Coursework

Coursework Analysis and Planning - Teen Movie

Task 1:

>Research 3 existing professional-made film openings from the genre you are wanting to make.

ALL HAVE ASPECTS OF TEEN FILM

Edward Scissor Hands (opening scene) -

As the film develops, the audience soon sees that it is more than a Horror - jumping into many
other category's - due to the conventions falling under the Horror, Comedy, Triller and Romance
Genre. However, Edwards Scissor Hands is also a Teen movie as it shows how teens want to
constantly be loved (just like Edward) and shows the teenage romance between him and Kim.
Kim is a senior in high school that goes through changes that transforms the way she thinks
about loving someone polar opposite to her status and personality. She learns to love and care
for someone like Edward who is helpless and goes against the society by daring to help him

fit in.

During the Opening scene of Edward Scissor Hands, the director (Tim Burton) shows that the
opening titles start with a blue and eerie light. He tries to 

create a supernatural and ghostly

tone implying to the audience that this will be some sort of Horror film. The blue lights

illustrates
connotations of loneliness, helplessness and isolation. This makes the audience think that who
ever we are first introduced to, is depressed due to how deserted and lonesome the character is
feeling. This further implies that the character is all alone - meaning no family, friends or

company. Also, snow is falling outside showing majestic lighting. The lighting used

demonstrates a dream like state which romanticizes the area outside. Tim Burton used this to

foreshadow that 2 characters relationship may develop over time. The lighting used also makes

the reader think of angelic features -again showing how magical and majestic Christmas is.

 The camera zooms out from the dark view and colours, showing the film changing to oranges and reds which demonstrates a warm safe tone, showing friendly and inviting kindness, showing the audience they can trust the character that is about to be shown. The contrast of colours between the suburban neighbourhood and Edward’s mansion immediately hints at the vast differences between the two worlds that are about to collide: Edward’s isolated and reclusive life vs. suburbia’s gossip-filled, flamboyant and extroverted atmosphere. The scene is zoomed out of an shown through the window of a warm friendly home, showing the juxtaposition between the two scenarios. The old lady is talking to the young girl about the story of Edward Scissorhands therefore all these techniques that have been used to create a dreamy and perfect world could all be the imaginative state in the little girls mind, this is why maybe things are exaggerated and more bold such as the shapes in Edward Scissorhands garden.

Tim Burton chooses the setting in the opening scene to be a traditional 18th century horror mansion with jagged architectural designs. The fact that there is jagged architectural designs implies how desolated and out of keeping Edward might be. A horror mansion was chosen to clearly show the genre at the beginning and grip the younger audience, as a giant spooky mansion is exciting. 

When we first meet Edward, his costume and makeup reflected his character’s personality. His costume consisted of a black leather jumpsuit and very pale makeup, which matched his quiet and isolated nature. His face was covered in scars, which was the result of living with his razor-sharp, scissor fingers. These scars also reflected Edward’s wounded personality.
The music is airy and mysterious and almost mystical, - again emphasizing the genre yet foreshadowing a magical element of the film.

Edward scissor hands is a continuous string / montage or short clips showing us around the mansion. 

Submarine (opening scene) -

The bedroom in the opening sequence allows us, as an audience, to gain insight into the character of Oliver Tate. This is done through the use of mise-en-scene. Richard Ayoade experiments in the opening sequence, potentially taking advantage of the "teenage boy room" and tries to reveal to the audience what kind of character Oliver may be.

To begin with, the scene starts with a Blue back ground, with white letters sparsely dotted. This connotates the title "submarine" as the ocean is blue and white. 

In the opening bedroom scene, Richard Ayoade shows - in the first shot-  the lighting to be very lowkey and mellow, which shows warmth and gives a homely feeling. This makes the audience suggest that Oliver is friendly and also that Oliver feels comfortable in his room. 

The walls are full of photographs and pictures, which symbolises a nostalgic atmosphere. The skeleton and tripod gives his character a new depth suggesting that he has a interest in science and film, this goes against the stereotypical teenager, who usually dislikes work and is lazy. The rest of his bedroom, appears to be organised and tidy, this frame shows us a more cluttered arrangement. This could, foreshadow his character to have a ‘clean’ mind but shares an aspect of confusion.  The use of the type writer tells us the time period it is set in, possibly the late 80’s.The books and posters on the wall indicate an intellectual and creative personality – and we begin to recognise his age before we have met him, possibly as a growing teenager.

