Initial Storyboards

Below are the storyboards for our title sequence. We tried to follow it as much as we possibly could, and I believe that we have. Although our storyboards don't include very much detail on camera shots and editing, it gave us a good idea of what we wanted to film and the shots we might need. 

The following pictures show the storyboards for our first scene. Once again, the storyboard isn't hugely detailed but it gave us a structure for future planning.

First Pitch

Feedback:

-If car crash scene is to be included, raise demographic age from 12 to 15 as scenes may be too dark for a 12 certification: we decided to change our target audience to 15-20 so as not to offend or upset younger viewers and therefore changed the certification to a 15.

-Create more sub-plots so that there is more happening and develop narrative: we created the storyline of Megan's mother being pregnant (and we decided to introduce this in the first scene when Megan's mum texts her to tell her that she is pregnant). We also created the storyline of James, the boy who bullies Megan and spreads rumours about her, liking Megan and admitting his feelings towards the end of the film. This storyline, however, was not hinted at in the title sequence or the opening scene.

Preliminary Task

Easy A Title Sequence

Easy A

0:09 - "Screen Gems, a Sony Pictures Entertainment Company."  centre of screen, sans serif font, blue text, no other text on screen

0:15 - "Screen Gems Presents" - no other text on screen so it is important, middle-left of the screen, in capitals which shows importance, "Screen Gems" is bigger, blue font, overlaying an establishing shot of a town

0:24 - "An Olive Bridge Entertainment Production" - sans serif font in white which contrasts with background and is not the same as previous titles, top of the screen, audience will pay attention because only important thing to look at

0:30 - "A Will Guck Film" - 'Will Guck' is bigger than the other text showing importance, in sans serif font, white font, 

0:35 - "Easy A" - Main title, both serif and sans serif font, white and red font, the 'A' is serif font to look like a girls handwriting relating to the characters, shoes in tree on the screen showing rebellion within school and characters/plot, school bell is heard connoting a school setting, previous shot shows of "Ojai North High School" setting the scene further.

0:45-1:41 - Cast names (e.g. Amanda Bynes, Thomas Haden Church) The names are placed within the scene suggesting that they are most likely cast names. They are spread throughout the shot, and can be seen via a PoV, suggesting that a student is walking through the grounds, all text in white, sans serif font and all same size showing that they are all as important, voice-over begins to set the story up.

1:44 - "And Emma Stone" - White font, sans serif font, title is next to character displayed in the shot which suggests it is her, both on floor showing she is perceived as inferior to other characters despite being the main character - she is the last cast title and is doing the voice-over .

2:20 - "Casting By Lisa Miller Katz csa" - bottom-left on screen shows less importance than the first few titles, sans serif font, white, characters arm covers the csa at one point.
2:31 - "Costume Designer Mynka Draper" - white text, sans serif font, side of the screen because events on screen are more important.
2:45 - "Music Supervisor Wende Crowley" - white text, sans serif font,to the side of the screen as less important than the content on the screen.
2:50 - "Edited By Susan Littenburg" - White text, sans serif font, bottom of the screen so still visible but again, not as important as screen content.
2:57 - "Production Designer Marcia Hinds" - White text, sans serif font, bottom of screen, out of the way of contents but still important enough to be shown.
3:10 - "Director of Photography Michael Grady"- White text, sans serif font, bottom of screen so less important and out of the way of the story, at an angle as if sitting on the ground, behind character as she covers it up at some points.
3:36 - "Produced by Zanne Devine, Will Gluck" White sans serif font, placed on a sign in the background to blend in with the scene and allows audience to pay attention to content on screen while keeping the title sequence interesting.
3:51 - "Written By Bert V. Royal" - White text, sans serif font, more central screen as it is a significant role in the film.

 

Locations in Teen Angst Films

A lot of teen angst films are set in schools. Different teen angst films use different characteristics to represent the fact that the setting is a school. For example:

Mean Girls
Several scenes in Mean Girls are set in the High School in the film. Some scenes are in a classroom and some are in a 'cafeteria', which, while uncommon in Britain, is a very stereotypical element of American High Schools. The cafeteria scene in Mean Girls is famous for showing the cliques of high school, which is another stereotype of high school.

