Shot List

These are the shots that we used in our teen angst film. Shots such as the long shot of the clothes piling up the bed and of the mean girls entering are conventional for the teen angst genre. We took some of these ideas from films such as mean girls and clueless.

Scene from Clueless

Scene from Mean Girls

Preliminary task

This is our preliminary task that we had to film and edit. We were given a storyboard with all of the shots that we had to include but could change the script freely. The shots included close ups, long shots and mid shots. We were also told that we had to include a shot reverse shot, match on action and the 180 degree rule. These are all examples of continuity editing and are used throughout media and films. This was all good practice for when we came to make our teen angst film.

Match on Action is the idea of one action being portrayed through two different shots. This usually included cutting out a section of the action in order to keep it interesting and to not waste time showing boring, unnecessary shots. In our preliminary task we used this when I opened door. The first shot was me going to open the door and the next shot was me walking through 

The 180 degree rule where you always film from the same side of the room in order to not confuse the audience. During in a conversation this is useful as the people won't keep switching the way they are facing. This is shown in our preliminary task when Taylor and myself are having a conversation.

Shot reverse shot is an important example of continuity editing as it helps to show interactions between characters. If this isn't used then a conversation between two characters might not be clear and may be confusing for the audience to follow. We used this, again when Taylor and myself were having a conversation. 

Story Boads

Final Prodcution Company Logo

This is our final production company logo. We used one of the draft ideas and added stars around it to represent the fact that we produce high quality films. This is similar to that of Paramount Pictures. The iconography of London and Britain in the middle of the logo shows that the USP of our films is the fact that we are a British production company and the British social realism this brings. We have a simple, serif font which is placed in a film strip. This connotes that we are a low budget, independent company. This is an idea which we took from the Take Two Production company logo as they are similar to us as they are also a small, low budget company. Again, we made the production company logo black and white which connotes simplicity and that we are low budget

Target Audience, USP, Settings and Locations

The target audience for our film is Females aged between 13-18. This is because girls usually enjoy watching teen angst more as they can relate to the situations and also get enjoyment out of how the characters in the film react to and deal with the problems the encounter. We thought the age was appropriate because they are the people who are experiencing the problems and situations within the film but in their own life. Many of the features within the film that will attract teenage girls are; Admiring boys, arguments, and that it is seen from a girls perspective with lots of features of a typical girls life.

Our unique selling point is that we are low budget, independent, British production company and so this is reflected in the film by the British social realism, whereas films like Clueless, High School musical and Mean Girls are all set in America on a high budget so can everything look more expensive and the school look setting and props look realistic due to the high budget. The British social realism means that the British Audience can relate to the film more as the situations will be accurate to their life. Also the different social groups in the film will be accurate to what they have experienced more than an American based film.

The main settings in our film will be in school, at the main characters house and in the school car park. Later on in the film a party scene is also included but this will not be included in the opening although we may include party invites to help foreshadow later events. We chose the school setting since the story line is about a new girl joining her new school and the audience are very familiar with this setting. We will film this at our school which includes locations such as lockers which connotes school settings. Also the front of the school which will show it is in a school.

Title Sequence Idea

This is the idea we presented to the others in our class. We used the idea of getting ready for the characters first day at school and meeting the other main characters as this instantly tells the audience what the story will be about. Easy A is one film that instantly gets into the school setting while the title sequence continues and you also see some of the characters. 

Character Ideas

We plan on having 4 main social groups within the film. These are the popular girl group, the popular sporty boy group, the less popular girls and the clever, nerdy group. These groups are stereotypical of the teen agnst genre as the audience will usually fall into one of these groups and so can relate to them. This will enable them to enjoy and understand the film more.
Our main character, Maddison, will fall into the less popular, but nicer girl group. However she tries to fit in with the popular girls during the film as she thinks this will help her get closer to the popular boy. The less popular girl group are a nicer group who care about their education and work hard as well as having fun and enjoying themselves.
In comparison the popular group don't care about their grades and only care about how others perceive them. They want to be the centre of attention, are usually self centred and always expect people to look up at them. However in films that we have studied such as mean girls, the popular group of girls think everyone admires them but they are actually despised by everyone. This is usually evident in a film as the popular group often aren't as popular by the end due to an event that has happened. Our character in this role is called Amber and she is seeing Dylan. She feels like she is untouchable and that she is the most popular girl in the school. When the new girl (Maddison) joins the school she instantly makes sure she knows who she is by picking on her. Also The popular girls are stereotypically good looking.

The popular boy group are stereotypically sporty, popular and attractive. This group is important as the target audience are girls so they will enjoy the film if there is an attractive character. Sometimes a well-known, attractive character can persuade people to watch a film. Within the film the main character in this popular boy group is called Dylan. He is the cause for conflict between Maddison and Amber since they both like him. Again, girls can relate to this as they have experienced this in their life.

This is the slide from the presentation we did to the class with our initials ideas