyed for more things such as high quality and standards of film. The stars also connote celebrities (stars) which again shows that the films they distribute are of a high standard/quality.

20th Century Fox Logo:

The characters "20th Century Fox" are very large, bold and are in a sans serif font. This connotes that they are serious about making films and produce films of a high quality. The colour gold connotes wealth, riches and quality, which implies that a lot of money, time and effort goes in to creating the film in order for it to be of a high standard. This is also further emphasised by the spotlights around the writing. Generally celebrities are associated with being in the spotlight, which is exactly what is around the logo. It implies that well-known actors will be implemented in their films. The purples and blues used in the background, similar to DreamWorks, connotes a rich and relaxing environment. The orange also shows that there might be a sunset, which further connotes that it is relaxing.

 

Take Two Productions Logo:

The two bold T's used around the writing are angled and are bigger, which makes it stand out. Where they meet each other, it under and over lines the writing, and has a film reel sort of effect. This connotes that Take Two are passionate about films. The font is sans serif and the whole logo is black and white. The black and white connotes simplicity, which may connote the style of their films as they are a smaller company. The sans serif font connotes that the films they produce are serious and have a lot of meaning behind them.

 

Disney Logo:

 

Planning The Pleminary Task

To start off, we figured out who was acting and filming. We decided that me and Ivan were acting, and Ben and Callum were filming.

Then, we looked through our storyboard as a basic guideline on what our end product should look like. These also helped us with the placement of the camera in terms of angles, and shots.

In the task, dialogue had to be used, so we decided what we were going to say in the video. We chose to just use a simple conversation to not make the video long-winded or overcomplicate the editing process, or even the actual filming process because we only had 1 hour.

During the filming and editing process, I learnt many things which I think make the video more smooth as well as meeting the task criteria.

Filming - I learnt how to incorporate the 180º rule, where whilst filming, all actors are on the same side which further makes the film flow smoothly and does not make it confusing to watch as an audience, as the actors would be swapping sides if we did not incorporate the 180º rule. I also learnt how to implement shot reverse shot, which was used when two people are having a conversation. We used an over the shoulder and tried to match eyeline, to make it more realistic, and so it shows clearly that the two people are talking to each other.

Editing - I learnt basic editing skills such as using transitions like fade in and out. Other basic skills such as cutting up a video to make the end product able to flow smoothly and making a certain section of the video quieter, because of it being louder than the other segments of the video.

 

 

 

Preliminary Task

Link to mine, Ben, and Callum's Preliminary Task - https://youtu.be/TgIMC4cAO0c

Teen Ansgt Research

Teen Angst research task

Section one: Formulate a list (with dates and directors) of significant teen angst films. Put these together in a timeline and attempt to demonstrate trends or changes in the genre over time.

Grease (1978) (Randal Kleiser)

Footloose (1984) (Herbert Ross)

Sixteen Candles (1984) (John Hughes)

10 Things I Hate About You (1999) (Jil Junger)

Mean Girls (2004) (Mark Waters)

Easy A (2010) (Will Gluck)

A common theme that runs through most of these films is that they are set in schools and have teenagers as the protagonist(s). A clear change that I can see is that the older films such as Grease and Footloose are heavily based around music and dancing. In the, 1980’s rock music was huge and that is why 1984 was a suitable year for Footloose to come out. The newer films, such as Easy A differ to the older Teen Angst films. The newer films have themes such as dealing with relationship problems.

 The newer films also explore much more adult and sexual themes in comparison to the Teenage Angst films in the 70’s and 80’s. For example, the whole plotline for Easy A involves a girl losing her virginity, where she pretends to get with unpopular boys to improve their and her own reputation. Having these types of themes also allow for different types of humour, this maybe could not have been shown in the more musical Teenage Angst films due to the different themes. While the newer films explore more adult themes, many of the older ones do not. Sixteen Candles is an example of this, as the plotline is about a girl who is having a “sweet” sixteenth party and she suffers many embarrassing moments. All of the Teenage Angst films have some sort of comedy in them, which caters to the target audience of teenagers, who wouldn’t want the film to be just serious.

Easy A Opening Sequence

Camerawork - The camerawork right at the beginning uses establishing shots of the area to set the scene. You can see in the first few cuts that the film is taking place in California, Ojai. There is a mid shot of “Ojai North High School” which indicates that this film will take place in a high school. Right after this cut, there is a close up of some old trainers hanging from a tree which could infer some sort of bullying or messing around with someone’s shoes. This could show that the school might not be the best of places for some people. It then pans down to show the school and many people walking by. Every person in that shot seems to look happy and having a good time, which can mean that the film is not going to be a negative film. There is a section where the protagonist is holding books and paper and someone walks into her and they get knocked over. It shows a mid shot of her struggling around on the floor trying to get her books and looking annoyed. This was effective because it shows the audience that this girl doesn’t really have the best time in school, which is what the plot is about and you can infer this straight away. There is also a close up of the protagonist when she is eating food around a friend’s house that she doesn’t like and she pulls a funny facial expression. This gives a clear signal that Easy A will be a humorous film, which fits the Teenage Angst genre.

Sound - All throughout the opening sequence, there is non-diegetic music in the background. The music sounds quite calm and chilled out meaning that this film might also be that way. As soon as the scene has been set, a voiceover starts from the protagonist. She is explaining what the film (her tale) is about and uses a bit of humour to set the tone – “If Google Earth were a guy, he couldn’t find me if I was dressed up as a 10 story building”. This further emphasises the fact that this film shouldn’t be taken too seriously and is humorous. The voiceover shows that the protagonist is narrating over a past event which has happened. She is talking directly to you, rather than to someone else, which might make you feel more involved in the film and makes you know the protagonist better. There is chatter and just general noise in the background, which is what you expect from a school environment. The target audience are teenagers and they will be familiar with this.

Mise-en-scene – The whole of the opening sequence is in high key lighting which sets a positive atmosphere. The only section that isn’t in high key lighting is funny and doesn’t change this positive atmosphere. Everybody who is in the opening section are wearing clothes that you would expect. For example, the students are wearing just casual clothes and the teacher is wearing smart clothes. This is what people expect from a school environment and just makes the film more realistic and believable. Props such as bags and books are used to make everything look like a school environment.

Editing – After the protagonist gets knocked over and her books are on the floor, there is cross cutting between her and her friend to show the different things that are happening. The editing is all quite slow paced, this is because the opening sequence contains a lot of dialogue and I think showing the dialogue like this is useful because it helps on character development early on in the film.

Representation -

The protagonist is made out to be promiscuous. This is because the whole plot which is partly explained in the opening sequence, is to do with losing her virginity. The stereotype is for her to be promiscuous but this is also counter typical because everything that was said were just rumours to try and get a bit of attention and fit in with the crowd. Society’s perception on teenage girls wouldn’t be too great after watching this.