Our Teen Angst Story Board- Erin Surkitt

Connotations of Teen Angst Titles

The connotations of the title "WILD CHILD"

The "WILD" connotes that of freedom, of unpredictability which is highlighted further with the following word in the title "Child". Children are free souls, they're unpredictable in the best of times, and more often then not rather curios of situations and the ones around them. This is probably a result of them being nurtured and watched so closely that they lack the freedom to go and explore he outer world around them and what it has to offer.

The fact that the lettering is in gold a purple connotes royalty, it connotes power, possession, wealth which little children will strive for, stereotypically every little child's dream is to become a prince of princess one day. To live a 'happily ever after' kind of life and get everything their heart desires. This is often due to the heavy influence of children fairytale books. This could suggest that wild child is a film based of a girl that is rather rich, or doesn't struggle for money in other words, and possibly is quite popular, and glamorous.  The fact that its in sans serif font connotes that it's rather serious, bold and upfront with what it has to offer to its target audience. Maybe they're trying to portray the main characters personality through this, we could connote that Poppy the main character within this film, is rather bold and upfront with people and situations, that she doesn't mess around and that she gets straight to business.

Connotations of the Tile 'angus, thongs and perfect snogging'

This tile is rather counterypical of its genre Teen angst because its rather long, stereotypically they're eye catchingly short and to the point whereas this this title is rather long, and seems to take on the form of a list.

The fact that the title is in serif font and is white connotes innocence and purity, that a lot of teens possess and the serif font connotes that the film is light hearted, it's not heavy or serious it's just a lot of fun to watch and become attached to. With the the blue lip symbol on the end of the title after the word 'snogging' illustrates the message they're trying to put across. A lot of children will make a big thing about their first kiss, it's a milestone in their lives and just emphasises that they're growing up. This in mind, for young teens this is a huge deal, that needs to be just right and taken seriously. Stereotypically every child will grow up dreaming of the perfect first kiss, and that's possibly what the film is tyring to convey here.

The connotations of the title 'MeanGirls'

The title is in a sans serif font and is purple which is a stereotypical feminine colour and stereotypically it would be girls who watch Teen Angst films. The sans serif font connotes seriousness and intensity and the fact that 'Mean' is in bold, highlights one of the stereotypical conventions you will find in  Teen Angst film, the 'Mean girls/gang'. Purple connotes royalty and passion, from this you can connote that this film involves the popular mean girls, who take over the school and everyone is scared of.

The connotations of the title 'Clueless'

The word 'Clueless' connotes uncertainty, innocence and naivety which stereotypically young teens are. The fact that it's in sans serif font and it rather bold with silver lettering and at the bottom of every letter it glistens, connotes glamour, sophistication and elegance which stereotypically every teen strives to be. When you're growing up and you become a teenager stereotypically they don't want to be treated like children anymore, so they try to portray how "mature" they're through their appearance with sophisticated clothes and wearing makeup etc. This is possibly what this film is trying to capture with it's title that Teens want to be treated like they're a adult to, with respect, that they're just as capable as any other adult and  they don't want to be patronised anymore because of the stereotypical connotations attached to that of a Teen.

Our Pitch Video- By Alice Nutter, Erin Surkitt and Rebecca Moorbey

Our Pitch Video- Alice, Erin and Rebecca

 

Our Teen Angst Prop List- Alice Nutter

Prop List:

Props we will include when filming our Teen Angst Film Opening.

·         Bikes

·         Coke can- ( So that Erin who plays Ash will be able to kick it as she is walking to school, just like a stereotypical teenage attitude, not really taking care of their surroundings.)

·         Mobile Phones- (Relates to a stereotypical Teen Angst life and film.)

·         Earphones

·         School bags- (As it’s partially set in a school, we need to make it as realistic as possible.)

·         Coats/ Jackets

Our Teen Angst Credit List- Erin Surkitt

Credits

 

Produced By

Alice Nutter

Erin Surkitt

Rebecca Moorbey

 

Script Written By

Alice Nutter

 

Edited By

Erin Surkitt

 

Costumes By

Rebecca Moorbey

 

Music

…..

