Soundtrack And Other Music Ideas

I have been going through a lot of music on CD's and on YouTube to find a song or tune that will fit in my scene nicely and also reflect the theme of my opening sequence. I have found a few songs on YouTube that I am considering using in my opening scene.

Alter Ego by Clique Girls

Alter Ego is about a girl that has two sides to her personality, much like the character in my opening sequence.This song is called Alter Ego which is the name of my film opening sequence, which automatically reflects the theme of the scene. the song is performed by girls as well which both the audience and the characters can relate to. The song lyrics mirror the actions of the opening scene I want to create as well.

Bad Girls by M.I.A

I feel like this song represents the second identity of my main character. As the song is called 'Bad Girls' and the second identity of the character potentially has a 'bad' personality. Again it is sung by a a girl which could reflect the voice of the character.

Rock Star by Prima J

This song is about two girls who think every other girl is jealous of them.This song could show of the shallowness of the main character as the song 'Rock Star' is all about how other girls are jealous of them. This would highlight the characters second personality well, especially for the scene that will be shot in the high school.

When I Grow Up by The Pussycat Dolls

This song sort of shows of a second identity within itself as they are singing about what they want to do when they grow up. The songs message could hint what the main character wants to be or what she thinks she is instead of what people really see her as, which is a cruel and lonely person.

What The Hell by Avril Lavigne

This song is about a girl who has been good her whole life and decides one day that she is done being good so turns into a stereotypical 'bad girl'. This song could reflect well on the main character as perhaps the audience can think that she created a second identity in the first place because she was generally nice all the time and was fed up with being like that all the time.

All these songs I feel would be good in my opening scene as they all tell a story of a different side to them, just like the character in my film. They are all also sung by women and the main character in my film is female and my main target audience is also female, therefore I think that it makes it more relatable.

What Sparked The Idea For 'Alter Ego'?

This idea has sparked through watching many teen movies and gathering alternate ideas from every one, which helped me craft my idea for a teen comedy opening sequence.
The main films that were very useful in this process...



Hannah Montana The Movie:
Hannah Montana the movie is about one girl called Miley Stewart who lives a double life as a teenage pop star. Miley is a regular seventeen year old girl who comes from Tennessee but moved to Hollywood to peruse her career as a singer. However Miley wanted to keep her true identity hidden from the world so decided to create a fake identity of a girl called Hannah Montana. Miley sports a blonde wig and a different fashion sense to pull of the Hannah Montana double life. I the end of the film Miley finds the struggle to keep a second identity too much to handle and comes out that she is really Miley Stewart while performing on stage as Hannah Montana.
How I will adapt this...
I am adapting this idea by setting my scene in a British high school/ middle class British house, instead of a big fancy Hollywood lay out. I am also changing the scenario of the second identity to 'braty mean high school girl' instead of 'secret pop star'. I am making the 'family' side to the girl over the top nice and posh, whereas Miley is more casual and really just being Miley.


Btatz The Movie:
Bratz the movie is about four girls who start high school together in a big , new school. They are best friends who all share an interest in fashion. They are stereotypical 'new girls' who come into the school and break the high school 'rules' by spending time with each other around school instead of their 'cliques'. The main character i this film that helped with my opening sequence idea was the character Jade (top, right, with the gum). Jade is the perfect daughter with the good grades and sensible fashion sense in her parents eyes, but you soon learn that as soon as jades parents drop her of at school, she changes clothes, hair and personality.
How I will adapt this...
Despite Jades second identity when she is around her friends, she remains a nice girl through all of it. I am adapting this by making my character mean and spiteful to people when she is at school and her friend and a nice girl when she is around her family. I wanted to do this as I want a major contrast between the two identities in my opening to make the scene all the more interesting.

Scary Movie:
In Scary Movie, the film that takes the mickey out of the scary film 'Scream', there is a high school character called Buffy Gilmore. She is another character that has a second identity. Her first appearance is when she is with her father who is dropping her of at school. Buffy wears a long yellow dress and ties her hair back with flowery clips. She acts all sweet around her dad and when she walks up to her friends. However when her father drives of she takes her long yellow dress off and replaces it with a short skirt and crop top, she also takes the flower clips out of her hair and throws them to the ground. Buffy turns into a cruel and manipulative girl around school when she is with her friends, along with her secret boyfriend.

How I will adapt this...
Buffy is the closest character to the one I would like to create as she is ' goody, goody' with her father yet a brat when she is with her friends around school. Buffy does swear a lot throughout the film which is something that I am going to leave out in my sequence.

She's The Man:
Shes the man is based on Shakespeare's famous play 'Twelfth Night'. Viola just wants to play Football but there is one problem her schools woman's football team was cancelled so Viola must find a new way to continue to play football. Lucky for Viola, her twin brother Sebastian is secretly moving to London for 6 weeks to try and get a record deal and he is suppose to be joining a new school called 'Illeryiya' and try out for the football team. Viola decides to give herself a makeover and go to her brothers new school dressed as him. She creates a second identity as her brother to play football. She falls in love with the other footballer as he helps her improve her football skills however still thinking she is a boy. In the end Viola reveals her true identity in the middle of a football game and her brother Sebastian also introduces himself into this scene at this point.


How I will adapt this...
Violas second identity is as her brother, the second identity of my character will still be a female. I am keeping the gender of the second identity the same. The setting is set in the Illeryia high school, I am keeping the setting similar to the film as it is set in school.

Watching all these teen movies built the idea for my opening sequence, hopefully I will be able to communicate the same themes over to my audience as well as these other films have.

Creating My Ultimate Popular Girl.

In order to build the ultimate mean girl for my teen comedy, I watched other teen movies and listed the main features that made the mean girl popular. I have done lots of character buiding into my mean girl and have decided I would want her to have all these features. All the popular girls tend to have similar hobbys, attitudes and terminology. I have picked out some of the main ones.

