Guide to Institutions

What Production Company?
We have chosen to use the American production company of Paramount Pictures. It is one of the most grossing movie studios and is in fact America’s oldest existing movie studio.

Why are they suitable?
This company is suitable because are known for producing quirky films and have produced a wide range of films in different genres.  After knowing that they are the oldest existing movie studios, this shows that they must be good at what they do, therefore it shows that we have made the right decision in choosing them as our production company.

What other films have they successfully produced?
They have produced Angus Thongs and perfect Snogging (another British Film), and Stardust, which were hugely successful, Mean Girls, Napoleon Dynamite and School Of Rock.

Why is that significant for your film?
These films are significant to us because they have the codes and convention of a quirky Teen Rom/Com genre that will attract our audience to come and watch our film. We have actually research a few of these films whilst doing our analysis, this shows that the genre that we are looking towards doing is a good genre that Paramount Pictures might take on.

What distribution company?
We have chosen to use the distributor company of Paramount Pictures. This is the same as the company chosen for our production.

It is part of a vertically integrated organisation?
Yes it is part of a vertically integrated organisation, which we have used for the production company. The distribution part of the company was in partnership with Universal studios for 25 years and this was originally how the films distributed internationally however it is now an independent company within itself.

Why is that significant?
This is significant because we are then able to make more of a profit because all the revenue from the films success is going back in the company itself.  This means that we don’t have to worry about payments to lots of different companies and people separated from this company, therefore it is easier to split money into shares and we will gain more as we don’t have lots of companies wanting the same amount.

If you are choosing an independent company, why?
We are not using a independent company because all though it would be slightly be beneficial we believe that using a vertically integrated organisation we will be able to get a wider audience because they will able to sell more of the film because cinemas are familiar with this company.   

What other films have they distributed?
The films that they have distributed are Footloose, Series of Unfortunate Events, Save The Last Dance and Mean Girls.

How does that tie in well with your film?
These films are all quirky Teen Rom/Com’s those are the films that we accept some of our target audience to have seen (at least one of them). Therefore it shows that using this distributor is the right choice as they have distributed many film of our genre. As our research includes similar codes and conventions to these films we are able to know that our idea for our film will sell well because it is a popular genre in the type of films that Paramount Pictures sell to the audience. This is what the audience expect to see particularly in this genre from Paramount Pictures.

Genre and Audience Presentation

Questionnaire

What age are you?  ______

Are you Male/Female?

What is your favourite teen genre of film?

Rom/com [  ]   Indie [  ]   Drama [  ]    Romantic [  ]

How many times do you go to the cinema a month?

Never [  ]  Once or twice [  ]  Three to five times [  ]  Six + [  ]

What settings do you expect to see in a teen movie?

High school /college [  ]  Home [  ]  Social places [  ] 

What type of characters do you expect to see in a teen movie? (Tick more than one)

Geek [  ]  Beautiful girl [  ]  Beautiful boy [  ]  Parents/Teachers [  ]  Friends [  ]  Popular crowd [  ]  Bully [  ]   Villain [  ]

How do you watch teen movies? (Tick one)

Download illegally [  ]  Download legally [  ]  Watch online [  ]  Rent [  ] Buy [  ] Cinema [  ]

Who do you go to the cinema with the most? (Tick one)

Family [  ]  Friends [  ]  Partner [  ]  On your own [  ]

What themes and situations would you expect to see in teen movies? (Tick more than one)

Drugs [  ]   Sex [  ]  Studying [  ] Group clash [  ]  Crime [  ] Peer pressure [  ]  Love [  ]  Bullying [  ]  Shopping [  ]

What type of music would you expect to hear in teen movies? (Tick one)

Rock [  ]  Classical [  ]  Pop [  ] RnB [  ] Metal [  ] Techno [  ]

What teenage age range would you expect to see in a teen movie? (Tick One)

Under 13 [  ]   13-15 year olds [  ]   16- 18 year olds [  ]   Older [  ]

Out of these film, which would you rather watch? (Tick one)

Juno [  ]   Camp Rock [  ]   A Cinderella Story [  ]   10 Things I Hate About You [  ]   Harry Potter [  ]   Twilight [  ]   Scott Pilgrim vs. The World [  ]

What factors made you want to watch the film you chose?

Storyline [  ]   Characters [  ]   Settings [  ]   Themes [  ]  Issues [  ]   Age [  ]

Clueless-Part1

10 Things I Hate About You Part 1

13 going on 30-part 1

Angus Thongs And Perfect Snogging Part 1

STEP UP 2 THE STREETS - PART 1

Summary

Codes and Conventions

Stock settings: high school(high school musical), main characters home(st Trinians boarding school-also where they live), places of work, cafe/bar.


