Plot Synopsis

To ensure that we knew how to put together our opening and what to include, we had to not only know what was typically correct in general to openings of teen romance films, but also what is specific to our film. We have been asked to come up with a plot synopsis of our film, generalising the plot and what will happen so we will have more of a detailed insight into some of the aspects to use in our opening.

Teenage girl, who brother dies when she was younger, lives in the countryside with her mom and dad however due to tension and arguments, they decide to file a divorce, so the girl and the mother move out of the countryside to the city in a new house. Unfortunately, due to the events which have occurred within their family, the mother and the girl do not get on very well and tend to stay distant from each other. Due to the new settlement, she has to continue school at a new high school where she fits in with the stereotypical ‘geeky’ group. Within this group, there is a male character in which she becomes very close friends, practically her best friend. She goes around to his a lot, where she meets his older brother. Through several events, she ends up falling for him, regardless of the fact he is stereotypical popular male and she is an average yet slightly geeky girl. After a while, she realises that maybe he isn’t the one she really likes, but her old best friend, his younger brother is

Research into institutions

We have chosen to co-produce the film- Touchstone Pictures and Summit Entertainment are our chosen producers because from our research we have evaluated that Touchstone has produced a variety of teen romance films in the past such as The Last song ,A Lot Like Love etc., as well as Summit Entertainment who have also successfully co-produced films from this specific genre. This makes them suitable to produce our film due to their experience with teen romance films. Also, Touchstone and Summit Entertainment’s successful co-production of Step Up 3D inclines our group to use these companies for the film.


We have chosen Summit Entertainment as our distribution company because it has distributed many successful films such as Step Up, The Twilight Saga, Letters to Juliet, Sex drive etc. All these films relate to the teen romance genre, which fits in with our film genre and increases the likelihood of our film being successful due to Summit Entertainment’s experience with the genre. This specific company is also part of a vertically integrated organisation as it both distributes and produces films. This is significant as it means that the profit from our film will be split between two companies, also due to there only being two companies, it means that both distribution and production can be done within one company which altogether benefits the process. Summit Entertainment is an independent company, this is important as it means that they specialise in one specific area which makes the distribution process more accurate and successful

Results from Questionairee

Findings from Questionnaires
Question 1 –How old Are you?
10-15: 5 out of 20 people who filled out the questionnaire were fitted into the age group between 10 to 15.
15-20: 14 out of 20 people who filled out the questionnaire were fitted into the age group between 15 to 20
20-25: 1 out of 20 people who filled out the questionnaire were fitted into the age group between 20-25


Question 2- Are you male or female?
• 4 out of 20 people who filled out our questionnaire were male
• 16 out of 20 people who filled out our questionnaire were female


Question 3- How do you prefer to view a film?
TV/DVD: 8 out of 20 people who filled out our questionnaire preferred to view a film on the TV/ a DVD player.
Cinema: 10 out of 20 people who filled out our questionnaire preferred to view a film at the cinema
On your computer: 2 out of 20 people who filled out our questionnaire preferred to view a film on their computer


Question 4- How often do you view films
Once a day: None of the people answering our questionnaire viewed a film every day
A few times a week: 4 out of 20 people answering our questionnaire viewed a few films every week
Once a week: 11 out of 20 people answering our questionnaire viewed a film once a week
Every few weeks: 2 out of 20 people answering our questionnaire watched a film every few weeks
Hardly :3 out of 20 people answering our questionnaire hardly watch films


Question 5- Circle which out of the following teen romance films you prefer the most?
Mean Girls- 3 out of 20 people preferred Mean Girls out of the list
500 days of Summer-3 out of 20 people preferred 500 days of Summer out of the list
A Cinderella Story-3 out of 20 people preferred A Cinderella Story out of the list
Dear John -5 out of 20 people preferred Dear John out of the list
The notebook-4 out of 20 people preferred The Notebook out of the list
Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging- 1 out of 20 people preferred Angus out of the list
Other- none because they don’t like romance


