Question 7

Looking back at your preliminary task, what do you feel you have learnt in the progression from it to the full product?

Question 5

How did you attract/address your audience?

Our target audience is specifically aimed at teenagers between the ages of 13-17. We have included a diverse range of characters those of different cultural backgrounds as well as those with different personalities. This allows us to expand our target audience to different social groups as it allows different groups of teenagers to relate to the characters.

Our teen movie that we had made appeals specifically to our target audience.One most obvious one in my opinion is the use of body language presented, for example the geeks use of facial expressions had the audience laughing as he played his character role very well.Also the use of costume and make up used was done really well for example the jocks costume revealed his character right away as well as all the other characters which is important for our viewers to avoid any confusion.The princesses hair and makeup also stood out and was planned really well as u can gather that she is a typical girl girl which some of our female audience could relate to e.g myself.

The storyline that we had come up with is relatable to the majority of our teen audience.As the majority of our target audience are in education and have all experienced a first day at college or summer camp which can be both depressing and exciting which in my opinion our characters presented this quite well.For example the criminal wasn't very enthusiastic about attending school and which at the end you can see he walks in the other direction from school but then we can see that he still attends.This can relate to many of our audience as not all pupils want to go to school but the majority of them do.which shows that the storyline is common in teenagers everyday life to a sense.Our film name T.E.A.M  also can relate to our teenage audience as schools encourage children to work as a team and this opening demonstrates the different characters emotions about working together.


We have reached our audience so far by having a cinema preview which was exclusively aimed at students. This gave them the opportunity to see our film on a big screen.

After watching our film in the cinema we got feedback from 2 people saying what they liked about our film after watching it.

We have also asked some questions to a specific target audience and an actor from the film.

Question 4

Who would be the audience for your product?

Teen movies have a wide range of viewers. The age ranges from 13-20s. Although some people may not be classed as teenagers they might still want to watch a teen movie depending on the story line or genre. Teen movies can be targeted at a female or male or both. For example, 'mean girls' is mainly targeted at a female audience, due to the storyline that revolves around girls.

 Our teen film was targeted at the audience of ages from 13 to 17. It is aimed at both males and females, as the main characters are males and females. It is aimed at this audience as it is set in a college environment which those ages will be able to relate to. The genre of our teen film is a comedy which also attracts a teenage audience as it consists of humorous elements.Our teen movie maximises the audience because of the different social groups, nerd, criminal, princess and criminal. This allows the audience to identify with the different characters. Our film is a classic teen genre and it has the same mode as the breakfast club which will appeal to an audience that likes classical teen films.

Blake is a specific member of our target audience. From the picture on his facebook profile you can tell that he can relate to the jock in our teen film. Just like the jock he is wearing a baseball jacket, because of this he might want to watch our film as he has something in common with the character in 'T.E.A.M'

After looking at the type of films that Blake likes, it looks like he enjoys watching teen movies, as well as comedy films. All of the films that he has watched are comedy or have a subgenre of comedy. This means that he might enjoy our film as it has a comedy genre, meaning that its his type of interest. 



When looking at the type of sport he likes it showed that him and the jock shared similar interest in sport. This indicates that Blake will be more interested in watching 'T.E.A.M' as there is a character that has the same interests as him. This will allow him to understand the character more and watch how his life/character has been represented in the film.

Question 2

How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Representation is a way that a person is portrayed. Representation in film is shown through camera work, mise en scene, sound and editing. It varies in different films. In our teen film we have represented four stereotypical teenagers and have explored different social groups. 

The Nerd

All of the shots that the nerd is in can be seen in the video above. In our opening sequence the nerd has been represented in a negative way. This is because everything that happens to him is bad although he was represented in that way for comical reasons. He is seen as the unlucky/unfortunate kid this is represented through his bike braking and him hurting his leg. He can also be perceived as the unpopular and uncool kid, as this is the stereotypical view of nerds in teen films. His shirt and glasses add to his appearance as he dresses very smartly which also shows his commitment to education.

On the left you can see two 'nerds' that are in 'Weird Science' they just like the nerd in 'T.E.A.M' are used for humour purposes and are surrounded by things linked with education.

The Jock

The representation of the Jock can be seen in the video above. The Jock has been represented in a positive way as he is a stereotypical masculine character that is always loved by everyone in the film. He wakes up to a girl in the morning, which suggests he is a popular character but has settled down. He also drives a car and lives in a nice house which suggests that he is rich and likes to look after himself. He is perceived as a character that everyone would look up to or want to be like. His costume which is very bright brings a lot of attention to him which also highlights the fact that he might be the popular kid in the school.