 The Slow Motion Walk

The popular girls usually have a moment near the beginning of the film where they walk in slow motion to make them look glamarous and of high importance. From the clip you can also see how different people react to her. Most boys seem to have a crush on her, putting them in a trance when she looks at them. Most girls look at her with hatred which might also be jealousy. Very few girls seem to idolize her. That is what I wanted to bring to the character of Sydney, she walks around as if everyone loves her when in fact there are many different perspectives of her. Yet she seems to be blind to that fact.

I wanted Sydney to gave a personality similar to Regina George from mean girls. Sly, manipulative, nice to your face but a bitch behind your back. I thought that by making Sydney have these personality traits, it would make the climax of the film even more dramatic, especially with all the 'lies' and 'behind your back' talk she would be doing. As an audience, I also feel that people find Regina funny and cruel at the same time, this makes the audience feel slightly confused about her character and thats the reaction I want from my audience.

From the clip you can see that Regina has a serious yet funny personality that people can't help but laugh at. Regina creates a storm in a teacup about any situation and I think thats what makes her character so complex and quite confusing at times. On the other hand its amusing to watch and her baffling personality makes the film enjoyable. That is the feel I wanted to bring to Sydney's character. She doent realise she is being over dramatic about things which makes her character even more sympathetic which is the feeling the audience should be feeling by the climax.

Most popular girls tend to have an interest in singing or dancing or another form of art. They do tend to be good at it though, they are rarely not talented. The idea of being able to sing or act is commonly assosiated with fame. This is suggesting that they are like the local celebrities in the area or of the school. This makes people look up to them more and make them seem more powerful, popular and sometimes wealthy.

In the clip above you can see that Meradith from Bratz The Movie, is talented and can put on a show yet her song choice makes it obvious to the audience that she is shallow, self centered and spoiled. 

Annotations

"Don't you be jealous"- This indicated that she thinks people are jealous of her and teases them by saying this.

"You know Madonna ain't got nothing on me"- She is comparing herself to celebrities, indicating to the audience that she thinks she is in fact a celebrity herself as she has put herself on their level. They are preferably singers, "Madonna, Mariah, Christina, Beyonce",trying to prove to people that she can sing better than them. She is also aiming to be more beautiful and have more star quality than them too.

"(Don't blame her), I'm so beautiful"- She clearly thinks that she is gods gift and the most perfect person on the planet.

I want my character Sydney to have these traits, however not so exaggerated. But I defiantly want Sydney to be shallow for her alter ego side and I want the audience to see that she thinks she is better than everyone. I think that illustrating this through a catchy song would be an interesting way to go for a teen comedy.

Key Conventions In A Teen Comedy Opening

My Film Arc

Synopsis

• A teen comedy film about a girl who lives a double life which is dubbed as her 'alter ego'. Sydnie, a 17 year old girl in her last year of high school has the perfect life. She lives with her wealthy parents in their big house in London. At home, Sydnie is sweet, kind and caring but it soon becomes clear that its an act just to get what she wants out of her parents. When Sydnie is at school she is a completly different person. She is the most popular girl in school, she's mean, manipulative and an all round brat. Her friends dont know about her act at home and her parents dont know about her act at school. There is a 'new girl' called Jenny that has also joined for the last year and she becomes a rival to Sydnie as the new girl was the popular girl in her old school and wants to keep that position. One day at school Sydnie is in the toilets having a conversation with her mother over the phone. Jenny walks in and easdrops on the conversation and soon discovers Sydnies hidden side. Sydnie makes a deal with Jenny so that she wont spill her secret after Jenny threatens to expose her. However later on Jenny exposes Sydnies secret in front of the whole school showing them the conversation with her mother. Everyone looks at Sydnie as a joke and laught at her realising she wasnt as scary after all. Sydnies parents even find out and they ar e deeply dissapointed with her. Sydnie lays low for a while, focusing on her final exams. During this time Jenny has taken over as the popular but she is even more wicked than Sydnie. The school throw there end of year prom and to Sydnies suprise and Jennys fury, she is crowned prom Queen. She gets a chance to explain the truth to everyone and apologise for being horrible in the past. Sydnie leaves high school a completly new person who is kind, intelligent and down to earth.

Most films have five acts and conform to a narrative theory. I created a story pyramid for 'Alter Ego' explaining the five different acts and going through the main events of the story.

How To Regulate Films

I looked into the official BBFC website to find out how they reulate films into the appropriate film ratings.

In order to protect children and vulnerable adults from unsuitable and even harmful content in films and videos and to give consumers information they might need about a particular film or video before deciding whether or not to view it, the BBFC examines and age rates films and videos before they are released. This independent scrutiny prior to release ensures the highest possible level of protection and empowerment.

The BBFC watch films and videos all the way through and award an age rating and insight to each one. The BBFC reach an age rating by applying the standards and criteria contained in their Classification Guidelines.

The BBFC look at issues such as discrimination, drugs, horror, dangerous and easily imitable behaviour, language, nudity, sex, and violence when making decisions. The theme of the work is also an important consideration. We also consider context, the tone and likely impact of a work on the potential audience.

The subjects that are considered when rating a movie:

1. Threat- (Supernatural, scary scenes, scary music, horror)
2. Violence- (Fights, guns, knives, killing, torture)
3. Discrimination- (Race, gender, religion, disability, sexuality)
4. Drugs- (Drug use, medicine, alcohol, smoking)
5. Imitable Behaviour- (Bullying, anti-social behaviour)
6. Language- (Swearing, multiple languages)
7. Sex- (Kissing, sex, mature themes)
8. Nudity- (Nudity)
9. Context- (Quality or expectation of the film)
10. Theme- (General story line)

What would my film be?

