The Lonely Life of a Teenager - Draft

Evaluation 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

Evaluation 4 - Who would be the audience for your media product?

 

Our target audience is mature teenagers-young adults between the ages of about 15-20. This is because our film discusses some mature themes which may not be interesting to a younger audience. The characters also fall within this age demographic and are therefore more relatable than someone in their 30's for example.

The gender demographic associated with our film is males and females equally. It may appeal to males slightly more than females due to the abundance of male characters in comparison to females. However, it may appeal to females also, as the main theme of the film isn't associated with action but refers to mature themes which females are shown to like e.g. The Fault In Our Stars is about a girl with cancer and is mainly targeted to females.

The class our film is mainly aimed at is the E class as that is where most teenagers are, it may be popular in other categories due to the mature themes but, the characters make it more suited for the E class.

Our film is not associated with a specific race, but does try to appeal to those suffering from mental hindrances such as social anxiety.

Similar to race, our film is not aimed at a particular location. It may be more popular to those in the UK specifically around the East-Anglian area as that is where the actors are from and will therefore make them more relatable, e.g. their accent will be similar (it will be more relatable than a northern accent as they will also speak with the same accent).

A lot of our choices of demographic are due to the fact that we want the film to have a sense of realism associated with it, as social anxiety is a real thing which affects millions of people and we want to target these people to show that they are not alone in what they are dealing with. We have achieved this by representing the main character as being quite lonely and using various point of view shots so that the viewer can also experience this loneliness.

The music we used in the background is quite catchy and this will attract our target audience of teenagers as it somewhat resembles the type of music they are stereotypically shown to enjoy.

We also use the enigma code to an extent as not much is known about the main character other than the fact that he is not very popular at school and suffers from social anxiety, this may persuade the viewer to continue watching as they may want to know more about the character and the situations he finds himself in as a result of his social anxiety.

Female teenager, student, likes catchy pop music, loves dancing and shopping, usually wears skinny jeans, hoodies and trainers, favourite shop is New Look, favourite film genres are teen angst and comedies.
(On right)

Analysis of film company logos

Analysis of film company logos

 

 

Paramount Pictures



 

The logo for Paramount Pictures mainly shows a mountain with a ring of stars circling the top of it, with the name between the top of the mountain and stars. As well as "A Viacom Company" written below the stars. I feel as though this is a memorable logo as a mountain seems like quite an odd choice for a logo, and therefore the viewer could relate the image of a mountain with this company. Similar to our project, the name of this company makes reference to their logo ("Lone Wolf productions" and a silhouette of a wolf).

 

Walt Disney Pictures

 

The logo for Walt Disney Pictures consists of a large castle (sometimes shown as a 3-D image) with the name of their company below. The font of their company name looks quite magical which is a reflection of the type of films the company is known for making. The use of a castle also contributes to this as the company is known for making Princess films and castles are usually associated with Princesses. This is also similar to our logo as our film is about social anxiety and wolves are shown to be either family orientated or independent.

 

 DreamWorks Animation

DreamWorks' logo is similar to the Walt Disney Pictures logo due to the fact that it shows something that should be impossible - a boy fishing whilst sat on the moon. The titles are quite bold which may attract the attention of the viewer more.



 Warner Bros

Personally, I feel as though the Warner Bros logo isn't as good as the other logos. I think this because the logo only consists of an emblem with the first letters from each word of the company in bright yellow font (which is eye-catching) and a blue background. This is overlapped by the words "Warner Home Video". Whilst the logo is eye-catching as a result of the bright, contrasting colours it doesn't do much in the way of design like the other logos have. This is why our logo doesn't take much inspiration from this logo.

 

Metro Goldwyn Mayer

The Metro Goldwyn Mayer logo is very iconic as a result of the lion growling which is associated with the company. The logo consists of a lion in the centre of the screen with - what look like ribbons - surrounding it and a face underneath that with the name above it. This logo is very eye-catching due to the yellow and gold colours which contrast to the black background. The use of the lion is also very good as lions are usually associated with power and shown as the king of the animal kingdom which makes the company seem powerful. The inspiration we took from this logo is the use of an animal as animals are usually well like from most of the population.