 

Camera Work By

Alice Nutter

Erin Surkitt

Rebecca Moorbey  

Our Teen Angst Voiceover Script

Voiceover script

 

Scene 1

 

Ash - “I may look happy now but this wasn’t me 24 hours ago…”  

 

Scene 2

 

(No voiceover)

 

Scene 3

 

Ash - “I’m Ash and… I’m an Art student at Longsands sixth form.”

 

Ash - “I would say that I’m the dullest person you will ever have the misfortune of meeting, sorry about that…”

 

Ash - “You know that unpopular kid that everyone considers a weirdo, yeah that’s me,”

 

Ash - “That girl you just saw that’s Darcy, I hate everyone with the exception of one person and that’s her. At age 14 I was diagnosed with major depression disorder and Darcy was the only one there to help me through it.”

 

Ash - “College… well that’s another story,”

 

Scene 4

 

 Ash - “The schools queen bitch Helen spread the news and ever since then my life has been hell.”

 

Ash - “Teachers on my back every second, I soon realised that you have three types of teachers when it comes to news like mine, the ones who just stay away, the ones who try to help but just make it 10 times worse and the ones who simply don’t care”

 

Ash - “Art class has always been my reason to keep going.  There is something therapeutic about painting or drawing you heart out on a blank white page, ruining something so fresh.”

 

Ash - “Another competition to add the endless failed activities he desperately wants us to be involved in. Little did I know that this competition would change my life.”

Pitch Powerpoint

Opening sequence settings- Erin Surkitt

we chose these settings, especially the ones outside the house because it reflects an average teenagers walk to school, we wanted to keep the element of realism strong throughout. If we had chosen a street with a lot of colour and is very busy, it would taken away from the focus of the two characters Darcy and Ash in the scene and that was the most important thing to focus on. Also, as our teen angst focuses a lot on mental health and battling depression, the dull bleak setting reflects and resembles this idea. we took the idea of the main character walking down their street to school, from the teen angst film 'Juno' that we studied as a group for our research, we liked the fact that though simple, its something every teenager can stereotypically relate to, as steroytpically every teenager will at some point walk to school, as it's not the most exciting and interesting experience, but it's a lot of teenagers routines in the morning and that what we were trying to mimic in our teen angst opening sequence to capture that realism.

Finally we chose the stereotypical setting of a high school, This is because in all of the teen angst films we had researched, that being 'Mean Girls' , 'Wild Child' , 'Breakfast Club' etc they all took place in a high school setting. As a group we saw this a stereotypical convention of the teen angst genre and decided we had to add that into our own teen angst opening sequence. The teen angst genre  is stereotypical based around the secrets we tell (Mean Girls) , the decisions we made (Breakfast Club, Juno), who we date (Angus, thongs and perfect snogging) , what grades you receive (Clueless), the friendship troubles(Mean girls, Angus thongs and perfect snogging) or parent issues (Wild Child) and this is stereotypically centered around one setting, that being high school, with this is mind we only felt it right to use this setting in our own teen angst film, to make it more realistic, relatable and conventional to its genre.

Production company logo with reasons- Rebecca Moorbey

                                                                 

When deciding our production company logo with had several suggestions such as; A.R.E productions and life productions, however we felt that these were not very effective as the first one was simply a combination of our initials and the second had no particular meaning. From this we came up with ‘Snowball Productions’. We settled on this because we liked the idea of combining the snowball effect – where things start off small then gradually get bigger with our film. We combined this with linking the snowball effect to depression - the fact that if our main character Ash kept everything to herself and did not seek help then things will gradually get worse and worse.

