Not Another Teen Movie.

In the beginning of the clip, we can see the group of teenagers getting divided into three groups. These groups are; slags, jocks and the nerds. One of the actors quotes: " You're accepted for who you are, not for who you hang out with." He contradicts himself when he says this this because he forms the three stereotypical groups in high school.

Following the clip we can see that in this high school there are all of the stereotypical groups such as the jocks, dumb blondes, the geeks, the black wannabes and a victim who is most of the time a female.
Dumb blondes - blonde and long hair, skinny and likes to dress in pink.
The nerds - books, clothes with straps, glasses and are quite ugly.
The jocks - masculine, good looking, popular, baseball jackets and can get away with anything.
The victim - pretty doesn't show it, down to earth and never taken notice of.

It's set in a high school which is stereotypically set in an American high school which always has a yellow school bus which picks up the students.

The Bling Ring - Rachel

Conventions of 'The Bling Ring'

The Bling Ring is a teen movie based on a real life situations where a group of young teenagers robbed celebrities houses. What makes this movie different to typical teen movies is that rather than having people being bitchy towards each other, they team up and target celeb houses. 

There are multiple conventions that tie together that that makes this film a teen movie. Some of these are;

• Themes - crime, drugs, alcohol, fashion, peer pressure, partying, relationships/friendships and greed/money
• Music - urban hip hop, dance and trance
• Settings/location - high school, celeb houses, parent's houses, clubs
• characters - stereotypical teenagers, authorities ruining the teenagers fun and parent's who are portrayed as stupid  as well as lenient.
• costume - flashy designer clothes and jewellery 

This specific teen movie stereotypes teenagers as greedy, selfish and shallow. This is because towards the end when they get caught, one of the girls lied and said she wasn't involved in the robbery to the police. This proves that she's selfish because everyone else owned up except her.
It also shows that teenagers are quite naive. When they robbed the first house, they didn't get caught so they got carried away until eventually they did get caught by the police.

In the 'clique' of the movie, there seems to be a lot of peer pressure. Throughout the times that they were robbing houses, there was one boy who kept on getting paranoid and was telling the girls to leave quickly. Instead of listening to his instincts, he listened to the girls who told him to stay and didn't leave until the girls wanted to.

The clique also portray teenagers as party animals and alcohol/drug addicts. In the movie, there were multiple scenes of the group taking cocaine and continuously drinking at clubs and parties. A lot of teenagers can relate to this sort of lifestyle. We hardly see them at home and when we do, they don't seem to happy or they are getting ready to go out.

Teenagers can also relate to this movie in terms of how they contact each other. Facebook, apart from mobile phones, was a main source of contact for the clique and many people can relate as teenagers spend most of their time online talking to their friends.

Conventions of "The Bling Ring" by Harrison Parker

The Bling Ring 

Why is it a teen drama?

- Features teen characters.

- Settings include a high school and parent's houses.

- Themes include alcohol, drugs, crime, partying, relationships/friendship, fashion, greed, money, rebellion.

- Based on a true story (realistic).

 

What do the conventions reflect about teens/modern culture?

- Materialistic nature

- Selfish

- Naive (unaware of consequences of their actions)

- Peer pressure 

- Question of trust

- Against the law

How is "the clique" represented?

- Past problems in school influence the main character to seek popularity.

- However, the girls are just using him to partake in crime.

How does this differ from other teen dramas?

- It is based on a true story.

- Links in with the celebrity lifestyle (in which many teens are oblivious to).

How is the protagonist portrayed in the film?

- Naive

- Easily influenced.

- Peer pressured

Protagonist similar to that of other teen dramas?

- Makes bad choices/decisions

- Issues with trust/friendship

The Bling Ring

 The 'Bling Ring' is a teen drama as the whole movie revolves around teenagers. It's based on a real life event which included 5 teenagers teaming up and robbing celebrity's houses.

The Conventions:
Themes - fashion, crime, drugs, alcohol, relationships/friendship (clique), partying, peer pressure, rebellion, greed and money.
Settings/location - celebrity's houses, club, parent's house (bedroom) and high school.
Music - urban, hip-hop, dance and trance.
Characters - teenagers, teen stereotypes, authority ruining the fun and stupid adults.
Costume - flashy, designer, expensive and fashionable.

This teen drama reflects both teens and modern culture in a very stereotypical way by showing teenagers to be shallow and greedy. It differs in a great way from teen drama's in the past as in the past teen dramas didn't include as much crime but more romance, or it would of never of been about teenagers stealing. Whereas, in Bling Ring the whole movie also revolved around the theme of crime as they steal from a handful of celebrities.
In the movie the clique is very together and share what they steal but when they get discovered we can see that they all quickly rat out on each other trying to find a solution that will only benefit them and not the others, this reflects teen in modern society as groups of friends tend to do this in a serious situation.