Question 6- What is the normal setting you would expect there to be in teen romance films?
High School- 11 out of 20 people expect to see a high school setting in teen romance films
Beaches and Outdoor Areas-3 out of 20 people expect to see a beaches/outdoor area setting in teen romance films
Workplace- 1 out of 20 people expect to see a workplace setting in teen romance films
Parties- 5 out of 20 people expect to see a party setting in teen romance films
Other- none


Question 7- What certificate do you prefer the film to have?
12- 7 out of 20 prefer for the film to have a 12 certificate
15-13 out of 20 prefer for the film to have a 15 certificate


Question 8-Do you prefer the main character to be the…
Popular girl who falls for the geeky boy- 10 out of 20 people prefer the main character to be the popular girl
Geeky girl who gets with the popular boy- 10 out of 20 people prefer the main character to be the geeky girl.


Question 9- How would you prefer themes to be displayed in a teen romance?
Love throughout- 6 out of 20 people prefer the theme of love to be displayed throughout the film
Rollercoaster of themes e.g. heartbreak- 14 out of 20 people prefer a rollercoaster of themes to be displayed throughout the film


Question 10- Would you prefer the film to consist of stereotypical characters?
Yes- 9 out of 20 people would prefer the film to consist of stereotypical characters
No- 11 out of 20 people would prefer the film to not consist of stereotypical
Characters


Question 11- Do you like the opening of the film to
Reveal the main characters- 13 out of 20 prefer the film to reveal the main characters
Show the setting with no characters- 7 out of 20 prefer the film to show the setting with no characters


Question 11- Do you prefer the opening to be real life or with cartoon aspects?
Real life- 18 out of 20 prefer the opening to be real life
Cartoon- 2 out of 20 prefer the opening to be cartoon


Question 12- Do you prefer the film to start in the past or present?
Past- 13 out of 20 people prefer the film to start in the past
Present- 7 out of 20 people prefer the film to start in the present


Question 13- Do you prefer the titles to be at the beginning or end of the opening?
Beginning- 9 out of 20 people prefer the titles to be at the beginning of the opening
End- 11 out of 20 people prefer the titles to be at the end of the opening


Question 14- In the opening sequence ,do you like to be shown a lot of information about the film?
Yes- 11 out of 20 people like to be shown a lot of information about the film in the opening sequence
No- 9 out of 20 people like to be shown minimal information about the film in the opening sequence


Summary of findings
We were asked to create a multi media presentation which would show our general findings from the questionnaire. We also used this presentation and our findings, to develop our ideas for the creation of the opening sequence of our teen romance film. Here is our presentation ...

Questionairee

Questionnaire

How old are you?

 10 – 15     

 15 – 20     
 20 – 25     

Are you male or female?

 Male        

 Female   

How do you prefer to view a film?

 TV/DVD                    

 Cinema                      

 On your computer 

How often do you view films?

 Once a day                      

 A few times a week     

 Once a week                  

 Every few weeks         

 Hardly                              

Circle which one out of the following teen romance films do you prefer the most?

 Mean Girls   

 500 Days of Summer                                             

 A Cinderella Story                                     

 Dear John                                                    

 The Notebook                                             

 Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging  

 Other ________________________________________________________

What is the normal setting you would expect there to be in teen romance film?

 High School

 Beaches and Outdoor Areas  

 Workplace                                 

 Parties                                 

 Other      ________________________________________________

What certificate do you prefer the film to have?

 12                 

 15                 

   

Do you prefer the main character to be the…

 Popular girl who falls for the geeky boy       

 Geeky girl who gets with the popular boy

How would you prefer themes to be displayed in a teen romance?

 Love throughout                                                

 Rollercoaster of themes e.g. heartbreak     

 Would you prefer the film to consist of stereotypical characters?

 Yes                          

 No             

Do you like the opening of the film to?

 Reveal the main characters       

 Show the setting with no characters      

Do you like the main character to do a voice over on the opening?