 



My Film Habits

My Film Habits

 

My favourite film genres are: fantasy, sci-fi and superhero films. This is because I like the surrealism of the films associated with the genre e.g. The Lord of the Rings is set in an imaginary world with made up characters and species yet the whole thing still seems somewhat believable. This is also the case with Star Wars. I also feel that these genres have some of the best characters in film history such as Darth Vader, Harry Potter and The Avengers (even though most of them first appeared in books and comics). Despite these reasons, I feel like the biggest reason that I appreciate these genres the most is the fact that they appeal to my personality the best - nerdy/geeky.

 

 

My favourite film of all time is probably Summer Wars or The Avengers: Age of Ultron. Summer Wars is a Japanese anime styled film set a little bit into the future (I believe) where the entire plot revolves around someone who has hacked into the universe's equivalent to the internet and has access to everything stored on a computer. The Avengers: Age of Ultron is the sequel to The Avengers which I also enjoyed greatly, however, I preferred the sequel slightly more as featured one of my favourite characters from the Marvel Universe - Scarlet Witch.

 

 

Usually I don't watch many films or much TV as I prefer to watch YouTube due to the fact that it covers a wider area of media which is more tailored to my preferences such as: video games - you can watch gameplay, reviews or something different like the science behind video game situations/characters.

As a result of these reasons, I don't have much knowledge with the Teen Angst genre, I have seen some Teen Angst films before starting the course but only a few such as: The Inbetweeners and Mean Girls (as a result of my sister and cousins, and year 8 class).

Teen Angst Film Filming Schedule

We will try and shoot all of our opening sequence at around the end of the school day so that there will be a lot of people around, and we will try to film all of our different shots fairly close together so that it will all be roughly the same time of day, and so that we don’t have to worry about the weather changing outside. We will probably try and shoot our shots in the order they will be put in in editing, so that it is easier to find the correct shots when it comes to editing. In addition, we may film some of our shots during lesson time so that we are making the most out the time we have been allocated.

 

Teen Angst Film Cast List

Max – Joshua Worth

Sam – Bethan Rutherford

Mr. Anderson – Mr. Coulson (?)

Tiffany – Eleanor Luhar (?)

Nathan (?) - Jak Wright

Brittany – Darcey Page

Whitney – Alice Nutter

Extras…

Tom Watts
Joe Marsh
Luke Perry

Teen Angst Film Props and Costumes

Costumes:

•Max, Sam & Nathan : General Sixth form wear

•Tiff, Brit & Whit: Expensive looking Clothing

•Mr. Anderson: Suit/General Smart Clothing

•Extras: School Uniform/ general Sixth From wear.

Props:

•Classroom: Stationary/ Books/ Bags

•Corridor: Headphones/ Phone                 

•Field: Headphones

We chose these props and costumes as we feel that they are fairly stereotypical of a teen angst film and are also quite representative of what a teenager would wear/use. This leads us to believe that the film will be more suited to our target audience as the props and costumes make the characters seem more believable and therefore more relatable.

The Breakfast Club, John Hughes (1985), Mood Board - Detailed

The Breakfast Club, John Hughes (1985), Mood Board - Detailed

 

 

The titles in The Breakfast Club aren’t very exciting, they are a bright yellow colour in a somewhat basic font which are placed on a black background. This can make the title sequence seem very boring, especially due to the fact that it lasts quite a while.

However, the use of mise-en-scene is very important; almost everything can be related to a teenager such as: the school setting, the props (including: cars, classroom items, lockers, graffiti, litter, etc.). This is very important in attracting an audience as it means that the audience is able to relate to the characters through the use of these things. The lighting also seems fairly natural, apart from when inside the school.

There are lots of different camera shots used. A long-shot is used to set the scene when inside of the classroom where the students are sitting their detention, this is effective as it is capable of showing lots of things within the scene and therefore makes it seem more realistic. A close-up is used when the teens are talking to their parents, this makes it easier to see the emotion on their face (in some of the parent’s cases its anger and the teen’s misery). A mid-shot is used when the teens are sat in the classroom, this may be to show the relation between the teens e.g. we see one of the boys laughing with one of the girls which suggests they are quite close.