The 'Clique' is represented as being very materialistic and self-obsessed only wanting the newest fashion trend, designer clothes, drugs and alcohol. When it comes to linking to other teen dramas it's only to an extent, as in most teen dramas you don't really see  four girls and one guy in a group.

The protagonist (the boy) is portrayed as being vulnerable and gullible at the start of the movie as he follows the main girl into the houses and doesn't say anything other than 'we shouldn't be here' but rather than running he stays along side her. When he realises what she is doing we can see that he starts to come out of his comfort zone by going along with her to all the robberies and finding the address of the celebrity's houses, he also beings to consume drugs and alcohol.
The protagonist in 'Bling Ring' is similar to the protagonist of 'Mean Girls' as again in Mean Girls the protagonist is almost vulnerable even though being popular and in the school football team, he is still vulnerable when it comes to girls.

The film represents social networking as Facebook is greatly used in the movie by showing certain scenes of how this clique use Facebook to contact each other and upload their pictures of them wearing the clothes. Consumerism is also represented in this drama as we can see that celebrity Paris Hilton buys all of the newest trends out in fashion and we can see from scenes of her house that she has alot of things that have to do with herself such as pillows and the whole of her corridor full of magazine covers framed.

Teen films - Genre and conventions by Harrison Parker

Common sub genres

Themes:

- Murder
- Family Issues
- Romance
- Conflict with authority
- Sport
- Drugs
- Sexual identity
- Ethnicity
- Gang culture - gun/knife crime
- General crime

Locations:

- Family home
- Cinema
- Beach
- Estate
- Streets



Characters:

- Male lead/female lead (romance)
- Drug dealer
- Parents
- Police
- Sportspeople (e.g. basketballer)

                  

Teen Movies - Rachel Groum

We had to research different teen movies that have a different target audience to each other.

Mean Girls

Mean Girls is a typical girly movie aimed at teenage girls simply because of it's storyline and characters. Boys aren't normally into girls being bitchy towards each other. However, throughout the movie the main part is basically girls being spiteful towards each other and that's something that girls can relate to in school rather than boys. Young girls in school are more likely to get bullied because of bitchy girls and there is a lot of competition between them in terms of who is the 'coolest'. Also, Lindsay Lohan is known for starring in teenage movies and movies that young girls can relate to.

Adulthood

Adulthood is a movie that has a target audience that is different to Mean Girls. Even though they have a similar age group, this movie is aimed a teenage boys rather than girls. This is because the majority of the actors in this movie are males who live life in a struggle and gives us an insight to life in the hood. This doesn't mean that other types of people can't watch it but it's more likely that a teenage male can relate to the movie more than a teenage girl would. The main actors in the movie aren't well known worldwide but are in somewhat known in London and across the UK. This makes it more appealing in way because young males would want to see how these actors can portray their lifestyle through a movie.

Twilight

 Twilight is a movie that appeals to both male and female teenagers who are interested in fantasy teen dramas. Unlike Mean Girls and Adulthood, Twilight includes a mixture of genders that allow both teens to relate to them. Also, rather than the storyline being about typical bitchy girls or a hood life environment, this storyline is fresh and new for everyone so it means that they can all be on the same page when they watch it for the first time. 

Teen Films

Twilight 

This teen movie appeals to an audience with the an age that varies from 12-30, this is due to the fact that the genre is fantasy. The reason the age starts at 12 is because the movie is rated A12. When it comes to gender, females are more of the target audience because of the whole controversy of the main male characters 'Jacob' and 'Edward'. The reason it is not targeted at males is because males tend to feel uncomfortable due to the fanatic tweens obsessed with the characters. The film was originally targeted at students in high school and college as the main characters are around the same age, in addition this teen drama could also appeal to families as they can relate to the relationships that happen in the movie such as mother-daughter and father-daughter. The actors/actresses used for this teen drama also plays a vital role as all of the main characters are well known which would grab more people's attention, for example Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner and Robert Patterson.
The storyline and setting appeals to this type of audience in specific as it's almost like imaginary and fantasy which most people enjoy. As well as having fantasy there is also romance which again appeals to the female gender.

Fast & Furious; Tokyo Drift

This teen drama appeals to mostly the male gender due to the simple fact of the whole movie revolving around cars, in terms of age it's mostly aimed at teenagers.