Looking at all the regulations that are considered when film rating, I can pick out about four subjects that would come up in my or any typical teenage film or comedy. In any teen film, there is always parties that include drinking, smoking and mild drug use. Imitable behaviour may also come up as there is always some conflict between characters such as mild bullying when it comes to the nerds or the mean girl generally being mean. There is always mild language in teen comedys, which is another subject that the BBFC would consider. Also kissing scenes and mature themes come up a lot in teen comedys or just comedys in general. 

I personally think my film would be rated a 12 because if these typical traits that come up in teen comedys.

For more BBFC information visit the website: http://www.bbfc.co.uk

Research Institutions That Might Produce, Distribute And Exhibit My Film

I have done detailed research into top film institutions trying to find out if they would produce, distribute or exhibit my teen comedy film 'Alter Ego'. I looked deep into what these film institutions most commonly produce and what age range they tend to target. I found that most of these institutions have quite a wide age range, producing and exhibiting children movies as well as adults. The reason for this is most likely because the more films they help produce the more money they are likely to receive as an end result of the films success.

Film Title Feedback

I asked friends and peers about my film titles, receiving their opinions on which one they like best to represent the film and why. I tried to stay with my films target audience of ages 12-25, male and female, with the opinions on the titles, as it will be them viewing the end film. I want to really look deep into what catches this age ranges eye and what pulls them in to watch a teen comedy film.

Name: Leyla Hussein
Age: 14
Best font: 8
"I liked font eight best because the letters are jumbled together, making it a good font for a comedy to make it fun and enjoyable"
Follow Leyla on Instagram: https://instagram.com/leylahussein_/








Name: Ryan Allen
Age:16
Best Font: 8
"I liked 8 because in my opinion i think it best represents a teen comedy the capital letters are bold and in your face, as well as the uneven boxes in which each letter is placed creates a more amateurish feel."
Follow Ryan on Instagram: https://instagram.com/ryanallen98/
Friend Ryan on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ryan.allen.79219?fref=ts





 Name: Nick Robinson
Age: 20
Best Font: 4
"I preferred the fourth font as its slick and bold. It is easy to read and grabs any persons attention which could open up the film to a wider audience. The font also has a slightly older feel to it, this is a good thing as it will attract an older audience as well as the target audience."
Follow Nick on Instagram: https://instagram.com/commonhipsterrr/





Name: Nathan Holmes
Age: 16
Best Font: 4
"Font four is my favorite text as it is the boldest in the selection. The fact that the 'A' and 'E' are larger than the rest of the letters also adds a contrasting effect making it more appealing to the eye"
Follow Nathan on Instagram: https://instagram.com/nholmes99/
Friend Nathan on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nathan.holmes.71653?fref=ts




Name: Tyler Johnson
Age: 17
Best Font: 8
"My favourite is font/text for the film title is number 8, i believe it spells out teenage comedy to me and it matches the genre that has been chosen. I think that this would be more suitable for the audience of the film, because it is more visible and has an interesting and humorous style."
Follow Tyler on Instagram: https://instagram.com/tylerjohnson_1/






Name: Katie Walder
Age: 18
Best Font: 8
"I really love font 8 as it catches your eye and persuades you to read. It reminds me of the font that was used for the Bratz movie, which was a successful teen comedy. Its young, bold and exiting"
Follow Katie on Instagram: https://instagram.com/katieewalder/






Name: Chloe Thorne
Age: 17
 Best Font: 5
"I think you should use font number 5 for the film title as its elegant but young at the same time which is what most teenagers are like,it reflects the audience. Therefore its relatable"
Follow Chloe on Instagram:https://instagram.com/chlothorn/
Friend Chloe on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chloee.thornee?fref=ts




Name: Viktorija Sliciute
Age: 16
Best Font: 8
"Font 8 is the best font for a teenage comedy, I would defiantly take an interest in the film if I saw that was the title. It reminds me of the title from Bratz the movie and also The Inbetweeners which are both aimed at teenagers as well."
Follow Vik on Instagram: https://instagram.com/lietuve.viktorija/
Friend Vik on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/V.Sliciute?fref=ts



Name: Georgina (Gina) Bowen
Age: 19
Best Font: 9
"Font 9 is defiantly my favourite, it just yells teenager!! and that is the target audience. Its fun and contrasted, its different to all the other fonts"
Follow Gina on Instagram: https://instagram.com/georginabowen/
Friend Gina on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/georgina.bowen.58?fref=ts




Name: Taylan Hussein
Age: 12
Best Font: 9
"I like this font because its more comedy like than the other fonts and I like the pattern of the black and white boxes. It stands out to me because the font is bigger than the others and it grabs my eyeballs"

Name: Jennifer May
Age:18
Best Font: 9
"Font nine just looks like it belongs to a teenage comedy film. Its loud, bold and messy like actual teenagers"
Friend Jennifer on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JENNY1800BONE?fref=ts

Name: Paige Lily Wilson
Age: 17
Best Font: 8 or 9
"I really like both fonts 8 and 9, they are kind of similar in some ways but I cant decide which one I like best. They both have a young feel bout them that I think teenagers will respond to"
Follow Paige on Instagram: https://instagram.com/paigelilywilson/
Friend Paige on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paigelilywilson?fref=ts




Name: Ali Hassan
Age: 25
Best font: 7
"I like font 7 because I feel it would go with the teenage theme. It just stands out more than the others, its more appealing to the public eye"
Follow Ali on Instagram: https://instagram.com/ahassan74506/

Initial Ideas For My Opening Sequence

I created a mind map on a website called 'Get Revising' to write down all my initial ideas for my teen comedy 'Alter Ego'. These are the ideas that popped into my head when I first knew I wanted to make a teen comedy. The ideas on this mind map explore what I want my character to be like, what stereotypes I want to add in, the inspiration from other teen comedy's that helped me build my film idea and more. I have categorised the different ideas into colours so that it is easy to understand and separate ideas.