The jock in 'T.E.A.M' is similar to a jock in 'Not another teen movie' which is a global film. By looking at these two images of the jocks, you can tell that our jock is very stereotypically represented as he is wearing the same type of clothing as a jock from a real film. The bright colours in their baseball jackets show that they are very enthusiastic and the baseball jacket itself emphasises that they are interested in sport. 

Princess

The princess in our film has been represented in a positive/negative way. This depends in what type of way people will portray her. She can be seen as a positive character as she comes across jolly, glamorous and fashionable. In all of the shots you can tell that she looks after herself and cares about her appearance. Although she might come across a bit stuck up and vain. This is how a lot of princesses are stereotyped in the media.

The character from 'T.E.A.M' and the character from 'Mean Girls' are both princess in their films. They can be compared to each other as they are similar in a few ways. Mainly, they come across very glamorous and they are both wearing pink which is the colour associated with princess. 

The Criminal

The criminal in our film has been represented in a negative way. This is because he is first seen answering the phone from another criminal. This suggests that he is up to no good and may be involved with gangs. We then see that he is running away from someone, which could indicate he is a thief. His attitude when he walks toward the summer camp also shows that he doesn't want to be there, which indicates his personality that he doesn't suit this environment. The criminal is wearing all black which is how most criminals are portrayed as you wouldn't see them wear bright colours.

These two characters on the left are from 'Adulthood' and can be compared to the criminal as all of them wear dark clothing. These characters are represented in a negative way, meaning that the lives that they live are dangerous and their everyday lives may include dangerous things.

Question 1

In what ways does our media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

 Below is a list of conventions of film openings, a film will not always include all of these, but these are just a few things that are conventional in film openings.

We have used travelling and arriving in our teen opening sequence that is a conventional film opening, as we were inspired by the film ‘The Breakfast Club.’ This allowed us to introduce our 4 main stereotypical characters: jock, nerd, princess and criminal. For example the princess was wearing a pink top, which stereotypically is the first colour that comes to mind when the word princess is mentioned, which is why we decided for her to wear that coloured top.

We have used a technique that ‘hooks’ the audience and might make them want to carry on watching it. In my opinion the first shot which is a close up of the criminal creates an enigma, as we see the criminal receive a phone call, but we don’t know what it is about, as we don’t hear any dialog. This introduces an event on top of the main narrative, which is the 4 main characters arriving at a summer camp.

The opening sequence sets up a comedy genre because of the nerds characteristics but because of the shots including the criminal there seems to be a cross genre of comedy and crime.

Binary opposition is another convention that we included in our opening sequence. As there are 3 male characters that can be compared to each other. There is a clear difference in the characters through what they wear and look like and also how they arrive to college. For example the jock drives a car whereas the nerd rides a bicycle, this reflects on their personalities. The amount of screen time can also relate to which characters are seen to be more important.

In this clip I have included the order of titles from our film ‘T.E.A.M’ and from ‘Ten Things I Hate About You.’ The titles that can be seen in the corners that are much smaller are from ‘Ten Things I Hate About You.’ I made this clip to show the comparison between our opening sequence and how we used titles compared to a real film.

The titles that are included at the beginning of films are the most important members in the production

Q2 - How does your media product represent particular social groups?

Representation:
the description or portrayal of someone or something in a particular way.

In my teen film, T.E.A.M, I have represented the social groups of:

- The Princess
Typical a girly girl who is rich and spoilt, and enjoy beauty and glamour. Often get what they want, whenever they want it.

- The Nerd:
Someone who has an extreme passion for education. 

- The Jock:
The popular college student, who plays a lot of sport and has many female fans.

- The Criminal:
The dysfunctional student who often gets into a lot of trouble.

We have followed the typical conventions when trying to portray all teenagers as most of the characters are exaggerated and can not fully be related with.





leanne amaning's Slidely by Slidely Slideshow



Above I have made a prezi showing the characters that we used in our media product compared to the characters from various other teen films, such as Mean Girls and John Tucker Must Die, to show the similarities in representation through elements such as Mise-en-scene and camera.

The Princess:

Personally, I think 'The Princess' is represented negatively. This is because in society you are considered narcissistic and vain when you have an interest in fashion & beauty, for example, many models are insulted and made to feel unworthy because fashion & beauty is there proffesion. It is generally look down upon. 

In other films, 'Princess' type characters are after seen as spoilt, bratty and bitchy which has caused a correlation between interest in beauty and being spoilt.

This is shown through the use of the midshot camera angle on the princess, as most of the air time she had she spent looking at herself or deciding what to wear. This could suggest that she is selfish which means she is portrayed negatively.