Now that we had the name of our production company we had to create a logo in order to reflect this message in some way. The logo on the left is the first attempt. We used the idea of a   snowball rolling downhill which would cause it to get bigger as it gathered up more snow. We then needed a clear and particularly large title so that our audience knew which production this film was. The way that we incorporated the title would be that we used capitalised sans serif font at the same angle of the ‘hill’ behind the snowball, with a thick black line above it, which almost creates the illusion of the snowball moving at a significant speed. We kept the logo in black and white as we thought that this would be most effective, as the white connotes the innocence and sweetness of our character Darcy and the black connotes sadness and depression that could be linked to her best friend Ash. The contrast of these two colours could show how they are total opposites. On the right is our final production company logo. The ways in which we changed this from the previous one would simply be the fact that we made the ‘hill’ or block 3 dimensional. This created dimension which we thought looked more effective as it didn’t just look like a random black block anymore. 

 

  

 

Our Title connotations for our film - By Alice Nutter

One Night, One Life”

Connotations:

The word ‘One’ could signify a new start, a fresh beginning.  But alternatively it could connote a once in a life time chance, something rare or uncommon. It’s the uncertainty that you may never have the opportunity to do something ever again, and the urgency to get the most out of it.  Which links in with the film because Ash has a once in a life time opportunity to enter an art competition and win it for a trip to New York. The one in this scenario could connote how everything changes, but also how hard it would be for her to win this competition and how lucky she is to be able to take part in the trip in New York.

The connotations of ‘Life’ are one of new beginnings, of moving on and taking everything in your stride.  This could link with Ash’s situation of her depression, this competition gives her the opportunity to change her outlook on life on her disorder, and therefore make her a happy individual. It’s a journey we as the audience have the privilege to be a part of and watch. It connotes growth in herself and her capabilities, to be able to beat her depression to be able to get better, and see the positive in each situation, and also see the greatness in her art skills.

This isn’t a stereotypical Teen Angst film title, it isn’t abbreviated, it’s not slang, but that was the whole idea behind it. Our movie although containing a fair few conventions of a stereotypical Teen Angst movie, it is a countertype. It’s not about silly girl drama, or friends falling out, it covers a serious issue amongst teenagers, that being mental health and the effects of this on others and the individual.  The double use of the word ‘one’  really emphasises this, basically we’re trying to convey in our film that everybody has one life, we all only have one shot at it so what’s the point if you’re not really living, that’s the question we’re trying to answer.

Our title will be in sans serif font because we are covering a serious issue within our film, we wanted that to be reflected in our title form the very beginning. But it will also connote the harsh reality teenagers have to go through, with the awkward first encounters, and embarrassing life fails. The font will be White as white connotes purity, innocence and that’s what Ash and Darcy are, Ash might not be innocent to the hate and destruction the world can bring and create, but she is to the happiness and love you can feel.  It also connotes new beginnings and fresh starts which is an idea our film is very centred around.

 

 

Shot list for opening sequence- By Rebecca Moorbey

Shot list

Scene one

Shot one – The first shot will be a panning long shot of the main characters (Ash and Darcy) biking down a street laughing on their way to school.

Shot two – The next shot will be a front facing long shot of the same activity in order to allow the audience to see the short part of dialogue.

Shot three – The next three shots will be a shot reverse shot, however the first shot will be a mid-shot and focused on Darcy laughing and occasionally looking at Ash. 

Shot four – The second part of the shot reverse shot will be a mid-shot of Ash looking back at Darcy waving and smiling.

Shot five – The last part of the shot reverse shot will be another mid-shot back focusing back on Darcy in order to involve the audience in the exchanging of laughter and happiness between the two characters.

Shot six – Long shot of Ash and Darcy biking, but this will be front facing.  This will then pan upwards to the sky and begin a fade to black.

Shot seven – This will be a rewind over the previous shots at increased speed as the voiceover during this part will be “I may look happy now but this was not me 24 hours ago”.

Scene Two

Shot eight – The next few shots will be match on action of Ash leaving the house, starting with a close up of a door opening.

Shot nine – Mid/long shot of Ash coming through the opening door.

Shot ten – Close up of Ash putting in her headphones.

Shot eleven – Close up of Ash’s feet as she is walking from her front door to the end of her drive.