Red = Ideas about the main character

Pink = About the lifestyle 

Light Blue = About the family

Dark Blue = About friends

Yellow = Inspiration from other films

Green = Words/ Quotes 

https://getrevising.co.uk/diagrams/initial-film-ideas

Film Production Company Logo

I used a software called 'Fireworks' to create a logo for my film production company 'StarStruck film productions'. I thought that creating a logo for my film production company was important for various reasons. It is mostly important as it will be in my films opening titles as it is the main production company. Without creating a logo to represent it, I wouldn't of been able to use the films production company in the opening titles. Another reason why creating a logo is key, is because it is the image that represents the company on all the social media pages that promote the production company including Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. It is the first thing people see when they go to find out more about the company.

I spent a while on fireworks trying out different fonts, images and designs until I created a logo I was happy with to represent my film production company.

 

This is my final design for StarStruck Film Productions.

As my production company is aimed at teenagers and young adults, I went for colours that are fresh and vibrant to attract the eye of the viewers. I though that neon pink and glowing purple would be a wise choice of colours as they do stereotypically appeal to females which is my target audience. I wanted to carry out the stereotypical theme throughout my logo, reflecting from my opening sequence. I wanted to make the words "starstruck productions" white as it symblolizes youth, mirroring my target audience. I made the words bold so that they will stand out and used colourful lining around the words to again enhance the words. I wanted to use a star in my logo as it would be the instantly recognisable element in the logo. As soon as people see the pink star they will straight away know what film production company produced the film they are watching.



Shooting Locations

The opening sequence for 'Alter Ego' will be filmed in my house. I wanted my opening sequence to be set in a house as it will show how Sydney acts at home with her family. It is Sydney in her natural state, her without the pressure to be the pretty, popular girl in school. I wanted to show this side of her first as its how she starts and how she will potentially finish in the film. Still, I want the audience to see her 'alter ego' as well. I thought I could show this in the house. When she starts snapping at her parents and slams the door in their face, gives the audience the idea that she is not all sweet and innocent. Specfically the scene will be shot in my bedroom, as its early in the morning and Sydney has just woken up, ready for school. Another reason why I chose to film my opening sequence in my house is because its easy to get to and I am able to film whenever I want. It will be easy to create a shooting schedule and its not far to get to.

I am using my house in Oxshott to film the scene.
The scene will open with a long shot view of Sydneys bed while she is still sleeping in it. The camera will explore the room as the credits pop up on the screen with the actors names, producer, director etc... Around the room will be posters of various artists, actors and heartthrobs. This suggests Sydneys age and addresses the audience of her intrests. The room is painted purple, sterotypically a 'girly' colour which shows that Sydney is a typical high school girl. The bed cover will be white, I though that using a white cover will symbloise Sydneys youth and highlight her innocent nature while she is at home.
Why only one location?
I wanted to keep my opening sequence simple without too many complications about locations and scene jumps. The intention of my opening scene is to let the audience see the two sides to Sydney and they can see the two sides to her in the simple location of her home. Plus there is only so much you can fit into a two minute scene, otherwise the scene would look untity and possibly badly edited as all the jumps would be very sqwashed.

The Perfect Audience Member

There are so many different types of people in the world, all with different interests, hobby's, careers and features. Out of all these people, I thought 'what percentage of them will actually take an interest in my film?' Everyone is different therefore I thought that perhaps my film might have a wider audience range after all. I have done a lot of research to find my 'perfect audience member' and investigate into what people I thought would over look my film, might actually take an interest in it if I were to include certain elements that spark their interests.
I have used various websites to help support my theory and help me find the perfect audience member for my teen comedy 'Alter Ego'

One website that I used to help with my research, was 'UK Tribes'. This is run by ITV and looks at young people of Britain between the ages of 16-24. This website was perfect for my research as the age range it focused on was very close to the age range of my target audience which is 13-30.
UK Tribes found out that their were so many different types of young people in Britain that it was hard to just simply categorize them as they all had so many interests and opinions. For example, a typical girl who dresses trendy, has perfect hair, is wealthy and is very popular could be easily cast as a 'mean girl/popular' but what most people don't consider is that she could be extremely intelligent and not a shallow, cruel girl. She probably has so many layers to her. That is why UK Tribes found it hard to categorize the young people as there was more to them than meets the eye.
UK Tribes categorized these young people into five different categories

1. Alternative- This tribe strives to be different and stand out. From Coloured hair, tattoos, piercings and loud clothing they are determined to be different but do it together.
2. Mainstream- This tribe forms the backbone of tribal society, they are indulged by things such as popular music, Friday night parties, bit of booze, prime time TV and cliché things like Starbucks and top shop.
3. Leading Edge- This tribe is the leading edge tribe, they are scene leaders taking up activities such as magazine publishing, documenting and collecting.
4. Urban- The majority of people in this tribe are wealthy or are influenced by wealthy styles of life. They are interested in latest sounds, clubs and fashion.
5. Aspirant- This tribe of people live life for the moment.

Looking into all these tribes, I decided that the tribe that will most likely watch my teen comedy film would be the Mainstream tribe. I think this as they seem to be influenced by activities and would deal with issues that my film would deal with. Things such as Friday night parties with booze, music, dancing and friends is defiantly a big part in teen comedy's. Therefore the 'mainstream' tribe can relate to my film. The mainstream tribe are also associated with cliché things, that is what my teen comedy focuses on, clichés and stereotypes.

I do think that the 'urban' tribe would also be interested in my film as they are described as being 'rich' or having an interest in a 'wealthy lifestyle'. This relates to my film as the main character is of a wealthy background, therefore her lifestyle could potentially spark their interests.

