No, Vladimirs theory does not relate to my teen comedy story. Its clear that this theory was for action, superhero, sci-fi or fantasy films that have a more serious or non naturalistic twist to it. This theory would not fit with my film as its naturalistic and funny. The stereotypes that Vladimirs is explaining are not the same stereotypes that are in comedys.
There are all different types of teen movies that are obviously aimed at teenagers of both genders aged around 12-25. The genre I have picked and decided to create a opening sequence about, is teen comedy, therefore I am going to research into teen comedy's and identify how the conventions in the opening sequences make it clear to the audience that it is a teen comedy. This research will help with my opening sequence as I can take key ideas from these clips which will hopefully help with the construction of my teen comedy opening scene and make it clear to the audience what my film is.
1) Clueless
(1995)
Directed by: Amy Heckerling
The film stars Alicia Silverstone and Paul Rudd.
Clueless is about a sixteen year old girl called Cher who lives in LA with her rich father. She has the perfect life good friends, family, clothes, popularity but there is one problem, Cher is completely and utterly clueless.
In this opening scene it is clear that this film is a teen comedy. The opening titles clearly indicate to the audience that this film is targeted at a teenage audience. They use bright colors with a bold font to emphasize the youth of the film and to catch the eyes of teenagers all around the world. More precisely, the colors are purple and pink which are stereo typically female colors. This potentially means that the main target audience is girls for this film. The indication of a female audience becomes clear again as the first character on screen is Cher (female lead), she is filmed exiting from a fashion shop with bags in both hands. This one shot tells the audience so many things such as the main character is going to be a female who follows the conventions of a popular teens with her blonde hair and blue eyes, obvious love for shopping and stylish fashion sense. In the next shot which is a long shot, she is shown being surrounded with friends both boys and girls. This highlights her popularity which is otherwise essential for any female lead in a teenage comedy. The music used is also a clear indication of the genre. The song is called 'We're the kids in America'. Even from the title the genre is a great give away. The song is supposed to be reflecting on the teenagers on the screen, as if it were them singing about their life. The use of the word 'kids' highlights their age to the audience as teens are still classed as kids. The main pace and tune of the song is upbeat which mirrors the teenagers in the shot. From the first few seconds of this opening sequence, it becomes clear to the audience that this is a teen comedy from all these conventions that have been clearly shown. More evidence that supports that this is a teen comedy is the dialogue. Silverstone's character Cher opens the film with the line "Okay, so your probably going 'is this like a commercial or what?'" This is intended to be a joke to make the audience laugh. The fact that the first line in the whole film was a joke strengthens the idea that this film is a comedy. Cher continues to say "But honestly I have a way normal life for a teenage girl". This dialogue is clear evidence that the main character is a teenage girl. The first lines in the opening automatically give the genre away to the audience with the funny line and the straight evidence that she is a teenager sums up the whole genre and it is clear that this film is a teenage comedy. Other conventions in the opening that highlight the genre are the stereotypes. Cher lives in a big house with a rich father, she is just learning to drive, has a equally popular best friend and is on her way to school. These are more elements to identify that this film is a teen comedy.