 Yes               

 No                 

 Real life          

 Cartoon       

Do you prefer the film to start in the past or the present?

 Past           

 Present    

Do you prefer the titles to be at the beginning or end of the opening?

 Beginning

 End    

In the opening sequence, do you like to be shown a lot of information about the film?

 Yes     

 No                 

Do you prefer the opening to be all real life or with cartoon aspects?

Summary

Code and conventions	Findings	Textual evidence
Stock settings	·         High school was a common setting in the films we have studied. ·         There was a contra between urban setting and rural setting Urban setting: bust cities, town centre and building Rural setting: outside lands ect. ·         Most of the opening was studied the setting was introduce before you met the characters.	·         High school setting: Mean girls, Never been kissed, 10 Things i hate about you and Cinderella story have a high school setting. ·         Contras between urban and rural; Rural: twilight is a good example for a rural setting its set in the forest and there is a lot of opening land. Other examples are notebook and dear john urban: 10 things i hate about out you the setting has very high building and loads of the and the city look very cramped /
Stock character	Female character; Pretty, thin and blonde and care a lot about the appearance or a outcast who is try and fit in. They fall in love with a handsome lad who is normal a captain in some kind of sport/fitness. The female character is the dominate character. Male character; Normal helps the female fit into the group and is very good looking and plays a sport.Other character;Normal different group of people each group has there only identity by the way they dress and what they do in there free time.	An example of thin blonde and pretty would be Regina George. She so has the personal of the topical bitch.( savannah out of dear john) An example of an outcast would be Sam for Cinderella story  she was just known for diner girl but she turn out to be Cinderella who prince charming fall in love with. (Cady out of means girls) Which lead us on to the to the lad Aaron Samuels he is the captain of the schools football team and could have a great future in football. A good example of different groups is mean girls as they go to the extreme with there identity  and even the arrangement is the dinner room i set by the different groups
Themes	·         Death or illness of a main family member which relates back to one of the main character ·         Heartbreak ·         Finding their own identity ·         Romance ·         Relationship with peers relating to a boy	Death/illness; raise your voice, last song, Cinderella, notebook, my sister keeper a walk to remember Romance and heartbreak: ALL of teen romance haves this theme. An example of this theme is in save the last dance. Sarah and Derek fall in love but there was a lot of up and down because of Derek ex and some people have a problem with the two different racist being together.
Narrative	General its Girl met boy then there is ups and downs and the ending is always happily Ups and downs: family, friends, moving to a different place or new job and college	In grease she fall in love on holiday but they had to go back home. Cady out of mean girl her mom got a new job that why she move to the high school also the boy she likes is her friends ex and this gets in the way of there relationship.
Iconography	Car/ driving	10  things I hate about you ,mean girls and Cinderella ( mainly America set films as they are able to driving 16 )

	Finding	Example
Create an enigma	Ø  Only showing vague the character and setting. Ø   By showing an connection between the characters without showing the main storyline. Ø  Telling the audience  a bit about there pass because normal it isn’t good so the audience wants to know what the present and future hold for them	Ø  Step up does this very well you don’t see any of the characters is detail Ø  Grease; at the end of introducing each characters they had a cartoon picture of there reflection in the mirror. Ø  Cinderella story: because you  doesn’t have a mother figure in her life and her dads dies  that makes they audience feel  sorry for her and makes them want to carry on watching the film
Introduce key theme	Ø  Over voice explaining what happening/happened	Ø  Means girls; she explain how her mother moved and she used to be homeschooled and now she going high school the audience already knows they going to be a big different and she might find it hard to fit in
Introduce genre
Use of title	Ø  In big funky bright front which suggests that they target audiences is for a younger age Ø  Most of the films the title was at the beginning	Ø  10 things I hate about you; the titles are in different colours and a messy front Ø  Never been kissed; no character are introduce the first thing you see id the titles with people names who are involved in making the film.