Setting and Location

 

This is the establishing shot at the beginning after the title appears, this sets the scene as the audience can clearly see the setting is a school which is stereotypical for teen angst films.

 

 

This high angle will be used when Aiden and Tom are introduction. This shot will be of behind them and tracking of them walking down the stairs.

 

 

This will be the long shot of Aiden and Tom walking out and Jessica and Kate walking in.

 

 

This long shot will show the boys playing football on the field.

 

 

This long shot from the side will be on Kate and Jessica walking along.

 

 

This mid shot from the side will be of Kate and Jessica, it will be this shot when Kate gets hit on the head with the football.

 

 

This long shot of the field will show the boys playing football.

Titles and Names

 Our title is called 'Opposites', this will be in the font san serif.


This is the opening scene, when all of the credit will appear.

·         He unzips his bag, Credit revealed in bag, puts typical school related items in his bag- books, drink, football, crisps.

·         We see him getting his keys and football.

·         Aiden leaves the house through his front door.

·         He opens the boot, Credit revealed, and puts his bag inside.

·         He shuts the boot- and we see the number plate Credit on number plate

·         A shot of the door handle Credit on door handle

·         A POV shot of the steering wheel Credit curved around steering wheel

·         The key in the ignition.

·         Shot of the wheel Credit left behind as car dives away

·         We see the car drive away.

·         A shot of the sky revealing the title, 'Opposites'.

Costumes

All of the characters will wear smart/ casual clothing. This is because the characters attend sixth form. Additionally, the clothing will be casual and modern, this emphasises that the characters are young.

AidenTom

 

 

 

KateJessica

Planning of Characters

Main character – Aiden

We decided to use a male as the leading role, simply because based on our research; there were not very many films with a male as the leading role. The films that we found that had male leading roles were 17 Again, John Tucker Must Die and Superbad.

 

Aiden is a popular boy who gets all of the attention, he is the leader of the group of 'lads'. He is popular because he is cool and funny. He dresses in smart/casual clothing. Aiden is a stereotypical, popular teenage boy. He has many friends and also has a love interest however she is an unpopular girl and his friends think of it as weird.

Aiden’s love interest – Kate

Kate is a stereotypical unpopular girl. She is quiet and shy, and does not have many friends. She feel as if she is invisible. She is Aiden’s love interest, but they do not interact with each other until the football hits her. She will wear smart/casual clothes as well, however she doesn't care deeply about her appearance as she sees herself as invisible to everyone. She will wear minimal everyday make up, to not draw attention to herself.  We based Kate's character on 'Bella' from 'Twilight'.

Kate’s best friend – Jessica

Jessica is Kate’s best friend and she is also unpopular. Her only friend is Kate and they do everything together. She dresses is smart/casual teenage clothing, this shows that she is smart as she is in sixth from, but casual which is stereotypical for a teenager.

Aiden’s friend – Tom

Tom is Aiden’s friend/‘wingman’. Like Aiden, he is also popular, he apart of a big friendship group, with the 'lads', they often play football. He also thinks that Aiden liking an unpopular girl is strange.

Extras- Boys playing football. We got this idea from the boy's playing Frisbee in 'The Inbetweeners'.

Storyboards

Music and Sound

We have decided to included the sound 'Bad Reputation' by Joan Jett. This song is very upbeat and edgy. We chose this song because it is rebellious, this represents teenagers, therefore the audience may be able to relate. It also gives the audience an insight on the characters behaviour/personality, this foreshadows Aiden's behaviour. This song is going to play at the beginning, therefore the audience has insight that the film will be light-hearted and upbeat. From my research I found this song also featured in the opening scene of the film '10 Things I Hate About You', this gives the audience a clear understanding of the protagonists personality. I played it to my group and they were very interested in using it.

Non-diegetic sound of the boot slamming shut will be added, this could help emphasise his anger and frustration. We will be adding non-diegetic sound of a car engine turning on and the car wheeling screeching, when driving away, this will emphasise that the boy can drive and is traveling at speed, this emphasises his rebellious side, it will adds suspense, as the audience wants to know where the protagonist is headed.

A non-diegetic bell will be added when the title appears. This helps with the ellipsis as the bell shows him driving away and then the next shot is of the school, the bell helps show the passing of time. The bell also lets the audience suggest that the setting of the film will be in a sixth form college (high school), this setting is very stereotypical for teen angst films.