The music is quite stereotypical of a teenage film – the beat is fairly catchy and seems like something a teenager would listen to.

There is a voiceover at the start of the clip, it is presumably one of the teenagers and he is used to give information about the scene such as time and location. The rest of the voices aren’t edited in and they mainly consist of the teens talking to their parents about how unfair the situation is.

The characters in the film act similar to the use of mise-en-scene in the fact that they are relatable to teenage life as they are the main people in a teenager’s life – the teenagers themselves, their parents (and one sibling) and the teacher.

The editing starts off quite slow but begins to speed up when the clips of inside the school are shown. This then slows down again when the teenagers begin talking to their parents and a shot-reverse-shot is used in combination with a close-up which makes the viewer feel more engrossed in the conversation which is going on.

In conclusion, I feel that The Breakfast Club is the best example of a teen angst film from the films I have studied because it is so relatable and also quite appealing to teenagers.

Footloose, Herbert Ross (1984), Mood Board - Detailed

Footloose, Herbert Ross (1984), Mood Board - Detailed

 

The titles in Footloose are white and have a black background to them, the font used is also quite exciting and is not something that is used a lot. They are mainly used to show the main members of the production team. The titles for the film’s title are different to the ones used in the rest of the sequence. They somewhat resemble a shoelace made to look like words, this is most likely a reference to the title “Footloose” and the fact that in the background there are clips of people dancing.

The use of mise-en-scene is not very good in this clip as the only things of notice are the stage and the act that there are lots of people dancing on the stage but only the bottom parts of their legs and their feet are visible. The fact that the people are all wearing different types of shoes from trainers to boots could represent the fact that all teenagers are different.

As previously mentioned, the only clips are of people’s legs and feet which is shown by a close-up. I think that the purpose of the close-up is to make reference to the title of the film, however, I feel that a mid/long-shot would be better suited here as it would show more and keep the audience entertained more as clips of feet aren’t the most exciting thing in the world.

The music played is the now famous “Footloose” by Kenny Loggins. This is still quite a well-known song now but would have been even more popular at the time of the film’s release. This would most likely have contributed to the film’s popularity.

There are no voiceovers aside from the song which I feel is fine due to the fact that the song is so popular and makes reference to the film’s title.

The only characters featured are those dancing in the background.

The editing is fairly fast-paced, it mainly consists of clips 5-7 seconds long featuring a person dancing with a title over the top of it which fades out just before the next clip appears.

In conclusion, I don't feel that the sequence from Footloose portrays the genre of teen angst very well as there isn't a lot of imagery to represent a stereotypical teenager - the closest being the use of different types of shoes.

Clueless, Amy Heckerling (1995), Mood Board - Detailed

Clueless, Amy Heckerling (1995), Mood Board - Detailed

 

The titles in Clueless are made to seem as though they are being shown on the screen of a computer and therefore appear somewhat pixelated. They appear quite slowly in comparison to other films. This could be representative of a teenager’s love for technology, however, the film is associated around a teenage girl and technology is usually associated with teenage boys. The titles include many important production members such as: title design and director. The colour of the titles is white and they have a black background surrounding them, which occasionally flashes a different colour. The coloured background around the titles contrasts well with the white box they appear in.

The entire sequence is fairly bright which is stereotypical of teen angst films and flashes occasionally which could represent a teenager’s constant mood-swings, it also takes place inside of a computer. The computer occasionally flashes up slightly pixelated images of objects associated with teenage girls such as: make-up, multiple clothes, phones and a car. At the end of the sequence, a pixelated image of a teenage girl – presumably the main character appears. This could suggest that the items previously stated are a part of her as she also appears on the screen.

The only camerawork is the slight zoom in at the start of the trailer and the zoom out at the end of the trailer due to the fact that the entire sequence is animated apart from the small parts at the start and end.

Towards the start of the sequence, a beep is played to represent the computer starting up alongside the film. There is quite catchy music playing throughout the sequence and this would have been quite popular at the time of the film’s release which shows that teenagers are quite good at keeping up with various trends such as music.

