The Bling Ring

The Bling Ring

In this lesson we watched the film called the Bling Ring. It is a film about a group of fame-obsessed teenagers who use the internet to track celebrities whereabouts in order to rob their houses. We watched this movie so that we could find out about the conventions and stereotypes of teen movies.The opening of the film is not conventional because there are flash forwards used to show the ending of the film before it has even started. You rarely see this being used in teen movies.  In the opening of the film a photo montage was used to show the viewer what the film will be about. The photo montage included photos of celebrities,parties, clothes and each of their Facebook pages. Also in the opening we see the title of the movie and the main characters are introduced, In this film Emma Watson starts as Nicki. Emma Watson is idealised by many young teenage girls and because of this they would go to watch this film. In this film there are many conventions which are seen through many teen movies. 

Teen vs Authority 

In the film there was always conflict between the teenagers and authority. The teenagers went against the law and robed the houses of celebrities. This showed that they did not respect nor listen to the authority.

Poor vs Rich 

The way that the teenagers are dressed is very casual in just jeans and t-shirts whereas the celebrities in the movie are dressed in designer clothes and  expensive accessories. This shows the difference between the normal teenagers and the famous celebrities. 

The Bling Ring

Today in class we watched the teen film 'The Bling Ring' (2013) which is a story based on actual events, it follows a group of friends who are 'fame obsessed' as they take their obsession one step to far by deciding to break into their favourite celebrities houses. The film stars Emma Watson as 'Nicki' and even Paris Hilton, one of the actual targeted celebrities in the real burglaries.



Reflection Post

At this point, I realise that I am a bit behind everyone else with my blogging. There are several individual tasks that I still haven't started or completed, so over the Christmas holidays, I'm going to ensure that I catch up with all my work as I have realised I cannot get the marks I want, if I don't put the time or effort into my blog.  So, I will do all the necessary posts along with some extra ones like this.

Bling Ring

Bling Ring

In lesson we watched the film ' The Bling Ring' it is a teen drama. The film is about  a group of fame-obsessed teenagers who use the internet to track celebrities' whereabouts in order to rob their homes.

Genre and convention

genre and sub genre

Analysis of 3 teen movies with different audiences

Teen film storylines

Ferris Bueller's day off
High school student Ferris Bueller decides to take a day off by acting like he is on the verge of death. He fools his parents into thinking that he is actually feeling sick and then invites his friend over, who is actually sick, so they can enjoy their special day off.

10 things I hate about you
Cameron James, the new kid, is given a tour of the school by Michael Eckman. Cameron then sees this beautiful girl and falls in love with her like love at first sight.

Romeo and Juliet
The scene opens with the Montague boys acting wild in their bright cars and stop by the gas station to pick up gas. The Capulet boys then arrive at the same gas station and cause a chaos because of their family rivalry.

Princess diaries
Mia Thermopolis is a 15 year old 10th grade private high school student who lives with her mother Helen thermopolis. In the opening scene it shows her journey to school on an daily basis.

Creation of our own stereotype

During the lesson we watched the film Not Another Teen Movie.From this we gathered different stereotypes of the characters,some of those stereotypes were the sluts, jocks, and the princess.

The sluts are dressed in school uniform with short skirts and crop tops. 3 other examples of these stereotypes from other films is Mean Girls, American Pie and Wild Child.

The jocks are usually dressed in baseball jackets who are fit and healthy and who are the 'eye candy' for the girls.

Representation Task: The Slut

• Big boobs
• EX six pack 
• Big ass

Representation Task: The Jock

we created the stereotype of the 'Jock', we done this by stuffing his jacket with paper to make it appear that he has bigger shoulders because jocks are normally quite muscular. He wore a baseball jacket because in teen films the jock is normally wearing one. Also he chose to do that pose as it makes him look vein and like he's in love with himself.

           Stereotypes

• Baseball jacket 
• Large
• Bully
• Hot
• Chick magnet
• Athlete 
• Dumb
• Fit/healthy 

Genre and Convention

Teen Movies is a film genre that is mainly targeted at teenagers and young adults. Most teens movies are set in an educational system/environment such as a school, college or university, the settings are key as they to help immediately relate the film to the teenagers watching. The audiences may be able to relate to specific parts of the plot and therefore most plots of teen films are very straight forward and sometimes predictable. Key themes within teen films may be: first loves, break ups and rebellion/conflicts with parents, authority and other characters such as friends.

Common Sub Genres found in Teen Movies:

Romance

Fantasy

Horror

Thriller

Comedy

Drama

Most teen movies will include certain aspects from more than one sub genre to broaden their fan base/audience, as some sub genres will appeal more to girls and women whereas, others may relate more to boys and men.

Storyline, Openings and Binary Oppositions

Examples of binary oppositions

Rich vs Poor

Hot vs Ugly

Happy vs Angry

Casual vs sophisticated

Cool vs Nerd

Fake vs Reality

Dark vs Light

Home life vs School life

Teacher vs Student

Parent vs child

Royalty vs non royal

Sister vs Brother

Boring vs interesting

Old vs young

Pop vs Punk

Black vs Colourful

Scared vs Brave

Capulet vs Montague

Hawaiian shirts vs sharp suits

None religious vs Religious

Genre and Convention

Task2 research homework; Analysis of 3 teen movies with different audiences

Examples of binary opposition

The binary oppositions in most teen films are:

Rivalry against brothers and sisters

Home life vs school life

Interesting vs boring

gloomy music vs Hawaiian music

Cool vs nerd

Old vs young

Rich vs poor

Hot vs ugly

Pop music vs Punk music

Happy vs Unhappy

Latin American vs White American

Hawaiian shirts vs Sharp suits

Casual vs Sophisticated

Religious vs non religious

Cowboys vs punk

Peace vs Quaral

Popular vs unpopular

Casual vs uniform

Confident vs nervous

Royalty vs unroyalty

Dark vs light

Black vs colourfull

Research Homework

Task 2:

Mean Girls

The target audience for this movie is teenager girls from the age of 13 and over. It is an American teen comedy about a group of girls called the Plastics who run the school. So when the new girl Cady starts school she becomes one of the Plastics. This film appeals to a specific audience of teenager girls from the age of 13, This is because the film is all about the life of a teenager girl. A lot of girls would be able to relate to Cady's situation so this is the reason why they might watch it.