The second song we decided to use in the opening sequence is 'Fireball' by Pitball, this song is also upbeat and fun, the song is quite comedic and helps to add the humour to the scene.

We will be including two voiceovers. This will be by the main character 'Aiden and his love interest (later in the film) 'Kate'. This will helps the audience understand their personalities. We decided to also give 'Kate' a voiceover because this shows her opinion other than just the main character.

We will be added non-diegetic 'thudding' sound that's amplified when the ball hits 'Kate's' head this will emphasise the hit, also it will make it more comedic.

Script

Post by Lois Hutchinson

OPPOSITES

Characters: Aiden, Kate, Jessica, Tom and extras

Scene 1:  

Location – Aiden's house/Driveway – morning

Aiden is getting ready- getting his books (he opens his bag and there's a credit, he collects his books and there's a credit on there too) and keys- he's tired. He walks out of the house and onto the driveway, he opens the boot (which will reveal a credit) and puts his bag inside. He opens the door to his car(there’s a credit on the door handle) , he gets in (there's a credit on the steering wheel) he starts the engine and drives off, (there’s a credit under the tire) the camera pans up to the sky and reveals the name of the film.

There is no dialogue in the first scene

·         A shot of Aiden’s phone we see him press play on Bad Reputation by Joan Jett

·         Aiden unzips his bag

·         He puts typical school related items in his bag- books, drink, football, crisps.

·         We see him getting his keys and football

·         Aiden leaves the house through his front door

·         He opens the boot and puts his bag inside

·         He shuts the boot- and we see the number plate

·         A shot of the door handle

·         A POV shot of the steering wheel

·         The key in the ignition

·         Shot of the wheel

·         We see the car drive away

·         A shot of the sky revealing the title, Opposites

Scene 2:

Location – the school & corridors

Multiple shots of Kate and Aiden – we see them walking around the school (Aiden first, then Kate.) with their friends – general buzz of school life heard – voiceover from Aiden and Kate showing their personalities.  

·         Following the last shot the camera pans down to reveal the school  - Loud bell - fades to non-diegetic music-'Fireball' by Pitball.

Voiceover from Aiden:

Hi I’m Aiden. I’m 17 and  I’m in my second year of sixth form. (Screen freezes) I’m the popular one. (the popular one appears on the screen.)  it’s the same record every day. Eat, sleep, sixth form, repeat. And occasionally the odd game of football. It’s not easy being the popular one, there’s certain  expectations you need on your cv.  1. Dress nice. Good clothes are essential. 2. Be funny . nobody will care if you can’t make them laugh.  And 3. Have a girlfriend. You need to have constant  gossip 24/7 otherwise your celebrity status wont exist. I’d say I have 1&2 down but I still need to get no.3. I’ve seen all the girls here, and none of them interest me. Boring, bossy, bitch. This is my mate Tom!(Aiden sees Tom and chucks the football to him) Tom goes to catch the football (screen freezes – the wingman appears on the screen) Aka my wingman.

 

(As Aiden leaves the voiceover changes to Kate)

 

Voiceover from Kate:

I’m Kate I’m 17 and also in the second year of sixth form. (screen freezes) I’m  the unpopular one. (The unpopular one appears on the screen.) No one knows who I am to be honest. I’m the invisible one without an opinion. At the moment life’s on a loop. Eat, sleep, sixth form, repeat.  Nothing ever happens here. The same faces, same gossip, same bitches. All the girls are clones. Contoured and highlighted.  The only person who would notice if I went missing is Jessica. (Close up on Jessica – (screen freezes – the best friend  appears on the screen) She’s been my best friend since primary school.

Scene 3:

Location – the field

 We see Kate and Jessica walking to the sixth form building - there talking. The camera switches to the boys playing football on the field. Kate and Jessica walk past and football hits Kate in the head.

Jessica: What do you have next?

Kate: Media, what do you have?

Shot of the boys playing football- they make the goals out of their bags

Jessica: Law. How long till first period?

Kate: Um (looks at her phone) 3 minutes

Shot of boys playing football – someone scores a goal – shouting and celebrations       

Aiden kicks the ball to Tom but he  misses 

Music cuts out fast when Aiden kicks football – silence –

Slow motion of the other players faces as they realise what’s going to happen.

And the football hits Kate in the head

There's a shot of the footballers laughing/shocked – Aiden feels guilty and walks over to help Kate

Kate's on the floor rubbing her head.

Aiden: are you ok?

We see Kate ignore him and get up.