Overall there was no perfect individual audience member in any of the tribes. This is probably because no body is perfect and no matter how many people watch my film, everyone will have their own opinion on it, things they liked, things they didn't like or jokes they didn't find funny, while another person found it hilarious. The closest thing in the UK Tribe to a perfect audience member was probably the 'mainstream' tribe as they really seem to associate with my film and a lot of them are close to the actual characters in my film. Because of this they would most likely find the film funny yet realistic and easy to relate to. I have found that when audience members find films easy to relate to, they tend to have more emotion towards it as they have perhaps experienced something similar and can feel the emotion of the character. This makes them grow an attachment to the film as they share a common trait, much like how you grow attachment to friends and family in the same way.

On the other hand, if there were to be a perfect audience member:

• They would be polite about all the film elements even if they didn't like certain parts. I would want my perfect audience member to respect all aspects of the film and appreciate the hard work that has gone into making the film.
• They would dress trendy but comfy as well. I would want my perfect audience member to dress trendy and keep up with the latest fashion as someone who does this tends to represent a person who is daring and likes to try new and exiting things. A person like this would help create a perfect audience member as it means that they are a fun person and it could mean that even though 'teen comedy' perhaps is not their favourite genre, they would be willing to watch it, to try and experience something new. Yet I would want them to dress comfy as this could symbolize a person who knows what they like and doesn't let other peoples opinions defeat them, they do things for them and not for anybody else. This would help build the perfect audience member as they would not hesitate to watch a film they love, they will not let other peoples opinions influence them in a way that they would stop watching your film if they love it.
• The perfect audience member would eat healthy but would also enjoy foods such as chocolate, sweets and candy. I would want my audience member to eat healthy so that they do not have any health problems. I would want them to enjoy treats like chocolate because thoes are the kind of things you eat when you watch a film.This suggests that the more sweet treats the audience member east the more films they watch.
• They would listen to pop/house/dance music as that is the music that is advertised the most in the media through film, TV, radio and magazine. Therefore this could lead to the audience member to hear about my film and take an interest in it as it shares mutual media resources such as radio and magazine. 
• The perfect audience member would watch TV shows similar to the 'teen comedy' genre. TV shows such as 'Gossip Girl', 'Melissa and Joey' and 'Teen Wolf'. Also maybe some Disney shows such as 'Hannah Montana' and 'Wizards of Waverley Place'. This is because if they are already familiar with the 'teen comedy' genre, they will already be open to finding new 'teen comedy' films and TV shows.
• They would read teen pop magazines such as 'Bliss', 'Tiger Pop' and 'Sugar' to get familiar with the stereotypical 'teen' traits and the teen lifestyle that these magazines feed to young men and women. Because of this, the perfect audience member would perhaps want to watch films to see what a typical teenage lifestyle looks like. I would also want my audience member to read fashion magazines such as 'Vouge' to stay on top of the latest fashion.

They would also:

• Read classic Literature books
• Enjoy going to parties on Friday nights
• like spending time with friends
• Is around the age of 16-18
• Is currently in High School/Secondary School
• A fairly clever person
• Enjoys doing activities such as drama, photography and dancing
• The perfect audience member for my film would preferably be female

If an audience member had all these traits they would defiantly be interested in watching my film. even if they didn't like it or they didn't think it was that funny, they would appreciate the hard work, time and research that went into it anyway.Their personality has traits from the characters in the film so they can relate to them and they are of the age range of the main characters as well.

Check Out the UK Tribes and see what tribe your in: http://www.uktribes.com/

Film Timeline

I have created a film timeline on a website called 'time toast'. On this time line I have included key dates in film history and how these actions have shaped films today. I have included film development, in technology, acting and length of film.

Annotating An Opening Scene Similar To Mine

Wild Child Opening Scene

Overview of opening:

The scene opens with the view of the sky in a 'point of view' camera shot. The camera takes the audience into the bedroom of a teenage girl where she lays sleeping on her bed early in the morning. The scene is peaceful showing the 'medium shot' of the sleeping girl. She starts to stir slightly and wakes up. The scene suddenly goes from calm to panicked in just a second after the girl realises something which is at first unclear to the audience. The girl jumps out of bed and rushes to get downstairs where she is joined by he younger sister who is making a sandwich for breakfast.

How it will be similar to mine;

This opening scene will be similar to mine as I am going to film the beginning of the scene from a 'point of view' shot, leading the audience into the bedroom of the teenage girl much like the opening if wild child.

It will also be similar to mine as the girl suddenly jumps out of her bed after she obviously has either forgotten or remembered something important. I am adding in a 'jump' out of bed however my character will be startled by a younger sibling waking her up with a loud noise rather than her being woken up by herself.

There is a younger sibling shown in the wild child opening scene which is something I wish to add in as it will help to communicate to the audience my characters family life and the way she acts around them in contrast to the way she acts in school. However I was planning to make to make the sibling younger and possibly a boy as in comedy's there is stereotypically the 'annoying little brother'. I am really trying to include the teen comedy clichés to really exaggerate and get across the genre in the short opening.

Annotating the shots:

1) The scene starts with a still image of a clear blue sky and blue sea which slightly merge into one. This still perfectly sets the scene for the audience addressing them to where the film could be set. A big blue ocean view and clear blue sky's give the audience the idea that the film is perhaps set in a hot location. It also gives the idea that the family that the film will revolve around could be quite wealthy as it appears they have a beach house. The blue sea and sky is the first thing the audience sees, the clearness of the sky and sea could represent that everything is perfect at this moment in time.