The only voice is from the music and it is quite difficult to hear as the music is a lot louder, the only time the voice is louder is towards the end when the word “Clueless” is spoken which is presumably the title of the song which is playing and also the title of the film.

The only character seen is the pixelated teenage girl who appears at the end of the trailer. As she is the only character seen, it is safe to presume that she is the main character of the film.

The editing is very important as a majority of the scene is animated. As a result of this, the editing is quite slow paced which could be used to represent the fact that technology wasn’t as advanced at the time as it is now. The items also appear and disappear in a pixelated fashion.

In conclusion, the sequence is very representative of teenagers and presumably quite appealing to teenage girls as it follows a lot of stereotypes and conventions of (girly) teen angst films.

Se7en, David Fincher (1995) Mood Board - Detailed

Se7en, David Fincher (1995) Mood Board - Detailed

In the title sequence for Se7en, the titles are very effective at setting the mood of the sequence due to the fact that they are very sporadic (they appear in multiple places of the screen) and also flicker slightly which creates a suspenseful/dangerous atmosphere. The font also contributes to this, as it looks quite sketchy which combined with the flicker can make the viewer feel slightly uneasy. The titles are white, this contrasts against the black/dark background and therefore makes them stand out greatly. They also appear in multiple different sizes which makes the sequence seem quite unorganised.

The use of mise-en-scene is also very effective in portraying the mood of the sequence as a lot of the props seem quite out of place, as if they don’t fit with the sequence e.g. razor blades and other sharp objects (which are effective in creating a sense of unease) alongside harmless objects such as newspapers and books. Similar, to the sharp objects, the blood is also very effective in portraying the mood as blood is usually associated with danger. There are also many photos - which look to be of children in horrific positions. As I previously stated, the entire sequence is all quite dark which, like the blood, is associated with danger and can make the viewer feel uneasy.

There aren’t a lot of different camera techniques used in the sequence, the main/only technique used is an extreme close-up depicting what the person is doing and of the various props such as photos and newspapers. An extreme close-up would be more effective than an ordinary close-up as it allows us to see the props/objects in more detail e.g. the man’s dirty fingers which suggests he is quite uncaring of what other’s think or possibly dangerous (when other factors are taken into consideration such as the blood)

There are no voices present which makes the concept of the – possibly – even more frightening as we have no indication of his thought processes.

The music is the most effective convention as it is incredibly creepy and makes the viewer feel very uneasy due to the fact that it slowly builds up and adds more instruments each time. It becomes particularly bizarre at about a minute into the sequence.

There are only two characters present in the sequence: the boy, and the man (shown from the numerous clips of hands). The enigma effect is used as we never see the man’s face which creates a sense of mystery surrounding the character – which when combined with the props and other conventions makes him seem even more dangerous. This is especially true when the fact that the boy is only ever seen in photos is taken into account and the fact that one clip shows the boy’s face covered out with a pen.

The editing – much like the music – is very important in setting the scene as it is very fragmented; lots of things are happening at the same time which adds a sense of chaos to the sequence. It starts fairly fast paced and speeds up which also contributes to a sense of unease. The editing is mainly used to make the sequence look like an old film. The titles are shown throughout the trailer but are sometimes shown on a plain black background.

In conclusion, the entire sequence is very effective in creating a sense of unease and suspicion surrounding the unknown man which makes us fear for the child.

Teen Angst Film Inspiration and Feedback

Our film takes its main inspiration from Easy A. This is shown in the fact that both the main character from Easy A and our film are quite unpopular and have to deal with this at school. They both also have a supportive best friend. Despite this inspiration, we wanted to make our film stand out from the rest of the teen angst films and in the process portray an issue which affects many teenagers, therefore our film does not follow stereotypical conventions of many teen angst films.

Some of the feedback we received from our teachers was concerning the lack of inspiration, originally we were unsure of where the idea of our film took inspiration from but with a bit of thought we realised that the characters were fairly relatable to those from Easy A due to the fact that both main characters are seen as unpopular and only really have their one friend who backs them up, but doesn't fully appreciate their friend. The key difference between the two films is that our film is less comedic and focuses more on the severity of the real life situation rather than making it seem comedic.