Juno
Another stereotype of High Schools/Secondary Schools in teen angst films are lockers. Most high schools have them, so including them in a scene suggests that they are in school. Juno uses lockers to represent that one scene is taking place in a school corridor. 

 

Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging
Another example of a school setting in a teen angst film is the classroom in Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging. Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging is a British film, meaning that it is more relatable to a British audience. While American classrooms are usually set out with singular desks, British classrooms tend to have bigger tables with several students sitting round each.

Wild Child

In Wild Child, Emma Roberts portrays a rebellious American school girl, Poppy Moore. She is sent to boarding school in England and at first, fails to get on with any of the girls at the school. She cares about her appearance and exaggerates her life in America. She hates her boarding school and tries her hardest to get expelled, and the girls in her dormitory agree to help her. However, throughout the film, her personality begins to change and when she dyes her hair she seemingly becomes a completely different person. At the beginning, Poppy is a stereotypical teenager, only caring about her appearance and her mobile phone, however towards the end she becomes more caring.

Poppy's 'enemy', Harriet is played by Georgia King. The character is Head Girl and believes that she is popular, but in reality most of her classmates think she is stuck up. She is incredibly manipulative and tries to get Poppy expelled, but ends up getting expelled herself. While Poppy finds the value of true friendship in a positive way, Harriet only finds that she has pushed her few friends away. 

Poppy's friends Josie (Linzey Cocker), Kiki (Sophie Wu), Kate (Kimberly Nixon) and Drippy (Juno Temple). Although at first they don't get on with Poppy, they soon all become close as Poppy tries to get herself expelled. Although they all have completely different personalities, together they are really supportive towards Poppy, until they think Poppy was 'slagging them off'. Although hurt by what Poppy allegedly said, they come together to realise that she didn't say anything against them and go and support her in her expulsion hearing, remaining loyal to her. Before Poppy arrives, they don't care very much about their appearance, making them a countertype. They shop at charity shops, which is unlike most teenage girls, who like to shops like New Look and River Island.

The main setting of the film was a large boarding school, and it was filmed at Cobham Hall in Kent, which is a boarding school for girls in real life. This is an appropriate setting because it has all the equipment needed and school is a stereotypical setting of a teen angst film. The location is relevant to the audience because the target demographic of this film is 12-18 year old girls, all of which will go to school or will have gone to school at some point. Although not all of the target audience will go to boarding school, elements of the setting, especially the interior will have some relevance to the viewer.

The main teenage characters in the film all have to wear school uniform. Poppy's friends all wear their school uniform correctly, as seen in the picture of them above, however when Poppy is new to the school she attempts to customise it in order to appear more fashionable.

Mean Girls

Mean Girls is a 2004 American teen angst film directed by Mark Waters and starring Lindsey Lohan. Cady Heron, a 16 year old girl who has been home-schooled in Africa for 15 years, moves to a high school in Illinois. Early on, she makes 2 friends – Damian and Janis, who are viewed as being unpopular. However, the ‘Plastics’ soon take a liking to Cady and invite them to sit with her. Janis and Damien tell Cady to remain friends with the Plastics so they get revenge on them.

As Cady spends so much time with the plastic, she then begins to become one, however she and Regina are out to destroy the other. To try and ruin Regina, Cady does many things. For example, she gave Regina a Bar telling her it will help her stay slim when it actually makes her put weight on.  Regina responds by spreading the whole contents of the Burn Book, a book full of rumours written by Regina, however she blames Cady. Regina then gets hit by a bus, and people believe that Cady pushed her. Cady tries to fix everything by making up with Janis and Damian, as well as making a truce with the plastics and takes full credit for the Burn Book.

The film is so relatable to a teenage audience because it covers major issues seen in high school, the main one being bullying. It also looks at relationships, friendships, parties, drinking, sex and more. However, it is also a really funny film, and even after 10 years, is highly quoted. Therefore, many teenagers just watch it because it is so funny. Nevertheless, the fact it is set in a high school, and portrays the issues of cliques and staying inside your accepted social circle. Although this issue isn't such a big deal in this country, it still has a relatable factor when comes to choosing friends.