2)

The second shot is an establishing shot which zooms to a close up shot in the space of 30 seconds. The 'Mise en scene' gives us the idea that we are looking at a teenage girls room: the room is of a blue and pink colour scheme. The furniture and other use of props that we see suggest that the girl who is sleeping in this bed comes from an affluent family. The camera shot is at a close up by the time the girl opens her eyes and shouts "Shit!". This suggests to the audience that something bad is going to happen and it kills the 'clam' atmosphere that the scene had built up to.

These are key shots as, at first, it gives the audience a 'long distance' shot to let them explore this girls room and pick out certain elements that could symbolise her characters lifestyle or personality before we have even heard her speak. The scene then zooms into a 'medium shot' then zooms in even more to a 'close up'. The 'close up' shot is a very important shot as it shows the expression n the girls face. At first her face has a gentle smile across it which pairs with the still blue sky and sea suggesting that everything is perfect. However her face suddenly turns worried, her eyes widen and mouth drops open, The 'close up' shot helps exaggerate the panic of the character and how suddenly everything doesn't seem so perfect.

3)

In the third shot, the girl suddenly rises from her bed and starts to run around in a fluster. This starts of as a 'medium shot' when the girl rises from her bed but turns into a 'long shot'. The 'long shot' shows the audience the setting of the scene and further presents more evidence that the character is affluent. While the girl is busy charging around her room, the film title pop us up on the screen. The film title 'wild child' is shown at the perfect time in the scene, while the girl is running around her room like a headless chicken. This affect emphasizes the word 'wild' in the title as she is acting very 'wild' in this extract of the scene. These shots are important as it gives the audience a better idea of the lifestyle of this girl and helps explain her 'wild' personality.

What I can take as inspiration:

I have taken many elements of this scene as inspiration. The first shot of the clear blue sea and sky to show location and which was also there to symbolise perfection in a wealthy lifestyle, I have taken as inspiration for my own opening. I want my first shot to be of the sky to mirror a peaceful lifestyle. I also want a shot of the house of my character to show the audience location and address to them that she comes from a wealthy background much like the girl in wild child. This is key in my opening film as is shows status of the character and also guides the audience to think she could be stuck up and snobby as stereotypically most wealthy teenage girls are. 

FOLLOW MY SOCIAL MEDIA!!

Hey! Don't forget to check out the social media pages of my film production company 'StarStruck Film Productions'. Like us on Facebook and follow us on insagram to keep up with all the latest news about my newest project, 'Alter Ego' opening sequence.

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Thank you xx

Teen Film Titles

I have used a website called 'DaFont.com' and 'videocopilet.net' to create different titles for my Teen Comedy film. I have compared them all and whatever one I think represents my opening film the best, I will use with advise from friends and family
I picked out my favorite ten film titles that I created.

Please leave a comment saying which font is your favourite and which one you think would be best to use for my film's opening scene, posters, billboard etc...

Your opinion will be taken into consideration as you are my audience and what appeals to you is a key element.

Thank you very much xx

Synopsis of Teen Comedy

 Alter Ego

I chose this name as my teen comedy film opening is about a teenage girl who metaphorically lives a double life. She is the 'perfect daughter' in her family life at home, the golden child. In her parents eyes she can do no wrong, she has good grades, good manners, dresses sensibly and always makes the right decisions. However when her parents are out the house or when she is at school she is a completely different person. She is the most popular girl in school, who gets good grades by cheating on tests and is really a spiteful popular high school girl. She dresses and acts differently when she not around her parents. The audience will be introduced to this early on in my opening scene as she begins to be spiteful to her parents when they barge into her room. She quickly covers it up though when she opens the door and sweetly says "Love you" with an innocent smile.

The opening scene is set in the bedroom of 16 year old Sydney. She has just woken up on her birthday. She wakes up and messes around in her room, exited about her birthday. Her parents and little brother walk into the room, making a big deal about her birthday. Sydney gets fustrated by this and her more spiteful starts to show through when she talks back to her parents and slams the door in their face. Sydney realises she was out of place with her parents and decides to open the door and tell them she loves them before slamming the door once again.

Common Characters found in Teen Movies

1) The New Girl
The common character of the 'new girl' in school usually joins early on in the film and starts of as a sweet and innocent character. The 'new girl', commonly comes into the school and changes peoples perspectives on the stereotypical 'rules' and breaks the high school hierarchy. The usually get a major makeover by more popular people so they will fit in as when they get introduced in the film they are stereo-typically 'bland' and boring. Usually the character of the new girl is the lead in the film, yet this has been proven not always the case.

Examples of 'New Girls' in teen films...

Cady Haron from 'Mean Girls'
Cady is the main character in the film and the new girl who joins a new American high school at the beginning of the film. Cady is introduced into the film as a kind, thoughtful and smart young lady who grew up in Africa with her parents, yet she gets taken into the popular group in school dubbed 'the Plastics' and turns in to a brat. However she comes through in the end by stereo-typically braking the laws of high school as her 'new' character was destined to do from the start.





Tai from 'Clueless'.
Tai gets introduced to the film fairly early on, not quite at the beginning. She gets befriended by the popular girl Cher, who gives her a makeover to help her fit in with the school and so that she has the right 'look' to hang around with the popular girls. Tai is not the lead in the film however she has an important role and again breaks through with the idea of going against the rules when she starts to date a boy in high school that was dubbed as being 'out of her liege'.





2) The Popular girl
Every Teenage film whether it is a comedy or not, has a popular girl included in it. Commonly the lead role or recurring role, the popular girl is always pretty, stylish and bitchy. She is stereotyped as being mean and spiteful to anyone who is not as high on the school social hierarchy as her. She has her own group of friends however they are usually 'fake friends' as she is always secretly in competition with them. It is common for the popular girl to not be very bright as its giving out the message that all she has is her looks. On the other hand sometimes the popular girl is portrayed as being fairly intelligent as they she can be manipulative over people. A lot of the time they are blond and wear pink. At the end of the films they usually turn out to be a completely different person to who they were in the beginning. They stop hiding behind the fake barbie type and start being themselves.