Risk Assessment

Post by Ben Angliss

Risk -	Probability/Level (Out of 5)-	How to avoid -
Dropping the camera	3	Keep the strap on your wrist or neck at all times.
Slipping over	2	Be more cautious on wet days and watch your step.
Football hit head too hard	1	Don’t throw the ball with much force.
Car	2	Be careful when filming around it e.g. Under the tire.
Playing football	2	Wear suitable football, kick it too hard and be careful in wet conditions.
Filming near roads	2	Don’t go too near roads while filming things.

Ideas on our title

Some of our ideas for the title of our film is:

• The not so perfect life of Aiden.
• That kid called Aiden.
• Fireball.
• The twist.
• That stereotypical teen film.
• Score.
• Strike.
• Crushin'.
• Aiden next door. (AND)
• Playing by the rules.
• Opposites.

We decided on the name 'Opposites' as we have a male main character, this is counter typical of teen angst films. The name also gives the audience an insight to the narrative as the main character Aiden falls in love with a girl, Kate, who has a very different personality to him.

The Breakfast Club (teen angst research)

Today I watched 'The Breakfast Club', this helped my understanding of stereotypical conventions in a teen angst film. The plot line of this film is that 5 teenagers are in a Saturday detention, all of these teens are from different backgrounds and have very different stereotypes.

We see the stereotypical perfect girl, the jock, the bad guy, the nerd and the emo. However, the morale of the film is to show that stereotypes doesn't matter as they all end up being friends.

The setting of this film is very stereotypical for a teen angst film as it is a school, more specifically a library where the detention is being held.

Feedback

After our pitch we got some feedback from our class,

They said:

·         They liked the fact that our protagonist was a male

·         They liked our transition shots – where the titles come up

·         They liked our production company and logo 

They said we could improve:

·         On how detailed our plot is

·         How the opening starts

·         Which sort of shots we use

Our production company and logo went down very well they liked

·         That the background was a cinema

·         The red stereotypical chairs

·         That our logo appeared on the screen

·         That the font stands out

Film company logo

Our initial idea was to call the company 'Tomorrow Studios', we then changed this to 'Tomorrow Productions' because we believe not only did it sound better but we wanted to show that this company produces films.

Our film company is called 'Tomorrow Productions', this is because the target audience is for young people looking forward and not to the past like older people, therefore this emphasises the target audience. This represents the film company as it suggest that we look forwards and are modernised.

I also created our production company logo. I created it on Photoshop. This was easy to create and has a simplistic look however it put across the meaning we wanted. For example; the clear image of the cinema indicts straight away that it is related to the film industry. The title of the film company is on the cinema screen, this makes it stand out as the background is dark. The red seats are also very stereotypical of a cinema. The image is also is a point of view shot, therefore connects with the audience as they would be in the same position.

Our Presentation

 

We did a presentation to the class, pitching our ideas for our teen angst opening sequence.

 

https://www.youtube.comnosteering 

 

Ideas for Teen Angst Opening Scene

Our USP is that the protagonist is out film is going to be male. This is a countertype of teen angst films, as stereotypically the protagonist is female. Through research the only teen angst film we found with a male protagonist is '17 Again'.

Teen Angst Opening Scene Plan/Presentation

Target Audience

Demographics

Age: 15-18

Location: Town, as it makes it relatable for the majority of the audience.

Gender: All.

Income level: minimum wage.

Education level: GCSE/A Level.

Family Status: Siblings watch it together.

Occupation: Part-time/Saturday Job.

Ethnic background: English.

Psychographics

Personality: Having a sense of humour.

Attitude: Open minded.

Values: Friendship and relationships.

Interests/hobbies:-

Lifestyle: Balancing education, work and social life.

Behaviour:-

Are their enough people to fit my criteria?

Yes, this is because the description for my target audience describes a stereotypical teenager.  

Research of the Teen Angst film genre.

Teen angst films have the target audience of teenagers/ young adults.

The plot/narrative is based on stereotypical teenage interests, such as coming of age, rebellion, conflict or alienation. These subjects are represented in a glossy/stereotypical way.

Teen angst films focus on the most troubled aspects of the teenage years. 

Many teen angst films include humour and sexual themes. 

Additionally, many are set in high schools.

Typical conventions of a teen film depend on the cultural context of the film, for example; prom, parties, losing one's virginity, social groups and most stereotypically cliques.