The Nerd:

I think that the Nerd was also portrayed negatively in our teen film opening. This is because it is implying that being a nerd and interested in school and education is something funny and comical as most elements of the comedy comes from the nerd. We also suggest that having an interest in education makes you clumbsy, eg. when he fell off his bike and uncool, through his costume as he is wearing a bright pink shirt and very shiny pointy shoes. In society, it is almost uncool to want to succeed or to be spending time in the library, and in other teen movies, such as Mean Girls, nerds are often represented negatively as well, eg. the pictures below show them looking scruffy and comical.

The Jock:

The Jock is represented positively in my opinion, as our teen film shows him waking up next to a girl, owning a car and pointing at himself in confidence. This suggests that when you are a jock, you can have everything you want and you will enjoy life. In society, jocks are often portrayed like this also, which is why many teenagers aspire to be in lifestyles like this such as footballers; they have a large salary, large houses and 'wags'. Through his bright costume, it can be inferred that he is happy.

In other teen films as well, such as Not Another Teen Movie, Jocks are also represented positively, often being the centre of the school attention and being the most popular kid in school. 

The Criminal:

The criminal is portrayed both positively and negatively. Often, they are shown committing crimes which makes the viewer turn against them and empathize with the victim. However, often as the story progresses, it is revealed that the criminal has deep reasons for doing what he does, and the viewer is usually won over. For example, in our teen movie, the criminal commits crime because he is unhappy with his life because he lost his parents at a young age, which still hurts him and is living in an unloving house. This shows why in society, there may be so much crime around and that more needs to be done to tackle the underlying issues.

Criminal in teen film Kidulthood, later revealed that he isn't a bad person and is almost justified in his actions.

Question 1 - In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

Whilst studing titles, I learnt about the order or the titles shown. First, distribution and production companies appear at the beggining of the movie. They appear in order of how much money has been put into the production, for example, 20th Century Fox is usually shown first because they invest the most in movies. Then after will come other smaller idents, eg. Film 4, who usually put the least amount of money towards the production. This is usually followed by the title of the film, however this varies as some films show the title at the very end, very beginning, middle etc, depending on where they decide to put it. Actors names are then shown, some names appearing by themselves or groups of around three. Actors names are usually shown in order of importance as well, the most important actor/tress appearing last. The next titles shown are the casting credits, costume designer, music supervision, music, editor, production designer, director of photography, executive producer, producer, writer etc and the producer/director is usually last.

T.E.A.M Titles

Juno Titles

This is our media product compared to the teen film 'Juno' to show how we followed the conventions in our own teen film opening.

In addition to following the conventions of titles, our film T.E.AM also follows the conventions through:

Sound:
Our music does not follow the conventions of a teen film. We used a variety of music, with each piece of music explaining each character for example, the Nerd is often met with the song 'Wake Me Up Before You Go Go' which is a very upbeat and 90's song, which describes the nerd. On the other hand, the Jock has hip hop and much cooler music with some explicit language, which describes him. In Mean Girls for example, a typical teen movie, they often use rock/pop type songs mainly throughout the film and if they do have a change of song, it will be to describe a situation instead of an individual. For example, at one point in Mean Girls it changes to a hip hop rap song when they were about to have a party.

Camerawork:Our teen film T.E.A.M followed the conventions of teen films as it used a variety of long shots to show the teens traveling and arriving to their destination. Most teen dramas use traveling and arriving in their sequences and use long shots to do this. In addition, many teen dramas use establishing shots at the start, for example, The Breakfast Club. We chose not to follow this convention because we didn't use establishing shots because we felt we didn't need establishing shots to make the scenario/what was happening in the opening obvious.

Editing:The editing in T.E.A.M follows the conventions as most teen films are fast paced, showing each clip for round 2-5 seconds. This is the case with many other teen films, such as The Breakfast Club, to keep the viewer interested and to stop them from wondering. In addition, the main characters for teen movies, as well as most movies, give the main characters the most screen time, which our media product did, meaning we followed the conventions. The Criminal, The Princess, The Nerd and The Jock are the four main characters, and got the most screentime, around the same amount of time for each, whereas the other small characters such as the teacher or the shopkeeper who chased the criminal, only got small amounts of screen time.

Mise-en-scene: Our mise-en-scene is conventional for a teen drama. For example, costume is quite exaggerated. Eg, the Jock wheres a tracksuit, the Princess is glamours, the Nerd is very untrendy with glasses and quite petite and small and the Criminal is all blacked out. It is also based in a school environment, which is made obvious.