Researching Chosen Genre
High school/ teen drama/ chick flick- Stereotypical Elements
Narrative structure and Characters
A high school chick flick mainly focuses on the events and daily routines of high school, and usually exaggerates the ways of teenage life. There are always stock characters which are dramatically emphasised to represent a personality- it is repeated throughout the film. For example Mean Girls is an exaggeration of stereotypical aspects of teenage life, there are so many different friendship groups and each have certain personalities: like the Jocks, Goths, Emos, ‘the plastics ‘, and the geeks. There would be some groups in a normal high-school but they wouldn’t be a distinctive as in films.
A typical portrayal of a high school chick flick normally follows two characters of completely opposite type: one being geeky and unpopular, the other being pretty, popular and girly. There is normally always friction between both characters where they dislike each other, mainly because of their differences. Its starts off with the popular girl having a great life with loads if friends and the geeky girl having a miserable time and being either lonely or only having a few friends. Then a major event takes place either having a bad effect on the geeky girl which changes people’s opinion of the popular girl and leads her to be disliked or that people start to see the geeky girl differently and this annoys the popular girl. It normally ends with both girls being happier and normally being friends.
In teen drama Todorov’s classic narrative structure can easily be applied:
· Starts with opposition from different social groups or characters (like a geek or popular girl)
· This is followed by an event which causes disruption which causes a fall out
· The disruption is recognised (leaves geeky girl feeling sad, or popular girl feeling jealous)
· An attempt to repair disruption (revenge, or getting relationships back)
· Back to original situation, or peace between both social groups
Mise-en-scene
Setting
The setting of a teen drama / chick flick will almost always be a high school, there might also include a few scenes at a school party or house party. It is also likely to feature the main character’s houses to give the viewer an idea of their surroundings, characteristics and personality. For example in mean girls most of the film is in the school, and at the beginning of Wild Child we see Poppy's bedroom and it shows her 'girly' personality.
Costume
Costumes and appearance of characters in a high school/ chick flick genre significantly show the characters personality. Below is a picture of the main character of Wild Child, who is a typical American girly girl. This is clear for the viewer, because she is wearing designer clothes, is wearing jewellery and has big sunglasses on. This is similar in Mean Girls when the stereotypical popular girls all wear short skirts and wear mainly pink.
Sound In chick flicks/ teen dramas a lot of non-diegetic music is used. This music helps express the emotions of the characters, and also engages the viewer. A voiceover is also commonly used normally used to show the thoughts of a character, and because it’s a teen-drama sounds like a diary entry which helps the viewer understand the characters age, and the character’s personality. Pop music of the time is a common choice as it will be familiar and therefore relatable for the audience. Often sound track albums can be released afterwards.
Techniques to Consider
Setting
We’re using the typical settings of a chick flick/ teen drama: by using both of the main characters houses, and a school. The characters houses will allow the viewer to be introduced to their characters personality’s almost instantly, in most teen-dramas the bedrooms of the characters show their interests and personality’s and by using props we will be able to show this in the bedrooms. We are using the last bit of our extract to show school life of the girl, setting it in a school.
Costume
By looking at films like Mean Girls and Wild Child it is obvious that costumes have a major impact on helping to identify the character and their personality. Being set in a school, we will have both girls in school uniform, although accessories will help identify the differences in our two main characters.
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