Shot twelve – Long of Ash walking down a street (Ash goes off screen).

Shot thirteen – Birds eye view shot as Ash kicks a can – as the can moves credits will appear.

Shot fourteen – Mid shot of Ash walking down the street with her headphones in.

Shot fifteen – Panning long shot of Ash crossing the road.

Shot sixteen – Extreme long shot of Ash walking into the car park of the school with students surrounding her.

Shot seventeen – Long shot of Darcy on her own, until she sees Ash come into school then she waves and shouts after her.

Shot eighteen – Mid shot/close up doing a slight smile in response to Darcy.

Shot nineteen – Extreme long shot of Ash meeting with Darcy and towards the school.

Scene Three

Shot twenty – Long shot of Ash and Darcy walking through the doors to the school.

Shot twenty-one – Panning Mid/long shot of Ash and Darcy walking down the corridor to class.

Shot twenty-two – Mid-shot of Helen in order to introduce her into the film. From this she will be looking over at Ash and saying “smile today won’t you?”

Shot twenty-three – long shot of Ash and Darcy walking past Helen after the comment she just made.

Shot twenty-four – mid-shot of Ash and Darcy walking into class.

Shot twenty-five – Long shot from the perspective of a student already sitting in the class as Ash and Darcy enter.

Shot twenty-six – Close up of Ash’s face from behind the whiteboard (Ash’s face starts off blurred then it gradually comes into focus.

Shot twenty-seven – Close up of the board showing the audience what is written on it – from Ash’s perspective.

USP and Target Audience of opening sequence- By Alice Nutter

USP and Target Audience:

Our USP in our film is the fact that our film is based around a mental illness, that being depression.  From looking at other Teen Angst Films such as Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging, Wild Child,  Mean girls etc.. You can see that the main focus is either girl drama or boyfriend drama; this is not what our film will be based around. It will be about a Girl called Ash who has suffered from depression since she was 14 now being 16, how she has coped with this and kept going, and then finally how her life changes for the better, it’s more of a journey with a character rather than drama. Statistically around 10% teenagers can be affected from depression at one time, although not very many people are aware of the terrible effects it can have on the individual psychically and emotionally. This is where our film comes into action. Our film will highlight the affects the disorder can have on young people, how dangerous and serious it actually is, but it will also focus on the positives, promoting the message that depression isn’t forever, you can move on from it and find happiness again, it will hold a lot of hope within it when it comes to that message being put across.

 

Our films Target audience is Teenagers from the age range of 15-18 females.  We chose our gender to be female because stereotypically they’re the people to watch Teen Angst films.  We’re making our target audience female because they will be able to relate to our characters as they’re too female, it will appeal to a target audience of teenagers because it will include the stereotypical conventions that can be associated with teenage life, such as the awkwardness and embarrassment of first experiences and social interactions, it will be set in a high school, you will have the mean girl, Helen.