Our presentation - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOe6n7zK7Mo

Teen Angst Film Music and Sound

Originally for our music we were going to use Stressed Out by Twenty One Pilots, Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day and Sugar we're goin' down by Fall Out Boy. However, these songs were copyrighted so we instead decided to use Dreamkiddo - Away from home and/or AfterImages - Valleys from the YouTube channel Flying Tunes. This is because we believe that it fits the mood of the film quite well; they are not too exciting (to represent the sadness experienced by people with social anxiety) but also not too sad (to keep the viewer entertained). We should not need to add many sound effects in editing as the music will be the main focus. We may however choose to add some if we feel it is necessary e.g. doors slamming.

Dreamkiddo - Away from home - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOmnbx3j2fQ
Afterimages - Valleys - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=own0hdQbGaA

Teen Angst Film Settings

Much like our characters, our locations are associated with teenagers - the school and Priory park. Specifically, within the school we are going to film in the classroom F2.2, the stairs outside the room and multiple hallways. Within Priory park we are going to film in multiple places. We chose these location because they are some of the most associated places with teenagers and therefore thought that it would make the film seem a lot more realistic.

 

Teen Angst Film USP and Target Audience

Our unique selling point is the fact that the story is quite different in the fact that a majority of teen angst films today make the main focus on popularity whilst ignoring the actual problems a lot of teenagers face. The main story behind the film is that the main character is struggling with social anxiety and she sees her best (and only) friend being bullied by the popular girls but she doesn't do anything about it as a result of her anxiety. Our target audience is teenagers but also young adults due to the mature themes expressed within our film. It is probably more aimed towards teenagers due to the fact that the use of mise-en-scene is mainly used to relate to teenagers.

Teen Angst Film Characters

Our characters are fairly typical of a teen angst film; the two unpopular main characters who get bullied by the popular group along with various extras including teachers and students. They characters will be wearing stereotypical items you would expect teenagers to wear. The two main characters have unisex names (Max and Sam) to show that both genders suffer from social anxiety equally. This is also good in sending a message to people who suffer from social, which is that they are not alone. This is quite counter-typical of teen angst films because they usually focus on problems such as popularity. For the costumes, we would just like the actors to wear normal, everyday items that teenagers are stereotypically shown to wear such as: hoodies, jeans, etc.

Teen Angst Film Titles

Our titles are fairly simple. We didn't want something that stood out in order to reflect the fact that people with social anxiety don't want to stand out. We are currently undecided on which font we are going to use, but some ideas include: Verdana and Tw cen MT condensed extra bold. We are going to use either black or white titles (depending on the background) at this point in time. However, if the colours look out of place then we may choose another colour.

Our title "The Lonely Life of a Teenager" makes reference to social anxiety as sufferers can often feel as though they are alone and that the world is against them. We also feel as though it is fairly catchy through the use of alliteration with "Lonely Life" which will therefore make it more memorable.

Teen Angst Film logo

Throughout the planning of our (myself, Joshua Worth and Adam Stubbs) teen angst film, we all collaborated on each part - we each had some form of input on what was going on at each stage - however, we each had an area on which we would focus on. My area was design including the titles and the logo for our film company. Our company name is Lone Wolf Productions; this is a reference to our film being about a socially anxious teenager (hence the word "lone") and we chose a wolf because they are usually depicted as being strong even though some are on their own, this is a reference to the fact that people with social anxiety are strong because of the fact that they face so many problems in day-to-day life.

 

Originally our design was a moon with the silhouette of a wolf howling in it and the name of our company on the bottom. The final design has not changed drastically but now the titles are in the moon above the wolf and I have added effects to the moon to make it look darker in some areas.

In the final product of the film, we are going to attempt to animate the logo so that first an image of a wolf howling appears followed by a white flash where the logo will appear (The head of the original wolf will match that of the wolf in the logo). We have already attempted this to some level of success.

Teen Angst film Storyboard

Hairspray, Adam Shankman (2007), Title Sequence Analysis

Hairspray, Adam Shankman (2007), Title Sequence Analysis

1 sec - "Directed and choreographed by..." in dark green font with cream border against turquoise patchy background with cream coloured TV silhouettes. Titles slowly move to right. Music starts

5 secs - Transition to next scene of particles?

