CONVENTIONS - ANTOINETTE

CHARACTERS.

We decided to use to use 3 characters, all of which are females. We done this to make the storyline

much easier to follow and our target audience are most likely to be female. We also came to the

decision that all our characters should be Afro-Caribbean teenagers, as we know in many ‘Teen Comedy’

films, black females are not represented positively and we decided to challenge this.

LOCATION.

From watching ‘Teen Comedy’ movies, we realised there are mainly 3-4 different locations; the

characters house, their friends house, school or sometimes a house party. Home and school is a factor in

a teens life. With this, we decided to shoot our sequence in the home and school as it gives the audience

a chance to get to know the character better and see how life is at school for them.With this we decided

to shoot our opening sequence in the home, as this gives us more time to introduce the character.

PLOT.

Like many other ‘Teen Comedy’ movies, the plot always relates to the location – for example, the school

life will always evolve around the school and the main characters. If we shot it in a school we would

have to cram all of our characters in a very little time. We decided to make the plot very simple as if it

was too complex the audience may become bored easily.

EFFECTS.

We decided not to use so much effects as this would take away the realism and it would start to be

perceived as a children’s movie. Also, with ‘Teen Comedy’ movies, the effects are kept to a minimum.

For example, when we changed location in our sequence, we used a simple black fade out as this looks

more realistic – less confusion.The freeze frame we used in our sequences brings humor as the frame

was frozen on the characters face. This gives the audience time to familiarise themselves with the

characters.

STEREOTYPES.

ETHNICITY.

As our characters are both young black females, we knew there would be some stereotypes involved.

With this knowledge, we decided to make our characters subvert these stereotypes. As they are from

working class backgrounds, we knew they would be portrayed as being stupid or rebellious which is not

what we are trying to showcase. We watched other movies and we realised the black characters,

especially girls, are stereotyped as being a bit slutty, loud, rude and stupid. Those who weren’t from

middle class backgrounds were most likely to be bullies or pregnant for a drug dealer. As we know these

would be some of the stereotypes attached to our characters, we tried our best to make our characters

dodge these. With this, we decided not to add no males in our production and to dress as in other

movies our characters in appropriate clothing, as in other movies provocative garments is what the

females would be wearing.

TEENAGERS.

As we are teenagers ourselves, we knew some of the stereotypes that are associated with teens. The

teens we saw in other ‘Teen Comedy’ are usually really lazy, not wanting to go to school or really

hyperactive and foolish. They are also used associated with gang crime/drugs. Sex is a big thing in most

‘Teen Comedy’ films also so we knew we would be including those into our product.

FEMALES.

There’s a certain ‘sex object’ stereotype when it comes to females. They always seem to be attracting

the wrong attention in ‘Teen Comedy’ films. Especially with black females we found they would be

wearing inappropriate clothing, usually involved with a drug dealer who they ‘love’. There has been

some cases in ‘Teen Comedy’ films when female teenagers become pregnant during school life. E.g,

Juno. This is showing society it is becoming acceptable for teenagers to balance school and a baby at the

same time. The female character is HARDLY interested in school, mostly about the party and sex life.