Risk Assesment for Teen Angst opening sequence - By Rebecca Moorbey

Location	Description of risk	High/medium/low risk?	How do you prevent it?
School	There could be a risk of someone tripping or falling down the stairs within the school whilst filming or moving location. This could result in the individual being mildly injured with only bruises or it could potentially be more severe such as broken bones.	As there are a lot of sets of stairs in the school, I would say that it is a fairly medium risk.	In order to prevent this risk, l we must make sure that we are looking where we are going at all times, walking slowly and not trying to carrying too many things down or up the stairs that would obstruct our view.
School	Slipping on the floor could be another risk. Due to the fact that we would be filming in the winter, it means that the floor outside and inside will more than likely be wet and/or slippery which creates a risk of slipping over. This could result in the same injuries as falling down the stairs but will tend to be less severe.	High risk as we are filming in winter.	In order to prevent this risk, we must make sure that we are walking slowly and not rushing around as this will increase the chance of slipping.
School	Trapping your hand/finger in a door is another risk when filming as there are lots of classrooms in a school where this could potentially happen.	Medium risk.	To prevent this risk, we need to make sure that we are paying attention to where our hands are in terms of door frames when people are closing doors or even coming in and out of them.
Carpark / streets	There are some parts of the film which we will be filming in carparks and streets meaning that there will be a lot of cars present. The risk of this would be that someone could be hit by a car.	Low risk as when you are trying to film there may be a lot of cars moving around you, which you may not notice.	To prevent this, we must make sure that we are paying attention to the world around us and not just focusing on what we are filming and trying to get this complete. This is also important as we need to make sure that when filming we are including and excluding all aspects that we want to be in the shot.
School / streets	Due to the fact we are using bikes in our film, there is a possibility that someone could fall off of a bike. This risk is increased as we are filming in winter when the pavement will be very slippery.	Medium risk due to the season of filming.	In order to prevent this we need to make sure that when riding the bikes, we are very slow and careful as riding quickly will increase the chance of skidding.
All locations	There is a risk of dropping a camera or in fact damaging the camera when filming which could occur in all locations	This is a medium risk because there could be various factors that could cause us to drop the camera, however most of the time we will be filming using a tripod that will reduce the risk of the individual dropping it. Also the weather could damage the camera because if water gets into the lens it could cause significant issues.	To prevent the camera from being damaged it is important that the tripod is secure and sturdy before starting to film, the lens cap is on the camera when we are not filming and that when we are holding the camera manually we are walking slowly and we have the strap around our necks.
School	In the scenes when we are filming at school, we could be looking through papers which could result in a papercut.	This is a very low risk because although there is a high chance of it happening the result of it is very low.	To prevent this we need to be careful when handling paper.

 

Our Teen Angst opening script- By Alice Nutter

One Night, One Life Script:

Scene 1:

A long shot panning of the street with Ash and Darcy zooming past on their bikes, then we cut to a long shot straight on to Ash and Darcy on their bikes, down the street with their hands in the air screaming “wohooo” laughing and generally being happy. The voice over takes place in this scene with Ash saying “I may look happy now but this wasn’t me 24 hours ago…”   We pan upwards to the sky and rewind into a fade transition (Fades to black) which then provides a smooth transition to the next scene.

Scene2:

At the front door of Ash’s house. Cuts to Mid shot of Ash opening the door and then to a close up of Ash’s face putting her earphones into her ears. Then the music begins to play. Finally you then see her closing the door and beginning her journey to college.

Scene 3:

 As she is walking to college we cut to a close up of ash’s feet walking to the end of her drive. Followed by another voice over of Ash saying;

“I’m Ash and… I’m an Art student at Longsands sixth form.”

Whilst the voice over is taking place you have a long shot of Ash walking past the camera on her way to college;

“I would say that I’m the dullest person you will ever have the misfortune of meeting, sorry about that…”

Followed by a birds eye view shot of Ash kicking a can and a credit will appear where that can once was, another Mid shot of Ash’s continuation of walking to College.  

 “You know that unpopular kid that everyone considers a weirdo, yeah that’s me,”

 We then cut to a long shot that’s pans Ash crossing a road, An Extreme long shot of Ash walking into the college grounds and surrounded by cars and students this is where she will meet Darcy and the voice over pauses and Darcy shouts “Ash!” whilst waving at her, voice over starts again where it left off.

“That girl you just saw that’s Darcy, I hate everyone with the exception of one person and that’s her. At age 14 I was diagnosed with major depression disorder and Darcy was the only one there to help me through it.”

  Followed by a midshot of Ash smiling at Darcy but it looks forced almost like it’s hard to smile its actually hurting her to smile.

 “College… well that’s another story,”

Whilst Ash and Darcy are walking past the camera into college.

Scene 4:

Mid shot /Long shot panning of Darcy and Ash walking down the corridor to class (As it pans it turns form a long shot into a mid-shot.) The voice over continues;

  “The schools queen bitch Helen spread the news and ever since then my life has been hell.”

