Holiday Task: Write up of a Teen Movie

21 Jump Street.

Is a story that follows Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill's characters from high school into their early police careers.

Channing's character Jenko is stereotypical a 'jock' who through the whole of Jonah's character Schmidt's, high school life bullied him.

However, 7 years later when they both join the same police squad it turns out that they will need to rely on each others strengths to get through the course. They are paired up as partners for park duty - they thought police duties would be more exciting. When Chaning arrests one of the most wanted drug dealers in the area they think they have found their big break as policemen but he fails to recite the Miranda rights to the suspect and the case then falls through. The pair are sent to a police retraining course at 21 Jump Street. As a result of this they are sent undercover students in a local high school. Their cover story is that they are brothers who are new to the area. However they immediately come under attack and suspicions are raised by some of the other students as they have started a new school with only 30 days to go before the summer break.



Two pair on their police duties at the park

After taking the drugs - to prove they are actual students within the school

After joining at the they must begin to prove themselves to be students and not uncover police officer's if they wish to find out who they ring leader of the drugs gang is.

However, the tables are turned and just like Jenko was the popular one back in high school, Schmidt finds himself amongst the popular crowd this time with, Jenko spending most of his time with the 'nerds' .

This movie contains many binary oppositions, such as : Teens vs. Authority (in this case all three, legal, parental and educational)

Cool kids vs. The Nerds

etc...

Reflection Post

At this point, I realise that I am a bit behind everyone else with my blogging. There are several individual tasks that I still haven't started or completed, so over the Christmas holidays, I'm going to ensure that I catch up with all my work as I have realised I cannot get the marks I want, if I don't put the time or effort into my blog.  So, I will do all the necessary posts along with some extra ones like this.

Creation of our own stereotype

In our lesson today we watched the film 'Not Another Teen Movie'. This familiarised us with all the different stereotypes in teen movies.

As you can see in this picture the slut is dressed in a cheer leading uniform with a short skirt and a crop top which is very revealing. She is in the middle of picture, this draws a lot of attention to her. Her pose is quite sexually as she is sticking her bum out and pouting. Another example of films you would find a character like this would be Mean Girls, American Pie and Wild Child.

The jocks are usually dressed in baseball jacket who are fit and healthy and who are the 'eye candy' for the girls.

Representation Task: The Slut

 

We created another stereotype of the 'Slut'. We thought it would be quite funny for Shahed to portray this stereotype. It is stereotypical for the 'slut' to have big boobs as they like to attract and grab attention from the opposite sex. Also Shahed's face is slightly faced up to suggest power and very often the 'slut' believes she is better than everybody else.

Representation Task: The Jock

In lesson today we created the stereotype of the 'Jock'. After looking at stereotypes in teen movies we noticed that the jock is normally quite muscular. So we stuffed Shahed's jacket with paper to make it appear that he has bigger shoulders and arms. Also we found that the 'jock' wore a baseball jacket in most films so Shahed also wore one.

           Stereotypes

• Baseball jacket 
• Large
• Bully
• Hot
• Chick magnet
• Athlete 
• Dumb
• Fit/healthy 

Analysis of a teen movie - The Breakfast Club

This film covered every serious topic that a high school student has pondered upon in a stereotypical teen movie: sex, social stratification tobacco use, parental frustration, marijuana and even suicide.The films starts with an unlikely group of teenagers bound together by collegiate authority in Saturday detention. each member of the circle bring different aspect of high school life to light. The breakfast club consists of 5 members: the athlete, the brain, the princess, the basket case, and the criminal. Although very distinctive character traits, I feel that every high school student could relate to certain aspects of at least one character.

Characters

The Athlete



The Brain


The Princess


The Basket Case



The Criminal

Homework: Write up of a teen movie

http://prezi.com/b7t0ua72y3k7/present/?auth_key=71y274m&follow=sfeimlkroqiz&kw=present-b7t0ua72y3k7&rc=ref-66600415

Hoilday task - Analysis of the teen movie: Easy A

Easy A is typically teen movie aimed at 12 and over; the film was released in 2010 and produced by Screen Gems. In the opening scene it starts off with non-diegetic upbeat and moving music. A tilt is used from the sky down to various snaps of the local town, the Ojai sign and the American flag. Then we see a close up of the 'Ojai North High School' sign which automatically tells the audience that the film is set in a school. Also the audience is shown a close up of a pair of shoes hanging off a tree, this could suggest that the students a rebellious and school isn't very strict. A sound effect is added of a school bell, along with the title sequence introducing the actors. In the next scene we're shown the whole school in a point of view shot and we see loads of students walking around, this makes it more believable that it is a school environment. During this there is a voice over of a girl telling her story and her position at Ojai North. The director uses a a track movement shot to show all the different subcultures at the school.The first time we binary opposition is between teachers and students. The characters are all dressed to their part, the students all look young and are dress accordingly to how young people are dressed and the teachers are dressed more smartly so it is easy to tell them apart. The director also uses a flashback to give us an insight of why the girl doesn't want to go on a camping trip with her friend and her family. In the next scene the director speeded up the paced to show how fast rumours speed in high school and it also shows everyone talking about the rumour or receiving a text about it.

