Recent Films Of Teen Drama's

Here are few examples of recent films including the genre, teen drama:

• Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging

• St. Trinian's:







• December Boys




• Tormented




• Wild Child




• Dear John




• The Last Song

History of Genre

History

• At first, this genre was non –existent for its first 45 years.
  It came into importance at around the early 1990’s.


• One of the earliest soap opera’s with this genre was Never Too Young, this attracted many younger viewers as they had a character they could find relatable characters.


• This helped films such as Love Is A Many Splendored Thing become premiered and hit films quicker amongst teen audiences.


• In the next few years, there were more films of this genre which also became hits.
  These made young stars like Willie Aames and Kristy MacNichol become youth icons.


• Fox's Party of Five, which also premiered in 1994, became an instant hit with teenage audiences. Stars Matthew Fox and Scott Wolf became teen heartthrobs, and it also launched the careers of Jennifer Love Hewitt, Neve Campbell, and Lacey Chabert.


• In the early 2000s, teen dramas began experiencing a decline in popularity. Teenagers were now watching shows that featured adults in their twenties and thirties.


• In 2003, a whole new set of teen drama’s arrived, bringing in more hits for them as well as a new trend for youths.

Brief

Our task was to produce the opening sequence of a film. We had to successfully think of a genre, and plan out the whole film first. Once we did that we developed on the opening sequence, we had to write about the shot list, treatment, risk assessment, produce a questionnaire, write about the location and take pictures for the location recce.

Audience Feedback

Questionnaire

Age:
Male/Female:

1 - What is your personal favourite genre?

2 - Where do you tend to watch new released films?

3 - Who do you watch these films with?

4 - When you go with these certain people, do you go for their preferences or your own in genres?

5 - What age range would you say genre ‘teen drama’ suited?

6 - Would you watch this film after hearing its plot?

7 - Would you recommend such films to others?

8 - Do you like tear-jerkers?

9 - Do you enjoy teen dramas?

10 - What attracts/distracts you to/from this film?

Please describe to us your ideal opening sequence:______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.
Why is this your ideal opening sequence?:_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________.

Responses

1. The majority of people included comedy for their personal favourite genre, although it did have other genres to go with it, mainly romantic. other genres included were horror, with only one being action.
2. Nearly all the people interviewed claimed they watched new films in cinema's, however there was one person who said they only watched films at home on DVD. However, becuase the majority of people opted for the cinema, it would be best for releasing it their.
3. Again, the majority of people said they watched these films with their friends, meaning it would have to appeal to all of them, and of their age range. although, one person said they only saw these films by them selves, however as it is only a single person, it is best to go with what the majority of people do, in order to help the film itself.
4. Most people said they went for their own preferences when chosing a film, however also claimed that they came to a mutual conclusion when watching films with friends. therefore to help us, we should interview groups rather than individuals.
5. When asked what age range "teen drama" suited, some replied teenagers, however others included more of a variety, going upto the age of 24 from 15.
6. The greater part of people interviewed stated they would watch this film after hearing its plot, although there was the odd few that declined the invitation. On the other hand, as most people accepted to watch it, it is probably best to keep the film as it is.
7. In this question, mainly the girls replied that they would recommend this film to others as it suited there storyline of a film, however the boys replied they would not as it was too feminine-like for them.
8. The majority of the people questioned replied they do enjoy tear-jerkers however a minority of boys replied they prefer other genre’s instead.
9. All of the people questioned replied they do enjoy teen dramas, this could be due to the fact they were all teenagers and relate to such things. However this is an advantage as the film is mainly aimed at teenagers, therefore receiving positive feedback from them is helpful.
10. The greater part of boys replied they would be un-attracted to this film as it would not reach what they wanted, however they admitted this would be a good film for female’s to watch. The female’s confirmed the male’s response saying it would be better if we targeted at just their gender rather than including male’s.
11. The bulk of the audience questioned said their ideal opening sequence would include comedy with the male gender adding some action to it too.
12. In reply to why that would be their ideal opening sequence, they replied it was because it would attract them to the film, and look forward to what was to come.

Group meeting

PLOT

16 year old Emily Lock’s family have just died in a house fire and she has had to go and live with her auntie far away from her home. Her auntie doesn’t have any children of her own, and often has different men visit her at her, which is extremely uncomfortable for Emily.

After Emily’s trauma, and having to move in with the nasty aunt who begins to physically harm her when coming home drunk, she starts to become depressed and self harm herself. Her depression grows deeper as she has to join a new school. The students there don’t warm to her and bully her. The school teachers have no time for the new scruffy student. The torture proves too much for Emily as she begins looking for different ways out of her mess.

She slowly turns to drugs and mixes with the wrong people; she becomes ill and reliant on strong drugs and alcohol. She is in a helpless situation and at the lowest point she could possibly be at; the future looks lifeless and non existent.

On a significant day when Emily feels she is at a complete dead end, she goes to buy more drugs; a boy from her school is watching her from a distance giving her money to a dealer. The dealer is evidently trying to steal the money without providing the drugs, so therefore the boy watching runs over and ‘saves the day’. He particularly notices that Emily is very unwell, and realises she was buying drugs. He feels sorry for her and wants to help her, she refuses his offer on a few occasions but he is adamant to get involved.

Eventually she lets him into her life and tells him the story of her tragic past, and present as she realises his pure intentions. Jack is effectively the only one who cares for her. Emily’s happiness starts to return and the drugs and self harming starts to stop. Jack, the hero, builds her life back up and they grow closer until, at the end of the story, he asks her to be with him and move in with Jack and his welcoming parents.



Opening Scene

Emily, the main character, is standing in the shower, the shower is on, and she faces the shower so the water is spraying on her face.
Whilst Emily is in the shower, a newspaper article appears transparently over the top of the image of Emily. The audience hear screams etc which are in Emily’s head. The newspaper is transparent over her still in the shower with Emily’s hands at her face. It creates the affect of her remembering reading/seeing the front page of the paper.

We then cut back to the shower where she is still in the shower, facing it however her hands are no longer at her face, they are just hanging by her side.

The second flashback depicts Emily sitting in the family room at the hospital with a social worker comforting her. Someone of authority walks into the room and tells her all her family have died and he says that they did their best.

We cut back to the shower, which is at her auntie’s house; you see her reaching for a razor. The razor is about chest height on a shower shelf so she just reaches forward. The camera catches Emily’s hand trembling.

We cut it to the third flashback of Emily going to have to live with her nasty aunt. The camera follows Emily walking up her auntie’s path. You see her knock on the door with just a small bag of belongings. All the auntie does is use a head signal suggesting Emily to come in. Her auntie doesn’t make Emily feel welcome at all. Next, her auntie just literally closes the door as Emily has rushed in. The auntie then walks away into the kitchen dining area, not letting Emily know where she is staying or offering her any tea.

Cutting back to the shower where she is shaving her legs and accidentally cuts herself with a razor; the camera goes onto the water and you just see droplets of blood. Next the camera goes onto her face, where she is looking at the razor, suggesting to the audience that she could use this razor in the future to perhaps harm herself. The camera then fades out from this shot to the next shot of Emily preparing herself.

Emily has just got ready for first day at new school, says to her auntie she’s going who takes no notice of her and doesn’t look at all bothered.

Emily walks out the door, flinging her bag over her shoulder looking at the floor unconfidently on her way to school. This begins the story.