 Mid shot of Helen leaning against the wall saying

“Oh smile today won’t you” In a sarcastic tone.  Carry on with Ash’s voice over. Whilst there is a long shot of Darcy and Ash walking pat Helen both of them being agitated from her comment.

 “Teachers on my back every second, I soon realised that you have three types of teachers when it comes to news like mine, the ones who just stay away, the ones who try to help but just make it 10 times worse and the ones who simply don’t care”  Mid shot/ Long shot of Ash and Darcy walking into class.

Long shot of Ash walking into the centre of the class room as the voice over continues.

“Art class has always been my reason to keep going.  There is something therapeutic about painting or drawing you heart out on a blank white page, ruining something so fresh.”

Cuts to a close up of Ash’s face from behind the screen (Her face starts off blurred but eventually becomes focused.)  Silence a break in the voice over to emphasise the significance of this moment. 

Cuts to a close up of the board showing the competition to the audience.

“Another competition to add the endless failed activities he desperately wants us to be involved in. Little did I know that this competition would change my life.”

End of Opening sequence.

Characters of our Teen Angst Film- By Rebecca Moorbey

Ash:

Who is Ash?

Ash is a 16 year old female, who suffers depression and has a best friend called Darcy.  She isn't classed as 'popular' but isn't 'Un-popular' either. She gets bullied by a girl called Helen, she hates everyone with the exception of Darcy.

What is she wearing?

Ash will be wearing a flannel top, with a band tee underneath, this will show off her alternative side. This will be paired with a black beanie and black ripped skinny jeans, along with black converse.

who can she relate to in the teen angst genre from our research?
I think Ash can relate to the character of Janis from 'Mean Girls' as she isn't the most popular girl in school, she is seen as a weirdo by a lot of people and also her style would be similar to the character of Janis with the dark, or black clothing, the ripped jeans and the dark coloured hair. They're both unique characters, and stand out quite a lot from the stereotypical teenage girl, with long blonde or brown natural hair, with a face caked in makeup and colourful fashionable clothes.


Darcy:
                                                   Who is Darcy?
                                                  
Darcy is Ash's best friend. She too is a 16 year old female, Darcy is the complete opposite to Ash, and one way this is represented is through their clothes. Ash will be wearing dark colours and Darcy will be wearing whites and light colours. Darcy is almost the innocence to Ash's pain and visa versa, and that's why they work so well together.

What is she wearing?

Darcy will be wearing a light coloured top in order to connote innocence, with light washed jeans and white converse, its very casual and simple but pretty at the same time.

Which character does she relate to in the teen angst genre form our research?
Darcy would relate to the character of Jazz from 'Angus, thongs and perfect snogging' in the sense that she is the bright happy best friend character, who helps her friend in this case Ash out of the crisis which is her depression, just like Jazz does with helping Georgia get Robbie, and making her birthday party a success. Darcy is seen as the cheerful one of the duo and is always by Ash's side, loyal to the end, which we think reflects Jazz's character overall even though Jazz and Georgia do have a falling out, its resolved in the end and its as if nothing has happened.




Helen:
                                              
 Who is Helen?

Helen is classed as the 'mean girl' in our film. She is a 17 year old female, and popular. She is a stereotypical teenage girl, with the long blonde hair, being British and skinny, along with being pretty.

What is she wearing?

She is a stereotypical popular teenage girl, so she could possibly be wearing a lot of pink, and stereotypical female colours. It is more likely what she wears will be rather revealing, and show off her features the best that she can, in order to attract boys attention, and keep her  status in college.
What stereotypical character does she relate to in our teen angst research?
Helen reflects the character of Regina George in the teen angst 'Mean Girls' as she is the popular girl in school and is noted as the 'Queen Bitch' in our teen angst opening sequence. The only real difference being that Helen in our teen angst isn't seen with a group like the 'Plastics' in 'Mean Girls' Helen is a stand alone character, which I do think is rather countertypical of the convention of the Mean girls in the genre of teen angst, although I think the fact that its countertypical really captures what our teen angst film is about, and within our teen angst film we do turn a lot of the stereotypes and conventions on their head.