The character expression and movement of Oliver being in the corner of the shot, shows how out of place he may feel and that he's an outsider. The blue light on his face shows what the weather and light outside is like (dark, gloomy day,) this may contrast his thoughts and feelings.

This scene shows how isolated the house is, this may symbolise Oliver (him being the house,

away from others.)

                                           

Oliver Tate delivers self-aware narration which highlights the genre of the film as its a troubled teen talking. As the audience were more engaged as we are hearing his thoughts, which he may not be comfortable with saying aloud for others to hear. 

The scene has a vary of setting shots which shortly follow his dialogue.

Attack the block (opening scene) - 

We start with a shot of space. Camera tilts down to a long shot of a tube station. Night. Fireworks are going off. The tilt in the camera, like a human head looking up at the fireworks and down at people reactions. Shows that its November 5th tends to be cold and dark. The scenes set in London – busy, capital, lots of big brands. Camera pans left, showing Sam leaving the brightly lit tube station. She is on the phone. A wide shot to show that the market is busy, and she feels safe surrounded by people and light. The lights shining on her to emphasize the facts that she’s the main character.

Sam turns down a dark alley. She stops as she sees something ahead of her. Mid shot to show her emotion and shock and to show what may come up next. Also, to show she’s alone and how isolated she is meaning she could feel unsafe. It also shows more mise-en-scene like her hair and makeup, costume and props ect.

We see a gang of youths, dressed in street clothes with hoods covering their faces. The fact that Moses has stepped forward shows that he’s the main character and shows that he’s not shy and more confident.

He’s also covering his faces, showing that there’s an element of mysteriousness and mystery about him.

Moses takes Sam’s phone, wallet and ring. He then pushes her to the ground. The shot shows the difference between the two people. It also shows the difference between the two people (how he’s dressed in dark clothes and she’s dressed in bright clothes)

>Research 3 existing student-made film openings from the genre you are wanting to make.

AVA - Award winning student made film

The opening of this student made film starts with a close up pan of the props laying on the desk, before revealing to the audience the setting (a library). 
We - as an audience - can tell from the props being used that the character has a love for computes (considering there is a silver photo frame - silver implies the computer is a star and he is very proud - of him and his computer). This implies the character will be nerd like. The costume of all yellow also shows he is abit different from others - as yellow isn't a typical colour people tend to wear. The glasses connotates to nerdy and smart personality. The character expression and movement shown is that he is focused. This is obvious to see when he is tapping rapidly on his keyboard and ignoring the voicemail - playing over the top of the video. 
In my opinion, it is unclear to the audience if the voicemail playing over the top is diagetic or non-diegetic.
The artificial lighting is bright - suggesting the character is bright minded and quite smart. 
However, the props also include post notes of girls names and numbers, with a dialogue of a voice message - after the main character has obviously left for the phone to go to voicemail. This plays to Levi - Strauss' binary opposites theory. However the main character is contrasting himself and the audience wouldn't typically put the idea of being a "lady's man" and nerd together. It goes against the idea of him being a stereo typical nerd. 

Lullaby

In the first few seconds of this opening scene, the camera is unfocused to represent a concussed feeling. Its very blurry to create suspense. The fast paced footprints and non diegetic music ,makes the audience wonder what's going on and why someone is running. The location is the woods to show its a horror. The flashlight used (prop) represents hope through the dark. The character expression and movement (slight smirk, eyes frowned) shows confusion and a slight source of evil. The costume is a white long dress - showing innocents,

Task 2:

Production Title: Typical

> Location recces

Wymondham high school corridor and bathroom 
10 minutes away from home 
The corridor is a long corridor - perfect for under a minute of walking. The school will be quiet due to filming when no children will be around. The corridors are rather wide - which means there will be an echo- however I want an echo from the clicks of the heels (drawing attention to her so the audience know she is the main character.) 
The bathroom is also on the same corridor, so the main girl would have to turn and enter through the door. This is ideal due to the audience seeing the setting of the school.