The Bling Ring

The Bling Ring

In this lesson we watched the film called the Bling Ring. It is a film about a group of fame-obsessed teenagers who use the internet to track celebrities whereabouts in order to rob their houses. We watched this movie so that we could find out about the conventions and stereotypes of teen movies.The opening of the film is not conventional because there are flash forwards used to show the ending of the film before it has even started. You rarely see this being used in teen movies.  In the opening of the film a photo montage was used to show the viewer what the film will be about. The photo montage included photos of celebrities,parties, clothes and each of their Facebook pages. Also in the opening we see the title of the movie and the main characters are introduced, In this film Emma Watson starts as Nicki. Emma Watson is idealised by many young teenage girls and because of this they would go to watch this film. In this film there are many conventions which are seen through many teen movies. 

Teen vs Authority 

In the film there was always conflict between the teenagers and authority. The teenagers went against the law and robed the houses of celebrities. This showed that they did not respect nor listen to the authority.

Poor vs Rich 

The way that the teenagers are dressed is very casual in just jeans and t-shirts whereas the celebrities in the movie are dressed in designer clothes and  expensive accessories. This shows the difference between the normal teenagers and the famous celebrities. 

The Bling Ring

Today in class we watched the teen film 'The Bling Ring' (2013) which is a story based on actual events, it follows a group of friends who are 'fame obsessed' as they take their obsession one step to far by deciding to break into their favourite celebrities houses. The film stars Emma Watson as 'Nicki' and even Paris Hilton, one of the actual targeted celebrities in the real burglaries.



Bling Ring

The bling ring is about a group celebrity-fixated L.A teens who burgle the homes of the rich and famous. The director of this crime drama is sofia coppola who made this movie inspired by actual events.The members of bling ring begin to take greater risk to acquire the latest luxury brands. They become the prisoners of their ostentatious obsession. The film stars Emma Watson, Taissa Farmiga, Leslie Mann, and Israel Broussard.

Bling Ring

In lesson we watched the film 'The Bling Ring' it is a teen drama. The film is about  a group of fame-obsessed teenagers who use the internet to track celebrities' whereabouts in order to rob their homes. They live the lavish lifestyle with celebrities money and assets and eventually get caught for crime they have committed. To a certain degree they follow the teenage stereotype as they like to party. There is binary opposition between the teens and authority, also between the teens and the parents.

Teen film storylines

Ferris Bueller's day off
High school student Ferris Bueller decides to take a day off by acting like he is on the verge of death. He fools his parents into thinking that he is actually feeling sick and then invites his friend over, who is actually sick, so they can enjoy their special day off.


10 things I hate about you
Cameron James, the new kid, is given a tour of the school by Michael Eckman. Cameron then sees this beautiful girl and falls in love with her like love at first sight.


Romeo and Juliet
The scene opens with the Montague boys acting wild in their bright cars and stop by the gas station to pick up gas. The Capulet boys then arrive at the same gas station and cause a chaos because of their family rivalry.


Princess diaries
Mia Thermopolis is a 15 year old 10th grade private high school student who lives with her mother Helen thermopolis. In the opening scene it shows her journey to school on an daily basis.

Storyline, Openings and Binary Oppositions

Examples of binary oppositions

Rich vs Poor

Hot vs Ugly

Happy vs Angry

Casual vs sophisticated

Cool vs Nerd

Fake vs Reality

Dark vs Light

Home life vs School life

Teacher vs Student

Parent vs child

Royalty vs non royal

Sister vs Brother

Boring vs interesting

Old vs young

Pop vs Punk

Black vs Colourful

Scared vs Brave

Capulet vs Montague

Hawaiian shirts vs sharp suits

None religious vs Religious

Examples of binary opposition

The binary oppositions in most teen films are:

Rivalry against brothers and sisters

Home life vs school life

Interesting vs boring

gloomy music vs Hawaiian music

Cool vs nerd

Old vs young

Rich vs poor

Hot vs ugly

Pop music vs Punk music

Happy vs Unhappy

Latin American vs White American

Hawaiian shirts vs Sharp suits

Casual vs Sophisticated

Religious vs non religious

Cowboys vs punk

Peace vs Quaral

Popular vs unpopular

Casual vs uniform

Confident vs nervous

Royalty vs unroyalty

Dark vs light

Black vs colourfull

Storylines, plots and Binary

Storylines in teen movies:




The most common and typical storyline found in teen movies, are generally about two teenagers, normally and a boy and a girl who meet in a high school setting or at a party, they begin to date and fall in love, however something always tends to go wrong or not to plan, disrupting the narrative mid way through. By the end of most of the films, the couple are normally back together where everyone in the narrative is happy..


In this lesson we learnt about plots and binary oppositions that are in most teen movies. Binary oppositions are used in the four technical elements of filming: Mise-en-Scene, Editing, Sound and Camera (angles/shots).


The most popular binary oppositions in teen films that I found were:

Teens vs. Authority (whether it is parental, educational or law enforced) - at some point in every teen movie one of the main characters if not more will have a clash with some form of authority.

The next was Pretty vs. Ugly or 'The New Kid' vs. 'The Cool Kid(s)' - this is because a new arrival in a plotline completely disrupts the narrative. For example: there may be a new girl that starts half way through the term and cannot fit into any of the formed 'Cliques' as she may not be nerdy or smart enough for the nerds however the cool/pretty/popular people may think that she might not be up to there standards.

This was the poster for 'Mean Girls', immediately you can see the contrast between the formed 'clique' of the pretty and popular girls and how their body language and dress sense differs to the 'new girl' who isn't classed a popular or as pretty

Storylines ,plot and binary oppositions?

Story lines:

The typical story line includes at least 2 teenagers, and other adults. The most common plots are about teenagers who fall in love in a high school and what happens during and after the relationship.There is always the best friends of the couple who are there for support.

In this lesson we learnt about story lines and plots which are used in teen movies. We then analysed how binary oppositions are set up through the four technical areas which are mise en scene,editing, sound and camera. These are the main binary oppositions which I found:

Popular vs Not Popular

I watched the film called The Princess Diaries to find out that in the school there was the main popular group of cheerleaders and football players and then there was the less popular group of the geeks and mechanics.

These binary oppositions were represented by the clothes that they wear with the popular cheerleaders always wearing skirts and dresses and the geeks wearing jeans and trainers. 

Pretty vs Ugly

I watched the film 10 Things I hate about you to find out about all the different binary oppositions in the film. The main one that I found was pretty vs ugly. One of the sisters was seen as being ugly because of the way that she dressed and the other sister was seen as pretty and the girl that all the boys wanted to be with.

Genre and convention

Genre and Convention

Teen Movies is a film genre that is mainly targeted at teenagers and young adults. Most teens movies are set in an educational system/environment such as a school, college or university, the settings are key as they to help immediately relate the film to the teenagers watching. The audiences may be able to relate to specific parts of the plot and therefore most plots of teen films are very straight forward and sometimes predictable. Key themes within teen films may be: first loves, break ups and rebellion/conflicts with parents, authority and other characters such as friends.

Common Sub Genres found in Teen Movies:

Romance

Fantasy

Horror

Thriller

Comedy

Drama

Most teen movies will include certain aspects from more than one sub genre to broaden their fan base/audience, as some sub genres will appeal more to girls and women whereas, others may relate more to boys and men.

Genre and Convention

Task 2: Analysis of 3 teen movies with different audiences

Task 2: Research Homework

Task 2:

Mean Girls

The target audience for this movie is teenager girls from the age of 13 and over. It is an American teen comedy about a group of girls called the Plastics who run the school. So when the new girl Cady starts school she becomes one of the Plastics. This film appeals to a specific audience of teenager girls from the age of 13, This is because the film is all about the life of a teenager girl. A lot of girls would be able to relate to Cady's situation so this is the reason why they might watch it.

The Inbetweeners 

The target audience for this film is teenager boys from the age of 13 and over.It is a comedy movie based on the E4 sitcom The Inbetweeners.The film is about four 18 year olds from the south of England who go on holiday to Malia. The movie appeals to teenager boys because it is a comedy,This attracts a lot of viewers.

The Hunger Games

The target audience for this movie is teenagers from the age of 11. It is an adventure film which follows the journey of children who compete in the Hunger Games every year.The Hunger Games is a televised fight to the death in which two teenagers from each of the twelve Districts of Panem are chosen at random to compete. The stars of the movie are Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth, A lot of teenagers would go to see this film because of these two actors. They are both very famous actors which means that teenagers would go to watch this film because of them. This film appeals to teenagers because it is thrilling and an adventure which teenagers will enjoy watching.