7 secs - "Screenplay by..." flies down along with more particles (no more TVS). Particles slowly spin around

11 secs - White part of particle engulfs screen

12 secs - "Produced by..." in yellow font with spinning blue rectangle in background. Singing starts

17 secs - Titles and rectangle disappear revealing man dancing

18 secs - Camera pans out to reveal more people dancing

23 secs - Multiple squares used to transition

24 secs - "Executive producers..." with dark blue hexagons in background

27 secs - Old fashioned projectors appear and spin around on screen

32 secs - Projector covers screen and transitions to man and woman dancing and "Executive producers..."

37 secs - Camera pans up to show more projectors and more "Executive producers..."

39 secs - One projector turns to reveal image of man and woman crying

42 secs - Projector now shows rockets and rockets appear in background, alongside "Music by..." and "Lyrics by"

44 secs - Everything on screen moves off screen apart from central rocket which spirals to produce 5 rockets. Girl appears on left of screen and starts dancing. "Director of photography..."

48 secs - Same girl dancing and flowers fly from right of screen

50 secs - Girl now in middle of screen and "Production designer..."

52 secs - Girl disappears and pink wave appears on bottom screen

54 secs - Pink wave covers most of screen and "Edited by..."

55 secs - Blue wave appears alongside pink one

57 secs - Blue wave disappears and 3 girls start dancing on pink wave alongside "Edited by..."

61 secs - "Costume designer..."

64 secs - Transition looks like the end of an old film and sequence ends

The Breakfast Club, John Hughes (1985), Moodboard - Notes

The Breakfast Club, John Hughes (1985), Conventions mood board

Titles

• Yellow titles
• Simple font
• Contrasting black background
• Simple

Mise-en-scene

• School
• Cars
• Classroom (Desks, shelves, etc.)
• Clock
• Cantine/Lunch area
• Lockers
• Graffiti
• Litter
• Books
• Computers

Camerawork

• Long shot - school and classroom
• Close up - clock and faces
• Mid shot - sitting in classroom
• Shot reverse shot - talking to parents

Music/Sound

• Stereotypical 80's music (popular at time of film)
• Teenagers talking to parents about how unfair the situation is

Voiceovers

• Teenager, talking about school and time
• Ranting about teacher

Characters

• Teenagers and parents
• Relatable to teenage life
• Teacher

Editing

• Starts slow
• Speeds up when looking at school
• Slows again when showing teens talking to parents

The Breakfast Club, John Hughes (1985), Title Sequence Analysis

The Breakfast Club, John Hughes (1985), title sequence analysis

1 sec - Black screen
3 secs - stars appear
5 secs - perky music starts
7 secs - Earth appears
10 secs - "Universal an MCA Company" appears over picture of Earth
16 secs - Screen fades to black
18 secs - "An A&M films channel production" in yellow text contrasting against black background
20 secs - fade to black (ftb)
21 secs - "A John Hughes film"
25 secs - ftb
26 secs - "The Breakfast Club"
30 secs - ftb
31-57 secs - "Starring in (in alphabetical order)" name of actor/actress followed by fade to black
58 secs - "Casting by.."
60 secs - ftb
62 secs - "Costume designer..."
64 secs - ftb
66 secs - "Production supervisor..."
69 secs - ftb
70 secs - "Executive producers..."
73 secs - ftb
75 secs - "Music composed and supervised by..."
77 secs - ftb
78 secs - "Edited by..."
81 secs - ftb
82 secs - "Production designer..."
85 secs - ftb
86 secs - "Director of photography..."
89 secs - ftb
90 secs - "Co-produced by..."
93 secs - ftb
94 secs - "Produced by..."
97 secs - ftb
98 secs - "Written and directed by..."
101 secs - ftb
105 secs - Quote by David Bowie in white font
115 secs - Screen breaks, revealing image of school (presumably) underneath. Accompanied by sound of glass shattering
121 secs - End

Teen angst film - Risk assessments