Idea generation

I thought of this idea through Brain storming and having inspiration from the movie 'Mean Girls.' I enjoy the teen movie genre.

The school has covid posters up. However, for my film i will take them down as my films aesthetic is set in the 2000. 

This is the corridor which the MAIN GIRL will walk down. There are lockers to the side, which one of the characters will be places in order for the audience to get an insight of the setting and what kind of environment the school and teenage life is about. 

 This is the very start of the show, where the title will come up. The audience will see people walk out holding books and chatting, watching the girl and getting out of her way as she walks past. The books and folders show the audience that it is a school, assuming the genre is a teen film. 

 Later when the MAIN GIRL completes the corridor journey, she will turn the corner sassily and do a hair flick and sweet turn. She then meets the bathroom which is where the start of the story unravels. I have put an arrow to show where this happens. 

 This is the bathroom door leading into the bathroom. The camrea will shoot her walking in, and then switch to the other side of the door. 

These are shots of the bathroom from different angles. 

This is the bathroom stall i will be using. However I will tidy it up to make it look cleaner and write on the walls to show the reality (Stuart hall reflection of reality theory) 

>Character profiles

I will be using the stereotypical 'popular' girl and portray her how they're shown in 2000 movies, such a mean girls, clueless and wild child. My look is based off these characters;

What my film is about...

My character soon finds out she is pregnant teen after taking a pregnancy test in the school toilet. This is something you would not expect from this character as her whole life she has been known as 'daddys perfect little girl', and under her parents eyes, she would act perfect. But at school she is known as the popular mean girl who thinks she is the best person and everyone is beneath her - which is what she treats them like. Soon she is taken by when her first interaction with a boy, leads to a pregnancy. 

>Casting justifications

The girl im using for my character is Ava Carrara, She is blonde -which fits my ideal character for this opening perfectly. Ava also has blue eyes - which typically is the beauty standard and what is considered 'the perfect look'

Ava also has a certain body type - which is typically used in American films to show the male gaze theory. The theory suggests that the male gaze denies woman's identity. I want ava to play this role for the 2 minute opening to be the most coming of age and stereotypical opening possible. Ava is 16 - fitting the age of her character.

 

For girl 1, i am using poppy walker to reflect the reality (Daniel chandlers reflection theory) of high school, and how the majority of students are different. Poppy shows how school is a place full of diversity. I have also used Poppy as she is an extremely pretty girl and suits the colour purple very well - that’s what colour I want her to wear during the bathroom scene. My inspiration for Poppy is Gretchen Wiener. Poppy also has good character expression and movement when showing she is annoyed - she is good at rolling her eyes and acting sassy. (poppy takes drama - hence why she is good at acting.) I am also using Poppy because her body type is similar to Ava’s. Poppy is 16 - fitting the age of her character. I know she is comfortable on camera due to her confidence on a social media platform which she has that consists of creating short videos (to express herself and entertain) - Tiktok and Instagram. Poppy creates short videos on both Tiktok and Instagram to entertain followers - showing she is comfortable and doesn't shy away from a camera. 

 

For Girl 2, i am using Rebekah Butler to reflect the realism of high school (Daniel chandlers reflection theory.) Rebekah has red hair - which shows the diversity of high school that everyone is different (considering red hair isn’t a common thing to have.) My inspiration for Rebekah is Cady Heron. Rebekah is also a pretty girl - hence why I’ve picked her to be in my film opening (reflecting the ascetic of how teen movies were made and stared pretty girls) Rebekah is 16 - fitting the age of her character.