Task2 research: Analysis of 3 teen movies with different audiences

 Twilight

The genre of this film is romance, fantasy and drama. This movie would appeal more to a female base because it is about love and they could be attracted to the males. Also males may like this film because they may be attracted to the female characters and they might like the whole vampire/ werewolf adventure. There are well known stars in this movie such as Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner and Kristen Stewart. This storyline in particular could appeal to anyone because children/ teenagers could look up to the characters and see them as a role model or adults could relate because they've been in similar situations in terms of being in love. The setting of the film would appeal more to a teenage audience because it is set in a high school.

 

High school musical

The genre of this film is comedy, family and drama. High school musical is a stereotypical high school set in America. It is a musical so it includes a soundtrack of songs from the movie. The storyline appeals more to a female audience because of the musical side however some boys may like it and could relate to the basketball players. The main stars in this film is Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens who are the two main characters. The storyline would appeal more to a teenage audience because the film is set in a high school, also they talk about going to college and teenage relationship issue so teenagers could identify with the characters. 

Prom night 

The genre of this film is Horror, mystery and thriller.This movie would appeal to both genders because we see the prom night from both perspectives. one of the stars is Jessica Stroup from 90210. The story line would appeal to a wide audience because young teenagers could inspire to be like the characters on their prom night. Then teenagers who are going through the same issues as them could identify with them. Also adults may like this because it brings back memories to when they had their prom. This film could also appeal to people that like horror film. The setting of this film would appeal more to a teenage audience because it is school related.

Task 2: Analysis of 3 Teen Movies

Romance

 

Love and Basketball (2000) written and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, is about two characters Quincy (Omar Epps) and Monica (Sanaa Lathan) who meet in 1981 when Monica's family move into the house next door, both Monica and  Quincy are only 11years old and have dreams to be in the NBA. seem to have a very strong love/hate relationship which lasts throughout their high school years. They eventually become a couple but as Quincy's relationship with his dad deteriorates so does his relationship with Monica. After years of being separated and of pro-basketball they find their way back to each other.

  

This film has a wide audience range as the relationship and romantic aspects entice female audiences and the main theme of sport encourages more boys and men to watch the film. The films main themes are: romance, relationships, sports and determination.  

 

Thriller/Drama

 

Drag Me To Hell (2009) written and directed by Sami Raime and co-written by Ivan Raime, follows the main character Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) who is  young loan officer trying to prove herself so she can be promoted, but when her boss tells her it's between her and her fellow colleague, she must prove that she can make tough decisions. So when an old lady  comes to ask for her third extension on her mortgage she says no, the old woman then claims that Christine has shamed her and gets revenge by putting a curse upon her. Christine has three days before the demon comes for her, but is tormented up until that point.

 

 

 Comedy

Haunted House (2013)  written and co-written by Marlon Wayans and Rick Alvarez and directed by Michael Tiddes. Is  a spoof movie based around the Paranormal Activity movies along with other films like The Devil Inside, its about a couple Malcolm (Marlon Wayans) and Kisha (Essence Atkins) who move into a haunted house and decide to record the activity of the 'ghost' around the house and when they're sleeping.

 

The movie appeals to any audiences that have seen Paranormal Activity or any of the other films that are  'featured' in this; if someone is  fan of the Wayans Brothers they may find that they are interested in this.

Audience task 1: Interviews with audience members edited in camtasia

This is our Teen Movie research video. We went around the college and interviewed different people asking them questions about Teen Movies, here were some of the questions they were asked:

What is your favourite teen movie(s)?

What do you like/dislike about this specific type of film?

Who are your favourite teen movie character(s)?

What is your favourite teen movie genre?

We interviewed students and teachers so we got a variation of responses from all people we interviewed. We then uploaded the video and edited all of the interviews together to make a video.

Genre and Convention:

Teen films is a film genre targeted at teenagers in which the plot is based upon the interests of teenagers such as first love,coming of age and conflict with parents. Teen films are aimed at teenagers from the age of 11 and over. Love and comedy are the most common sub genres used in teen films.

Conventional Themes:

Some conventional themes which are widely used in teen films are love, conflict with authority and crime. 

Conventional locations:

The most common location which is used in teen films is the high school.

Conventional characters: 

Some convention characters seen in teen movies are the jocks, the princess, the geeks, the popular group and the not popular group.