Examples of 'Popular Girls' in teen films...

Regina George from 'Mean Girls'
Regina is the stereotypical Popular girl. Shes blond, bitchy, manipulative and wears a lot of pink. She is at the top of her school social hierarchy and surrounds herself with other girls just like her, only she makes sure that they are not as pretty or manipulative as her. It becomes clear that they were fake friends all along as they only want to hang around Regina to be popular. Regina is not the main character in Mean girls but she is the recurring role and the whole film is about her popularity.






Sharpay Evans from 'High School Musical'
Sharpay is cruel and spiteful to everyone at her school. It appears that her only true friend is her twin brother Ryan. She bullies 'new girl' Gabriella into not doing the talent show and threatens Kelsey the pianist that if she tell's her what to do she will make her miserable. She has a crush on the school it boy Troy Bolten, in fact the only thing not stereotypical about this teen comedy is that the school's popular boy doesn't date the school's popular girl, Sharpay. Instead Troy falls straight for the new girl Gabriella. Sharpay is also stereotypically blond and manipulative.





3) The Popular Boy
The popular boy is the boy that all the girls want to date. He usually dates the popular girl however falls in love with the new girl by the end of the film. He is good looking and strong but stereotypically stupid. In some cases the popular boy dates more than one girl throughout the film as this portrays him as a 'player'. The popular boy is usaully into activities such as sports as it makes them look masculine. Sometimes the popular boy can be just as mean as the popular girl and by the end of the film turns out to be a nice boy. Yet this is not usually the case but there are a few films with this popular boy trait. By the end of the film they grow mentaly, becoming brighter and realise what is really right for them.

Examples of 'Popular Boys' in teen films...


John Tucker from 'John Tucker must die'
John Tucker is good looking, captain of the basket ball team and dates a lot of girls. John has numerous girlfriends throughout the film as he is portyed as the school player. Yet no one but him seems to know about all his girlfriends. He stereotypically falls in love with Kate the new girl in town who has recently joined is school. He dumps all his other girlfriends for her and confesses his love for her at his birthday party. Yet in the end Kate chooses not to date him for various reasons. By the end of the film he shapes into a different person that the 'new girl' taught him to be.




Raymond from 'Aquamarine'
Raymond gets a job as the new life guard for a summer job and all the girls have a crush on him. He reunites with his girlfriend Cecilia, the town popular girl, after she returns from summer camp. Even though he is dating Cecilia, who is cold hearted and an attention seeker, Raymond is sweet and caring and looks after everyone. He seems to be oblivious to Cecilias crule side. When the new girl 'Aquamarine', arrives from the sea (as she is a mermaid) he instantly finds her attractive and with only five days left of summer, Raymond is determined to spend each day with Aqua and find out more about this mysterious girl. He predictably falls in love with her in the end but cannot be with her as Aqua returns to the sea to reuninte with her family. Raymond is stereotypically into sports such as water boarding.



4) The School Nerd
There is always a school nerd in teen comedys. They add the comical elements into the film as they commonly say and do weird things that are hilarious to watch. The nerd is generally portrayed as being not very good looking. Usually wearing glasses, bad hair, wears dowdy colthing and bad posture. The school nerd can be a boy or a girl, sometimes there is a boy and a girl nerd in one film as they end up in a relationship together by the end of the film. They are stereotypically very intelligent and are always shown getting good grades which they usually get bullied for a lot of the time. They almost always have a big crush on the populars, which in reality they know they will never be with, yet there have been films where the geeky girl gets the popular boy or the geeky boy gets the popular girl. By the end of the film, they dont really change. But poeple learn to accept them for who they are and they show that its alright to be super smart.

Examples of school nerds in teen films are...

Gabby Harrison from 'How to Build a Better Boy'
Gabby gets bullied everyday becasue of her good grades and creative ideas. She is stereotypically intelligent, Gabby hacked into a high tech goverment system and built a robot through her computer. She gets picked on by the popular cheerleader because she dosent have a boyfriend and has a crush on the cheerleaders boyfriend. Gabby builds a robot boyfriend to take with her to prom so that she didn't look lonely. At the end of the film the popular boy askes Gabby for a dance during prom.




Fogell from 'Superbad'
Fogel is the school nerd in 'Superbad'. He wears geeky glasses, bad clothing, is skinny and has relativly bad posture. He would do anything to try and fit in with the more popular crowd in school, including buying a fake ID and risking getting arrested buying alcohol with it. He has a crush on all the popular girls in school but has never actually spoken to them as whenever he does he messes up his words. Later on in the film however one of the popular girls dances with him at a party. The audience is lead to belive he is fairly smart as he has 'straitagies'. He is stereotypically physically weak and socially aqward with everyone.

Analysis of Opening Titles used in 'Teen Comedy' Films

1) Angus, thongs and perfect snogging....
(2008)


Plot: Angus the fluffy cat retains its dignity even in a crazy Eastbourne family, unlike them. Eldest daughter Georgia is completely besotted with 'Stiff Dylans' band hottie Robbie, who just moved in from London and helps run an organic groceries shop with his brother Tom, whom her best friend Jas has the hots for. Peter Dyer calls Georgia his best ever kissing-course pupil, but she ignores him and later the brothers' other classmate Dave the Laugh. Robbie was considering to dump haughty Lindsay, but reconsiders given the immature brat's apparent cruelty. Thus manipulative Georgia keeps changing her mind about a grand birthday party and her father's career opportunities as engineer in New Zealand, while mother seems to flirt with the interior decorator Jem.
Directed by: Gurinder Chadha
Stars: Georgia Groome as Georgia and Aaron Taylor Johnson as Robbie.
Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging has won 3 awards and was nominated for 1 other award.