Teen Angst Film Titles

Mean Girls

The word 'mean' connotes anger and hate. This is stereotypical as teenagers are seen to be moody. This is juxtaposed by the word 'girls' as this word connotes innocence. This also suggests that the film will be based on girls.

Clueless

The title is compelling as it is short and straight to the point. The word 'clueless' means a lack of understanding/knowledge, this could represent the main character a being young and naïve. Additionally, it means 'stupid' therefore the main character could be dumb and play on this role.

10 Things I Hate About You

This title shows aggression. The word 'I' suggests that the main character 'hates' many things about things person. The audience interested in finding out who the person 'hates' and why.

13 going on 30

The name '13 going on 30'  could represent that a teenager at 13 feels as massive change from being a chid to an adult. It connotes that teenagers may feel like they are growing up too quickly. The audience may be able to relate to this feeling. It also shows that the audience will be younger teenagers.

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging

The name of this film is quite long and random. The words 'Thongs' and 'Snogging' are both sexual. The word 'snogging' is slang and a very typical teenage word. It suggest that in the film there is a love interest.

Easy A

This name is memorable as it is short. The word 'Easy A' could suggest grades, it could suggest that the main character is clever and receive good grades. This also suggests that the film is set in a high school.

Grease

The title is effective, as it is one word, this will makes the audience remember the name.The word 'Grease' suggests that the film could be set in a garage.

Breakfast Club

This title suggests that the film could be set in/based on a high school as many schools have 'clubs'. The audience may be able to relate as they may attend a club. Additionally, the name suggests that in the film friendship will be formed, as club are known for bringing people together. 

The Princess Diaries

This title suggests that the film will be based on a teenage girl, as princess are often teenagers. The word 'diaries' is also stereotypical for a teenage girl, as many of them keep diaries. The fact that the girl has a diary may suggest her life is hectic and she has to keep a note of things. This could be intriguing for thee audience.

Wild Child

The word 'wild' suggest recklessness and carelessness. The word 'child' suggests that the film will be based on young people and for a young audience. The title could represent that teenagers have to grow up, however they want to stay children.

John Tucker Must Die

This title is very aggressive, this is emotion is portrayed the words 'must die'. Additionally, the name 'John Tucker' suggests that the main person in the film doesn't like this person. This makes the audience intrigued to find out why the main character hates 'John Tucker'.

Footloose

The definition of 'Footloose' is to be able to act or move freely, to not held back by ties to other people. This could represent the life of a teenager. This name also represent the film as being light-hearted.

17 Again

This name could represent that the main character doesn't want to grow up. The number '17' being used in the title shows that the main character will likely be 17, it also suggests the target audience will be around 17 as well.

Discussion on a Teen Angst Film

Today I had a discussion with a media student/friend about the teen angst '10 Things I Hate About You'. We spoke about the romance in it. The scene when Patrick serenades Kat with the song 'Can't take my eyes off of you', this scene makes the audience cringe as it is cheesy, however the audience still likes it because shows the affection between the two. 

2 Extra Teen Angst Opening Scenes- Analysis

10 Things I Hate About You
 
There is diegetic upbeat pop music playing in the blue car, filed with stereotypically popular girls. This contrasts with the girl (Kat) in the red car, the red connotes danger. Additionally, there is non-diegetic rock music is playing, which connotes anger. This gives the audience initial impression of the main character and establishes the narrative.

There is a shot-reverse-shot when Kat pulls up next to the blue car. There is a mid shot of Kat, this a mid shot of the girls, one of the girls lifts her eyebrows in disgust. Then a close up of Kat face rolling her eyes.

The next shot is an establishing shot of a high school, this suggests that the majority of the film will be set in a high school.

Clueless

There is a smooth transition from the production company logo, to the title of the film.

The first shot is of the girl shopping, this gives the stereotype of a rich teenager. Additionally, shopping is seen to make her happy. This emphasises the fact that teenagers love money and may make the audience relate to it.

The setting of the opening scene shows shots from a party, where the girls are dancing and a pool party, where we see the girls enjoying themselves. This shows that teenagers like to have fun. There is another shot where the 3 girls are sitting in the café, this may be more relatable for some of the audience. This clearly shows that the target audience for this film is teenage girls. The social setting emphasises the fact that girls like to be with there friends, gossiping and having fun. This will make the audience excited to watch the film.

The main character is introduced when she is trying to decide on an outfit to wear. This emphasises the fact that teenagers care about their appearance.