Teen Angst Movies

Teen Angst Movies are films that are aimed generically towards teenagers. They have themes associated with growing up and the coming of age. Some classic teen angst films include:

• Clueless
• Mean Girls
• Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging
• Just My Luck

 These films follow certain conventions, such as having females as the main characters, having themes such as growing up and coming of age, and set in a school or home.

Here are some clips from well known teen angst movies

Mean Girls

Clueless

Pitch Perfect

Just My Luck

Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging

A Cinderella Story

Another Cinderella Story

From looking at the generic conventions of teen angst films, I have highlighted four key areas that contain the conventions. These are, character, costume, props and setting. Within each of these categories there are specific things that altogether make up a typical teen angst film.

The main character in a teen angst film is usually a female teenager such as Bella in Pitch Perfect and Cady in Mean Girls. Then there is a good looking love interest, generally a male, white skinned and also young, the same age or slightly older than the main character, for example, Robbie in Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging, or Austin in A Cinderella Story. Then there is the evil character, who is generally a female, blonde and if the film is in a school setting, is the queen bee, the most popular girl in the school. Some examples of this are Regina George in Mean Girls, Fiona in A Cinderella Story, and Vivian Kensington in Legally Blonde.

Costume plays a large role in creating the effect of a teen angst movie. They can create a setting such as the characters wearing school uniforms to give the setting of a school, or social groups such as a group of people wearing the same colour scheme to show their unity. The costumes I have used as examples are from a range of films, settings and situations such as parties, work and school uniforms.

Props such can make a scene feel more realistic. In teen angst movies, props that can be relevant to a school such as books and bags are used to show authenticity, but they are not the only props included. Props such as microphones, headphones and drumkits are used to show an underlying musical theme to the film such as in Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging and Pitch Perfect. Mobile phones, "cool" cars and laptops are also used to show the technological diversion of today's youth, and that people can communicate quickly. Makeup tables and sets are used to show that the youth of today care about their appearance.

Choosing the right setting for a teen angst film is crucial to making it seem as if it is real life. Most commonly, the films are set in a place such as a school, where teenagers can relate to the people and situations that are present. Other locations used include a shopping centre, cafe or school dance.

Title Sequences

This week, we started looking at title sequences are formatted. We looked at films from a range of genres, such as teen angst, horror and comedy. We then watched the title sequence for Juno and had an assistive timeline, such as the one above. We had to note the amount of names that are credited in the opening sequence, and we noticed that generally this is around 20 names. Then, we had to create a timeline for a film title sequence of my own.

The timeline above is my timeline of the Forrest Gump titles. The sequence involves a feather drifting naturally through the sky and city, before landing on the feet of the main character. He is the only character introduced in the sequence which is unnatural, but other characters are better introduced in the following scene. Directors of the film say that the feather was chosen to represent fate and opportunity, as it could land anywhere at all and it lands at his feet. The captions in the sequence are in a sans serif font, and they appear every 5 seconds in the same white font each time.

I also studied the opening sequences of films such as Mean Girls, Easy A and Clueless to see how teen angst films usually are started. I found that some of the features of typical teen angst title sequences are:

• Voiceover
• Female main character
• Introduction of main characters, themes and settings
• Titles edited to fit camera movements and settings
• Layered sound
• Upbeat music 

From doing this, I have started to understand what goes into making a title sequence, and how to plan one. I also know how to tailor a title sequence to fit the typical features of teen angst films, and therefore how to make my own film seem more appealing to my target audience.

Film Company Logo Evaluation

Preliminary Task

For our preliminary task we had to create a short continuity sequence, mainly to focus on:

• 180 degree rule
• Shot-reverse-shot
• Match action

We learnt from this task  how to use the 180 degree rule, which is where the camera cannot move past a 180 degree line. This is so that the action and characters on screen do not constantly move from side to side, improving the overally effectiveness and continuity of the film.

Match action means that we do not have to film as much footage, as it allows us to cut down on certain segments of the film. An example of this is when a character is seen opening a door, and then is seen walking in the room. This still makes sense without showing the full footage.

Some of the main things we could improve on if we got the chance are:

• Sound/background noise
• Range of camera angles and movements
• Better continuity.

The filming and editing processes was a lot smoother than when we filmed our swede, as we had planned the task and camera shots effectively.