>Props list

- handbags (shows teenage girl culture)
-lip gloss (girly props - makes the audience see what kind of characters the different girtls are based on what lip glosses / colours the different characters have) 
-lip stick (replacement for lip gloss, older girls wearing this to show maturity)
-books (different subjects)
- folders 
- basketball (I've included a basketball to make the atheistic of the film seem American style)
- pencil case 

>Costume list 

MAIN GIRL

- pink chequered skirt 
- white socks 
-white heels
-pink blazer
- white polo shirt
- pink headband 

GIRL 1

- white nike trainers 
- high white socks
- purple skirt 
- white polo shirt 
- pink cardigan (same colour as skirt)
- purple headband 

GIRL 2

- black doc martins 
- fishnets 
- red skirt 
- cream polo shirt
- red cardigan 
- white headband

BOY (displayed as sporty)

- red basketball shorts
- white pants on show
- red basketball vest sports top 
- red sweat band

GIRL (displayed as  nerdy)

- yellow jumper 
- black leggings 
- glasses
- yellow scrunchies

GIRL 1 GOSSIPING (mature older girl)

-black fishnet tights

-chequered red skirt

-black oversized shirt

-black high rise doc martin shoes

black headband

GIRL 2 GOSSIPING (mature older girl)

-green mini dress

- black belt tied in middle of dress

- black long blouse

- thigh high boots black

Task 2.1:

>Story board

>Script

                                       

There will be no dialogue. Just music and words will be shown through character expression and movement, until the very end in the last scene. 

Lockdown Video

 Lockdown Video 

TOAST VIDEO

 

spirited away

what i think a coming of age film is, a film that puts a view pont on a certain timing, showing a growth and maturatiy from charaters throughout the film- usually youth to adult. It usually ends with characters learning something new 

what google says; In film, coming of age is a genre of teen films. Coming-of-age films focus on the psychological and moral growth or transition of a protagonist from youth to adulthood. Personal growth and change is an important characteristic of this genre, which relies on dialogue and emotional responses, rather than action.

5 coming of age films:
mean girls
grease
the breakfast club
sixteen candles
dirty dancing 

Mean girls is a coming of age film as it follows Cadys experences throughout highschool, (growing from a youth into adulthood) The protagonist Cady is represpented as inquisitive - as shes new - and easy considereing she gets bossed around by Janice and Regina, but also sneaky in what she does to try and sabotage Reginas life. 

Spirited away is a coming of age movie (but its not the typicalt one with partys, alcohol and drugs) as it tracks and follows the growth - not only in age but confidence and skills - of the main character. Chirho also faces her fears throughout the film. The character processes and learns new things in the film. Its also about love and friendship, aswell as trust.
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The director blends realism and fantasy by letting the reader know they, too, are “in on it,” which was what the director tried to do when describing the delusion. The writer can help his audience “suspend disbelief” by going into the fantasy entirely. Everything is seen through the non-real lens, so the reader trusts the writer to stay-with-it. The writer creates an alternate reality or dreamscape (Alice in Wonderland), one that takes up the largest part of the book.The storyline is set in the real world, but infused with non-real aspects.

Chihior learns how to have more courage and face her fears. Shes learns to not take advantage of things - eg her parents - and to listen more. She also learns to take more care and be cautious, but also be brave. 

Chihiro constantly is struggling to find her own way by herself, and relies on others to help and guide the way. She struggles to make friends at first, but people soon see the good side of her, despite being different. 

A love story is presented in Spirited away, not only between chihiro and Haku - forming a very strong friendship or bond, but also between different charaters, such as the witch and her baby, Chihiros monster and the "evil" witch, plus many more.

Be yourself and be brave as you wwill aslways have good people around to support you.

The erdely are stereotypically seen as weak and feeble, mostly mean and evil- typically in fairlytales (as no one expects a little old erson to be the bad guy) or either very lovely and wouldnt seem to hurt a fly.

Kamaji didnt want anything to do with chihiro at the start, but then he saw sense and helped her out.
Yubaba is very powerful and is mean and controlling - wicked
Akio is a nice person who is very curious but cant seem to take responsibility
Yuko acted cold at first, but soon turned around and ated as a friend 
Zeniba was mean at first, but the audiences prespected changed when chihiro went to go and visit

At the start of the mocie, Zeniba is represented as mean and angry. This can be seen whe she uses dramatic actions and creates a big scene, the dialogue also proves this. In the scene when we first see her, she conforms to the stereo type of being cold and heartless, however towards the end of the movie, we see that she has chnaged when in a much calmer atmosphere.

