'High-school'/Chick-flick films

This genre of film is very successful as it appeals to a wide audience range, including teens to young adults of both genders simply because they can relate to characters as they may be in that time of their own life (At high-school/college) and it will also appeal to adults of both genders to as they are able to remember that time of their lives and find the situations that face young adults and teens funny as they may have experienced themselves. It is a popular genre as almost everyone will have gone through that time period and setting in life and is relatable. 

There are many 'Typical' Conventions that high-school/chick flick films seem to follow. These include:

• 'Bitchy' girls
• love interest
• jobs and career
• relationships
• good looking actors
• 'invisible' parents
• wealth
• class and status

They all feature 'safe' and sentimental narratives and portray the message of : Success = popularity + looks + belonging

These films differ greatly from male 'high-school films, such as 'American Pie' which feature the conventions of:

• comedy/ 'Gross out'
• visual gags over joke based comedy
• 'unputdownability' 

Examples of these films include Easy A, Romy and Michelles High-school reunion, Mean Girls and American Pie. 

Horror study

• "Physco" by Alfred Hitchcock has been ranked the number 1 horror film. It was made in 1960.Within Physco, Hitchcock creates tension, investigates state of mind of characters and treatment of women. Hitchcock has been noticeably cruel to women in films. This adds to the "Shock and Horror" element of Hitchcock's films as this is an uncommon aspect within films. 

• "Nosferatu" (1922) directed by Murnau features some interesting techniques to add to the "Horror Element". For example it uses a music score (no diegetic sound) and to add to the tension and visual elements of horror it uses colours, shadow and lighting to good effect. 

"Nosferatu" was an adaptation of Bram Stokers "Dracula" with slight alterations to escape copyright issues.

This links to the increasing popularity of film reworking.

For example, "The Evil Dead" (1981) was a rework of an old Japanese film. 

These 'students of film' re-make foreign aspects and incorporate them into Hollywood. This has been done many times, for example "The Ring" which was originally Japanese. 

Narratives

Different cultures/countries have different styles when telling narratives and a noticable difference in the narrative itself. For example, in Spain, a favourable narrative seems to be fairy/fantasy realism. This is where stories are told which are completely impossible. For example, Pan's Labyrinth is a Spanish film (Directed by a Mexican - Guillermo del Toro) tells the story of how a girl becomes a princess in the underworld by completeing a range of tasks. However, other countries, such as England prefers realistic and believable narratives.

Diffiiculties in Trailer Making

After veiwing a  range of trailers, i have noticed that they all show developed characters from the film. Unlike the opening of a film (Task at AS) where the audience are introduced to the characters and are slowly developed as the opening progresses, in trailers, the characters are fully developed as to make the trailer clearer and engaging the audience as it is clear what the film will show.
This will make the task of creating a trailer much more difficult as not only do we need to create a film idea, we need to plan the whole film so that we can fully develop the characters for the trailer.
For this task i will watch a range of films in a similar genre to mine and then view the trailers for the films to see what aspects were placed in the trailer. This will give me a great deal of help and will assist me in the making of my trailer. The main difficulty will be creating the whole storyline as i have only ever crerated the opening of films in the past.

Media on Prezi

Rushmore

Rushmore was filmed in 1998 and directed by Wes Anderson.

Wes Andereson is known for his use of unusual characterisation. Within this film, the unusual characterisation helps to adapt the genre of classic American high-films. The film features a 15 year old boy who is offered a scholarship to Rushmore, a prestigious private school in the U.S. The character is unusual as the character is stereotyped and shown as a "nerd" however, as the film progresses and thwe character is developed we discover that he is infact doing badly at school and on threat to be expelled. We discover that he dreams of being intelligent via a dream he has that is shown at the beginning of the film. He is shown to be very trying and dedicated as the audience is shown all of his contributions and clubs he has founded via a montage of shots.
Possible motives for Wes Anderson to have filmed a film like this may include critics of the private school system as this film cleverly mocks the private school. This is adapting the genre as most high-school films just show the school in a positive or proud. This sarcastic approach to high-schools is a interesting and comical way to look at the genre.

Watching a film like this has allowed me to realise that there are many possibilities to do when filming, these include:

• The developing of a character such as the "nerdy" charatcer in this film. Developing a character that is considered a "loner" has many opportunities as they would be able to change or adapt depending the situation.
• Adapting genres in order to criticise or mock society. Slight changes to the ordinary can have a great effect in society and can be easily achieved.
• Use of colours. In Rushmore an interesting colour scheme is used. Rather than everything being bright and sunny which is the norm in high-school films, a plainer, more "Autumnal" colour scheme is used. This adds realism. This will appeal to an older audience as a younger audience would be drawn to a brighter colour scheme. This is useful as an older audience would be more likely to understand the humour as it isnt direct because puns at the education system are made discretely.

This has made me aware of many different ways we cold film our film. I will take these points into account when considering what to make. The point that i am considering the moat is the development of the "Loner/Nerdy" character as i believe that it has many opportunities i can take when filming.