The Inbetweeners 

The target audience for this film is teenager boys from the age of 13 and over.It is a comedy movie based on the E4 sitcom The Inbetweeners.The film is about four 18 year olds from the south of England who go on holiday to Malia. The movie appeals to teenager boys because it is a comedy,This attracts a lot of viewers.

The Hunger Games

The target audience for this movie is teenagers from the age of 11. It is an adventure film which follows the journey of children who compete in the Hunger Games every year.The Hunger Games is a televised fight to the death in which two teenagers from each of the twelve Districts of Panem are chosen at random to compete. The stars of the movie are Jennifer Lawrence and Liam Hemsworth, A lot of teenagers would go to see this film because of these two actors. They are both very famous actors which means that teenagers would go to watch this film because of them. This film appeals to teenagers because it is thrilling and an adventure which teenagers will enjoy watching.

Storylines ,plot and binary oppositions?

Story lines:

The typical story line includes at least 2 teenagers, and other adults. The most common plots are about teenagers who fall in love in a high school and what happens during and after the relationship.There is always the best friends of the couple who are there for support.

In this lesson we learnt about story lines and plots which are used in teen movies. We then analysed how binary oppositions are set up through the four technical areas which are mise en scene,editing, sound and camera. These are the main binary oppositions which I found:

Popular vs Not Popular

I watched the film called The Princess Diaries to find out that in the school there was the main popular group of cheerleaders and football players and then there was the less popular group of the geeks and mechanics.

These binary oppositions were represented by the clothes that they wear with the popular cheerleaders always wearing skirts and dresses and the geeks wearing jeans and trainers. 

Pretty vs Ugly

I watched the film 10 Things I hate about you to find out about all the different binary oppositions in the film. The main one that I found was pretty vs ugly. One of the sisters was seen as being ugly because of the way that she dressed and the other sister was seen as pretty and the girl that all the boys wanted to be with.

Task 2: Analysis of 3 Teen Movies

Romance

 

Love and Basketball (2000) written and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood, is about two characters Quincy (Omar Epps) and Monica (Sanaa Lathan) who meet in 1981 when Monica's family move into the house next door, both Monica and  Quincy are only 11years old and have dreams to be in the NBA. seem to have a very strong love/hate relationship which lasts throughout their high school years. They eventually become a couple but as Quincy's relationship with his dad deteriorates so does his relationship with Monica. After years of being separated and of pro-basketball they find their way back to each other.

  

This film has a wide audience range as the relationship and romantic aspects entice female audiences and the main theme of sport encourages more boys and men to watch the film. The films main themes are: romance, relationships, sports and determination.  

 

Thriller/Drama

 

Drag Me To Hell (2009) written and directed by Sami Raime and co-written by Ivan Raime, follows the main character Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) who is  young loan officer trying to prove herself so she can be promoted, but when her boss tells her it's between her and her fellow colleague, she must prove that she can make tough decisions. So when an old lady  comes to ask for her third extension on her mortgage she says no, the old woman then claims that Christine has shamed her and gets revenge by putting a curse upon her. Christine has three days before the demon comes for her, but is tormented up until that point.

 

 

 Comedy

Haunted House (2013)  written and co-written by Marlon Wayans and Rick Alvarez and directed by Michael Tiddes. Is  a spoof movie based around the Paranormal Activity movies along with other films like The Devil Inside, its about a couple Malcolm (Marlon Wayans) and Kisha (Essence Atkins) who move into a haunted house and decide to record the activity of the 'ghost' around the house and when they're sleeping.

 

The movie appeals to any audiences that have seen Paranormal Activity or any of the other films that are  'featured' in this; if someone is  fan of the Wayans Brothers they may find that they are interested in this.

Audience research

 

 

This is our Teen Movie research video. We went around the college and interviewed different people asking them questions about Teen Movies, here were some of the questions they were asked:

 

What is your favourite teen movie(s)?

What do you like/dislike about this specific type of film?

Who are your favourite teen movie character(s)?

What is your favourite teen movie genre?
 

We interviewed students and teachers so we got a variation of responses from all people we interviewed. We then uploaded the video and edited all of the interviews together to make a video.

Genre and Convention:

Teen films is a film genre targeted at teenagers in which the plot is based upon the interests of teenagers such as first love,coming of age and conflict with parents. Teen films are aimed at teenagers from the age of 11 and over. Love and comedy are the most common sub genres used in teen films.

Conventional Themes:

Some conventional themes which are widely used in teen films are love, conflict with authority and crime. 

Conventional locations:

The most common location which is used in teen films is the high school.

Conventional characters: 

Some convention characters seen in teen movies are the jocks, the princess, the geeks, the popular group and the not popular group.

Opening of a film:

At the start of a film, there is a title and then the opening credits.The credits tell you who plays in the film and who are the directors,producers and writers. There is always music which determines the mood of the film, for teen films it would be happy music.

Example: Pitch Perfect opening

Prelim Video

20. PRELIM - Shahed, Rusne, Safia, Paige, Arber from 283goswell on Vimeo.