Paramount Pictures Corporation is the films producer, this tells the audience that the film is quite big budgeted as Paramount pictures are the sixth bigggest film production company in the world. It is an American company, however this film is British. Therefore this grants the film more advertisment around the world, especially in America.

Nickelodeon Movies also helped produce this film, this addresses the audience that the film is targeted at a younger audience as Nickelodeon is most commonly known as being a 'kids Tv' company. Yet the audience know that this film is not aimed at really young children as Paramount add in an older element to the film. Nevertheless the film is targeted at the fairly younger audience of 'teenagers'.

In the opening scene, all the credits came up on the screen. The production company (Paramount and Nickelodeon Movies) first of all, followed by the name of the film (Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging) then the name of the actors.
After the main actors were credited, there was a break from the opening credits and the scene was Georgia running home, dressed like a giant olive. The director perhaps did this to let the audience focus more on the setting and where Georgia was running to and why she was running instead of leading the audience to focus completly on the credits.
When Georgia arrives back at her house, the opening credits appear back on the screen. The continued opening credits tell the audience who the music is by (Joby Talbot), the costume designer (Jill Taylor), followed by the film editors, director of photography and main producers. Then the screenplay writers and finally the director (Gurinder Chadha).

The font of the writing is fairly large and curly. The 'curly' effect on the font gives of a young feeling about the film as its childish and fun. The largeness of the font also directs you to think the film is targeted at a younger audience as it keeps your attention and leads you to keep reading it. This was perhaps done as children rarely read the opening credits so the writing might of been made large to almost force them to read it.
The colour of the font is white, white is a basic colour which is clear to read. This colour was probably used to make the font clear to read. White also stands out well if the background is darker, therefore the ambient lighting used in the opening scene complimented the white font well. White is a colour that represents purity and youth, this could reflect on the characters in the film as they are young, innocent girls.


2) The Kings of Summer
(2013)

Plot: Joe Toy, a fifteen year old boy, who is on the verge of adolescence, finds himself increasingly frustrated by his single father Frank's attempts to manage his life. Declaring his freedom once and for all, he escapes to a clearing in the woods with his best friend, Patrick, and a strange kid named Biaggio that he recently met at an 'end of school party'. He announces that they are going to build a house there, free from responsibility and parents. Once their makeshift abode is finished, the three young men find themselves masters of their own destiny, alone in the woods. A 'coming of age' teenage comedy.
Directed by: Jordan Vogt-Roberts
Stars: Nick Robinson as Joe Toy and Nick Offerman as Frank Toy
The Kings of Summer has won 3 awards and had another 6 nominations.

 CBS Film production company was founded in 2007, it is a new production company and is considered a 'mini-major studio'. Therefore this leads the audience to think that this film is not a big production. It is also an all American film company which could lead audiences to think that the film will not be advertised globally as it is not an 'international' film production company.

Low Spark Films is also a fairly new film production company and is not very well known. Low Spark Film company has only produced three films so far, Kings of Summer included and is again only an American production company which could mean the film is not very well globally advertised. This make the audience continue to think that this is a low budget or independant film.


Big Beach is a an American film production company, headquarted in New york City. Its is another new production company as it was founded in 2004. However Big Beach has produced many well known films such as 'Our Idiot Brother' and 'Little Miss Sunshine'. Big Beach also adverstise their films globally therefore this gives The Kings of Summer a more widely ranged audience and attention in the media.



 The opening scene of 'The Kings of Summer' after the production company titles, does not show the opening credits straight away. The opening scene was improvised by the actors. They are set in the woods with a long water pipe surrounded by trees. The three boys improvise a funny opening sequence that draws the audience's attention to them, wondering what they are doing in the middle of a forest. They create a musical sequence using sticks and logs that they found on the floor, banging them on the water pipe making a timed noise that intrigues the audience and makes everyone watch this opening in silence.

The opening credits for 'The kings of Summer' stays the same font all the way through. The font is fine lined but curly, much like the opening credits for 'Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging'. Again this curly font could symbolise a fun, crazy story, it is giving the audience a glance at what the film holds through the font. The fine lineing of the writting perhaps reflects the delicate synopsis of the story, as the story does hold a fragile topic of children running away from home because they are not happy with their family lives. The fine, delicate font could mirror this element of the story. Yet the curls in the font contrast that theme with the more comic, fun side of the film.
The first credit that comes up on the screen is written in black. The rest of the credits are in the colour white. Perhaps the reason why the very first credit is black is because it is a solid, bold colour that staright away grabs audiences attention. The bold black colour was put there to guide the audiences eyes onto the opening credits. The second and third credits are written in white. Much like 'Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging', the white font could again mirror the youth of the teenage characters, even though the things they do throughout the film are very adult and not so innocent. Perhaps the black font used for the first credit at the beggining represents the more dark side to the story. Another reason why white might of been used for the credit font is becasue the lighting used in this scene is ambient with some natural lighting from outside as Joe rides his bike to school. So the white shows up well on the screen and the audience can clearly read it.

The opening credits do not last for long however. Only three credits come onto the screen in the begginig and the rest are shown in the end credits. The first opening credit addresses the audience to the films main production company (CBS Films), followed by the production company (Low Spark Films and Big Beach Productions) and lastly the name of the film (The Kings of Summer). The name of the actors, director, photographer or screenplay writter do not come up. This was maybe done to keep a short introduction to the film.
When the final opening credit states the name of the film, the Birdhouse that Joe built himself had dropped onto the floor as he was riding to school. Next to the low angle shot of the bird house, came 'The Kings of Summer' credit. This was done to reflect the main focus of the story, as Joe and his two friends build their own house in the woods.