Research
Short films
Teen Drama
Definition:
A short film is a movie that is no more than 40 minutes long. Short films will get their stories/points across a lot quicker than regular movies. They do this by using mis-en-scene and editing a lot more. They are usual quick, entertaining and snappy. They never include a shot that has the potential to lose the audience's attention.
Different genres
These genres stay the same whether it be a short or regular movie. These include:
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- Action
- Adventure
- Art
- Biographical
- Comedy
- Documentary
- History
- Horror
- Superhero
- Thriller
- Teen Drama
- Romance
All films introduce you to it's main character/s just like any normal movie. The difference between a regular movie and a short movie is, a short movie will not drag at a story line. In fact, the audience will most probably know the whole story within the first five to ten minutes of the movie.
Similarities in teen drama short movie:
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- All these teen dramas use students
-Every story line is based on solving a problem
-They are about 10-20 minutes long
-They all have non-dietetic music
-They all contain Dialogue
-You already know the story by the title
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Difference in teen drama short movie:
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-Some use low lighting and others use natural lighting
-Some use point of view shots while others do not
-Genres Differ
- Length differs. Could be three minutes long or half hour
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I have learned that all short movies are no longer than 40 minutes long. They get their story line in, usually during the first 10 minutes and they only use key shots instead of 'wasting' time on the small parts of a story
Low level lighting - creates a tense sort of feeling, highlights the wrong doings taking place in the movie
The actor is positioned with his face not towards the audience so we can see exactly what he sees.
Prop - piece of paper with the words 'End it.'
Over the shoulder shot - highlights that whatever we see is important to know/witness
Computer and desk to represent an area of work
The setting is at his desk, highlights his role as a teacher and reminds us that he is abusing his power and he is not a victim.
The high angle shot highlights his lack of power which could symbloise the representation of his fall as a corrupted teacher
Low angle shot - usually used to establish dominance and power. Could infer that shooting into a basketball takes power away from the character as it makes her nervous?
Prop - The ball tells us that the characters are playing basketball as we all know what the ball looks like as well as the net.
The lighting is focused on the actual net itself. Tells the audience where the main focus of the shot should be
Costume consists of similar sport wear which infers it is a uniform. That therefore highlights that this is a school's sports game.
The actress as bee positioned behind the camera in this shot. This makes the audience see this as a point of view shot and therefore we see what she does.
Closeup - infers the importance this shot holds. Whether or not the ball goes in is something the audience needs to know.
The setting is a large gym. It could be inferred that this is a school as it looks like a school facility.
How is the genre made clear to the audience?
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The props used in each scene (the lockers, desks and bulliton boards) tells us as an audience that the characters are students and teachers, and the setting of the movie is in a school. Typically a teen drama is set in an area of learning and therefore this tells the audience that this is a teen drama.
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How is the narrative made clear to the audience?
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The colour of each costume tells the audience who is the good guy and bad guy as characters dressed in darker colours are typically the antagonist of a story/movie. The angle shots used help the audience to establish who has the power. The dilogue is used to clean up anything unclear to the audience.
How is the genre made clear to the audience?
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Here, the opening shot is of a typical school gym. This therefore tells us that the setting of the movie is a school. The first genre that comes to mind is a teen drama, especially when sport characters are usually quite popular in teen dramas.
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How is the narrative made clear to the audience?
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The actors and actresses are shown to be clearly playing netball, therefore we get the idea that the movie will be some what based along the lines of sport. The dialogue of the coach and the basketball equip is what gives us this information.
The Todorov theory is the idea that every story line follows a certain structure. The thought is that every book or movie begins with an equilibrium that is then disrupted. This disruption is made aware to the main character and therefore they attempt to fix it. All this, eventually, leads to a new equilibrium.
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In most teen dramas this way of happening is in fact true. 'The good student' is a good example of a teen drama following the said theory. The main character is a normal student looking for extra credit, she asked her teacher what she can do for it and he acts strangely - tell her to ask one of his other students. This is the equilibrium. The character does so and finds out that the teacher is making students pay for extra credit. This is the disruption. The character then tries to tell the head teacher about it and asks her teacher to stop what he is doing because it is wrong. This is the character attempting to fix the problem. When all else fails, the character tricks her teacher into be caught for what he is doing. The head teacher then requests for them both in her office, making the audience believe he has been finally caught. This is the new equilibrium.
The Blumler and Katz theory is the idea of what a movie or book does for it's audience - in other words, why do people read and watch movies? The five main ideas is the three Is and two Es (Information, Identification, Interaction, Entertainment and Escapism.)