The genres in this movie which are action, crime, drama and thriller also play a vital role as they mostly appeal to males rather than females.

Freaky Friday

The target audience for this teen dram is more likely to be for mother daughters aged 13 to late 30 year old as they can relate to the situation of resenting each other as that's a typical thing for people of that age to do. This movie is more targeted at the female gender as the main characters are both females and the whole general appearance of the movie is more chic for chicks as the main colour as we can see is purple.

The actress Lindsay Lohan is an important role as the teenage audience can relate to her where as Jamie Lee Curtis is more familiar to older audiences. The genre of this film is mostly drama and comedy which again can also attract a wider range of audience in my opinion, as everyone enjoys a bit of comedy every now and then and you're never too old for a good laugh.

Teen Films - Harrison Parker

Researching Target Audiences (Task Two):

3 examples of teen movies:

- Mean Girls

- Inbetweeners Movie 

- Harry Potter

Mean Girls:

- Trailer

• Appeals to mainly the female audience
• This is because it is about a group of girls in high school
• Stars Lindsay Lohan, a well-known actress.
• Sub-genre - teen comedy
• Set a lot of the time in a high school, appealing to teenage girls.
• They can relate to it in daily life.

Inbetweeners Movie:

•  Appeals to mainly the male audience.
• It is about a group of teenage boys going on their first holiday to Malia.
• Popular TV series in the UK - well known characters.
• Sub-genre - teen comedy
• It is a typical situation, in which some could relate to.

Harry Potter Franchise:

• Appeals to both genders and families.
• About a teenage boy who attends Hogwarts - a school of witchcraft and wizardry.
• One of the most popular film franchises of all time.
• Sub-genre - action/adventure & teen
• A  

Audience Research

Our audience research task involved interviewing 4 teens and 2 adults. Our conclusion of what we found is shown in the video.

Task 2- 3 teen movie trailers

In this individual task I had to choose three teen movies that have different audiences.

I have first chosen 'scary movie 2' for an audience of people who like teen comedies.

I believe this would be appealing to both male and females as there are not strong sense of stereotypical things in the film to make either sex more attracted to the film. There is a big star appeal to this film that many people, young and old, would know to be in comedies. Having seen these actors and actresses in other movie and knowing that they are good at acting would convince you that it is a good movie to watch. The main character of the film, Anna Feris would attract females as they know she is involved in a lot of girly comedy and would also attract men as they may be attracted to her and also find her funny. Marlon and Shawn Waynes are two brother who are very famous in the comedy industry and showing them would suggest them film was a good one.



I have chosen 'St Trinians' for girls who like teen movies.

I believe this film is also a teen comedy but very much targeted towards teenage girls. There are many different give away's to why i believe this, this movie involves an all girls school, a make over and a plot that empowers women physical and intellectual ways. almost everybody in the film is female and a=pretty. this attracts females to see what the film a]may show about them and things they find fun and easy to watch may be involved in the plot, they also show many different types of girls which makes the range of different types of girls bigger, and so will go to see it.



I have chosen 'super bad' for boys who like teen movies.

This is also a teen comedy but I believe it is very prone to the boys sense of humor, I enjoy this film very much myself and can see how it would appeal to the teenage audience. The story line is about teenagers themselves and involves many teenage dramas we actually encounter at this age and therefore can relate to it. The comedy is quite immature in a ways but fit into a world of adult themed jokes which is almost the whole experience of being a teenager. The three main characters are boys so they have addressed more teenage boy issues than girls which is why i would assume more boys would like this film and I assume many boys would like to be in there position at some point of the film. It is the perfect teenage film in my opinion.

Film Title - what you would expect

What we would expect to see in a film opening: 

In the opening of our film you would expect to find opening credits, introduction of the main characters and an idea of the setting and the story set-up. With the opening credits you will see names of the actors, the directors, producers and any other important names.
The characters will be shown in the setting that will give you a general feel of how the rest of the film will be set-up. Shots of the characters and credits will be in sync with each other, the credits all be both bold and eye-catching.
In the pictures below, they are a rough idea of how we want as a group our credits to appear. We want the credits to be both fun and attractive and will inform you of the background crew.

 

Prelim Video

08. PRELIM - Niva, Roisin, Rachel, Thaomy from 283goswell on Vimeo.

Prelim Video

09. PRELIM - Harrison , Tom, Alicia, Solange, Aimee from 283goswell on Vimeo.

Prelim Video

07. PRELIM - Jaya, Luke, Steve, Duygu from 283goswell on Vimeo.