Stock Characters: Geek - Grease(Eugine), Cheerleader, Jock(Danny), Bitch(Roz), Looser, New Girl(Sandy)


Themes: Love, crushes, jealousy, beauty,evenge,rebellion (John Tucker must die-hes messes with multiples girls at a time)


Narrative: Todorovs theory of equalibruim: Equilibruim,disturbance,recognition of disruption,attempt to repair,reinstatement (normally)


Iconography: costume/clothing, hobbies, props, gesture/posture.


Create an enigma: see a bit of all the main characters to show setting and sets the scene- shows you the start of the situation and makes you want to know what happens next.(Shes the man-playing football and freezes on the characters)


Introduce key characters: the camera will follow the main character first, they are the first characters we see so the audience will be aware that they have a key role in the film. this normally starts with a hobby or lifestyle they live or follow. (High school musical 3- starts off with Troy playing basketball)


Introduce key themes: embarrassment- usually something that the main character is doing/wearing- make situation awkward and uncomfortable (Angus thongs and perfect snogging-wearing an embarrasing costume to the halloween party)


Introduce genre: music shows emotion and feelings and creates atmosphere


Setting: no disturbance-equilibruim is fine. (10 Things i hate about you) settings and music compliment eachother to highlight the genre


Use of titles: film name at the start or inbetween-we see clips with titles that overaly on the screen. distributers first and them the main characters are shown after (Lizzy Mguire) mixture of animation and text which supports and adds to the titles.

Textual Analysis

The princess Diaries 1.

From this romantic comdey, I can see clearly that is follows the typical codes and conventions to most other rom coms. It follows the same opening sequence, as most of the others follow.

The film follows the typical stock characters: the bitch, the geeky girl, the extreemly pretty popular girl, bullying the geeky girl, who wants to be something different, or something shocking happens to her, and turns her ''beautiful'', and within the context of this film, this geeky girl becomes a princess. It follows a smilar theme of theme of an ordinary geeky teenage girl, living an ordinary life, and things just happen to her. It also follows the typical stock settings, of a high school, and a typical teenage lifestyle, not getting along with her mother (parents). This film follows alot of typical conventions and codes of a rom com.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOCYQllALV8

This film begins, again in the same way as the other rom coms I looked at. It begins with Touchstone pictures with no sound, then Summit Entertainment, which is when the non diegetic music begins. We go straight to a black screen where, we see the credits of the two companies backing and producing this film. However unlike the other films, the character credits and producer names etc, do not appear at the start of the film, however the first voice over we hear in the first clip of the film we see, is a female voice, which follows the same theme of mainly female character based.

Textual Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCqbVfTtPoc&feature=related

Yet again this film follows the similar sequence that most of the rom-coms i have analysed follow, in the opening of the film. It begins with Paramount, and nickelodeon the company that are backing and producing this film. Again at the start it always begins with non-diegetic music... up until, we get into the story world, and the characters begin talking, when we know the actual movie has begun. As the film starts the opening credits run at the bottom of the screen, so they as we follow the scence we can see the credits running. Again as we can see the main characters are girls, as it is in many of the rom coms i analysed.

Textual Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y6VCawDz0U

Again, this film also follows the similar conventions an opening of a Rom com film, as it starts off with Columbia studios, the company/studio that is backing this film. Then the non diegetic music begins, which can also help create feeling and atmosphere about the film, instantly before much of the story begins. It then cuts to the Film credits (the character names), however this film does not show the actual film title till further on in the opening. After the credits,the camera follows a girl, and we get both diegetic and non diegtic music in this scene, and only after we have familiarised with this character for a while that we are shown the film title. Again so far, the film is based around female characters.

Textual Analysis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hc_UUofTKag

Again throughout this Rom-com, there has been the use of non-diegetic music feautred throughout the opening. It begins with TouchStone pictures, which is the company backing this film, however the music featured over this is the theme tune that the actual company uses on all of their films. When the scene changes to the start of the film, it is then when the non diegetic music begins, so we are aware the story has begun. It starts with the camera panning around what looks to be a neighbourhood, which sets the scene for the audience. As this is happening in the background, the film title and character names appear on the screen,after all these have been shown, it cuts straight into the actual film, and the non diegtic music stops, as we have entered the storyworld. Again this rom com features mainly girls from what we can see in the opening.



Textual Analysis

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHFFTK-cGyc



Throughout the opening of this clip, there has been use of Non-diegetic sound. Which i found was used in nearly all the opening clips i looked at. Also the opening to this film follows the way in most of the Romantic Comedy film openings, sequence the opening. It starts off with ' Paramount' the company backing this film, then straight onto the title of the film 'Clueless'. It then cuts into the actual film, however the non diegtic music is still playing over the scence. It then slowly cuts to a specific character and follows them or what they are saying for a short period of time, usually being the main character in the film, to allow the audience to familiarise with them. I found that also in most of the Rom-coms i looked at, all involved mainly girls.