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Again, in most teen dramas this is very accurate in determining what the audience expects to get out of it's movie. For example, if I were to watch 'American Girl' it would mostly likely be for Entertainment, Identification and a little Escapism. I would gain Entertainment by just generally watching the movie as, to me, is enjoyable to watch. Identification would come from getting to know the main character. Every genre likes to introduce and show their main characters off a little, but in teen drama movies we tend to find out everything there is to possibly know about them. We can to know them better, to the point where we pretty much feel as though we were in the movies ourselves. Escapism would come from the new equilibrium of the story. Teen dramas always have realistic story lines that every teenager can relate to at least once in their lifetime. By teen dramas always having a happy ending, it offers audiences escapism as their can imagine it being the result of their teenage problems.
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Teen Drama (C&C)
Themes:
- Rebellion
- Sexuality
- Sex
- Drugs
- Mental Health
- Bullying
Music:
- Dance/Pop
- Rap/Trap/Grime
- Indie/Acoustic
- Rock
Character types:
- The Love Interest
- The Best Friend
- The Antagonist
- The Wise Adult
Cliques:
- Jocks/Cheers
- Emo/Goth
- Geeks/Nerds
- Stoners
- Loners
- Artys
- Popular
Stereotypes:
- Nerd (Geeky glasses, shirt and tie, really clever, lack social skills)
- Cheerleader (Airhead, popular, no ambitions, can play the role of bully, a 'slut')
- Jock (Bully, strong, cruel, player, social power)
- Outsider (Sarcastic, sees people for who they really are, gives no cares)
- Wannabe (Follows the latest 'fashion' and will do anything to look cool.
- New Girl (Different from everyone else, kind, breaks stereotypes, intriguing)
Settings:
- High School
Locker room
Cafeteria
Hall/Corridor
Field/Gym
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- Character homes
House parties
Sleepovers
Kitchen
Living room
- The Mall
Analyse of Perks of being a wallflower
Mise-en-scene
One of the conventional settings used in teen dramas are the school gyms. The scenes placed here are often used to represent unity, excitement or the equilibrium of the story line. The basketball hoops (Props) used on the both sides of the frame makes us come to the conclusion that this is in fact a gym of some sort. Therefore showing one aspect of a Teen Drama.
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Low key lighting is often used in teen dramas as a code, it is the directors way of highlighting where the audiences main focus should be, as we naturally concentrate on the part of the frame with the most light. Here, we concentrate on the 'Homecoming' poster and the movement of the people just below it, which makes us come to the conclusion that this is a school event and the characters are students - therefore representing this movie as a Teen Drama.
Almost every teen drama has a stereotypical prom, homecoming or dance. As soon as either are mentioned, people automatically know that whatever they are watching is most probably a teen drama. The Prop used here is a poster stating 'Homecoming', which automatically tells us the genre of this movie.
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The costumes in this scene consist of suits and dresses, the conventional attire for a formal occasion. The costumes and the props used suggest that this dance is here to represent something important. Stereo typically, these events in teen dramas often result in the main characters equilibrium or understanding of their story line. Audiences often do not realise this, but this a teen drama code for 'it is nearly the end of the movie.'
Cinematography
There are two different diegetic sounds in this film that shows it is a teen drama. The first sound would be the popular song 'Come on Eileen' playing in the background. Every teen drama will have a popular or upbeat song playing as it's target audiences are usually female teenagers.
The male is placed in the centre of the frame to show he is the area of importance. Teen dramas often do this to establish their main characters. This is because by putting them in the middle, the audience automatically concentrates on the character, their facial expressions and emotions. Therefore, the audience creates a relationship with him and therefore in later shots, they will concentrate on him.
The camera movement used here is called a track in. Teen dramas often use this movement to show the audience a character's surroundings before concentrating on them solely. This movie has used it to show the round of dancing students, to then concentrate solely on the male and female. Maybe to tell the audience that they are the best dancers there or to use they should be of the most importance to them.
Editing
The shot-reverse-shot here is often use this editing technique in teen dramas to show the interactions between characters or to show their line of interest. Shot-reverse-shot often tells us a lot about a character. Here it is used as this male character watches the others dance and have fun. This tells the audience that he may be socially awkward and therefore likes to stand off to the side.
We did a workshop at the start of the project in order to learn how to make a film.
In this workshop I learned many skills in which will help me to complete my film project. We learned how to use a tripod correctly, how to create a camera movement smoothly, the importance of natural lighting and where to place a camera according to this. We also learned how to use Premiere Pro in order to edit our footage. I learned how to use camera and sound edits as well as how to snip off footage and sound that I did not need or want.