Yubaba is controlling and quite selfish. She took away Hakus freedom so she could have her own servant. however, we do see the soft side to her when looking after her baby. She is still controling when it comes to him, and doesnt let him leave her sight. I think Yubabas loss of selfcontrol is a metaphor that power can get to your head, and as shes not very well liked (people HAVE to like her as shes in control) that she seaks love - as most of its fake, and thats why she has to control everything and force people close to her. 

“The ending of Slumdog Millionaire is powerful; for the narrative, the characters and the audience.”

•Respond to this statement with your opinions, supporting your ideas with evidence from the narrative and the film form. Such as, how the ending concludes a number of narrative structures, including the equilibrium theory, binary oppositions and the enigma theory and evaluate how these conclusions contribute to making the end powerful [15]

The ending of slumdog millionaire is very powerful for the narrative as it was a doomed love story from the begining, (which you wouldnt expect from a hollywood film.) The two lovers - Jamal and Latika - are both from unforchanate backgrounds where they lived in slums most there life and didnt have much money. Jamal goes onto win lots of money when applying to be on "who wants to be a millionaire" in hope of reaching out to Latika and finally finding her after searching for years. 
Slumdog milllonaire uses a circular narrative, meaning it starts at the end, the flashes back to recap events throughout the film. The narrative of the story is dominant as (Danny Boyle) concudes three story lines through out the film. Jamal getting forcefully questioned and interrigated by the police - as they think he was cheating on the show "who wants to be a millionaire."  Jamal trying to win the money on the show, and Jamals life story - the events that lead him to knowing the answers of the questions. This stratagy is powerful for the audience as it always shows different things at different times, making it more engaging. all of the story lines (known as the 3 strands) follow Todorovs theory as all the story lines are linear. Theyre just not presented in a linear order. Flash backs also show us the difference between the situations and how Jamal dealt them all. It makes us aware of the type of character he is and shows us what type of person he’s become through all his life decisions.    
The endings powerful for the charaters as it shows Binary opposites between Jamal and Salim (the two brothers.) Jamal displayed as good whereas salim is bad. The audience is constantly reminded that salim is bad due to his actions of greed throughout the film. however, towards the end the audience learn that salim has changed and sarcrificed himself so jamal and Latika could fine eachother, end up together and live happily ever after. 
The enigma theory is applied constantly throughout the film, however its hghlighted in the opening scene the most. When we question: 
 Who are those people? 

Why is he in that situation? 

What has he done that’s so bad? 

What’s going on? 

  

Slumdog millionaire is a powerful film with a powerful ending due to the audince not being as familiar with a bollywood style film. despite Jamals and Latikas love romance to be doomed from the start, this only makes the audince went them to end up together even more than usual - hence it being a "typical hollywood romance" in a setting we were more familar with. I think that slumdog millionaires ending is powerful because -even though we expect the main characters (that we are all rooting for) to end up together, its not cliche in the slightest, and they had to go through alot of horrifying things to be together - unlike most hollywood films.

Slumdog Millionaire context

Mumbai is a city that faces many challenges and those challenges are large because of its immense size and rapid growth. Each year thousands of people move to the city of Mumbai from rural areas. People who move think that they will have a better quality of life. However, cities such as Mumbai face lots of challenges, and the people who move there do not always have a better quality of life. Not a drop of sewage in Mumbai is treated today before it goes to the sea. In the next 3 to 4 years we will treat every single drop of sewage in Mumbai. Mumbai suburban railway transports 7 million people
a day today. In the past two years, we have planned 200 kms of metro work, started work on 120 km and all 200 kms will be ready for use by 2022. This can carry 9 million passengers.

‘The city offers sanctuary by night, before becoming a vibrant colour palette of all life’s hues by day. The sea gleams with hundreds of little suns reflecting off the tops of its modest waves, children run out of school pell-mell with their bright plastic slippers and their uniforms in disarray. Vendors move across the metropolis, making sure that all the cogs in this old machine are well-oiled, their saris and dhotis bright in the midday sun.’ —Ambarin Afsar

Mumbai is good for business, if you have the know-how. And also mischief! It is really a city about money.’—Afzal