Storyline ,Openings and Binary Oppositions

Storyline ,Openings and Binary Oppositions

Binary Oppositions is a pair of opposites , which powerfully forms and establish conflict which helps creates  a story line in a film. In Teen films you are able to see these binary oppositions in the opening.

In today's lessons we watched four different openings of teen movies with different story lines which were ; Ferris Buellers day off, 10 things I hate about you , Romeo and Juliet and Princess diaries .
I compared the different binary oppositions at the start of each opening of the film  to see the effects it gives to the movie . By watching these opening I have noticed that one side of the binary pair is always seen by  a particular society or culture as more valued over the over .

In Romeo and Juliet several binary oppositions are used to show the differences between the Montague's and Capulet's in the movie . The story line set up in the opening scene shows the Montague's and Capulet's fighting in a petrol station ,they are perceived as yellow vs blue , the Capulet's are  Latin Americans and the Montague's are White Americans.We can also see the binary oppositions (Montague's and Capulet's) immediately  through mise en scene and sound .
                       

                       Punk VS Cowboy 
                       
The Montagues arrive at the petrol station with a yellow convertible car.They are identified by music ; diagetic sound coming from the car stereo such as  heavy bass , rock /hip hop music is used when the camera faces  the Montagues , which shows their crazy and comical character.On the other hand  when the capulets arrive to the petrol station the camera pans to Tybalts and back down to his boot. The Cuban heels represents self respect and the use of Non - Diagetic sound such as Western music shows Tybalt's importance as a Capulet and control over the situation.                                                                        

           Casual  VS Sophisticated 

 The Montagues wear bright , bold ,loose and unbuttoned  Hawaiian T-shirts and chains which shows that the Montagues are casual ,relaxed  and  that they are not as high classed compared to the Capulets Whereas the Capulets were dressed very formally wearing black blazers which implies seriousness , a red vest  with a picture of Mary and leather trousers. This proves that the Capulet's are wealthy ,religious and power compared to the Montagues.

 

      Yellow VS Blue

The two distinct colours represent the difference between both house holds , this is showed clearly to the audience by the number plates on each car showing the first three letters of the families name.
The montagues car is bright yellow which suggest peace , happiness and adolescence ,where as the Capulets windoes are faded and the car is navy which creates mystery and sophistication.

Storylines, Openings+ Binary Oppositions

Princess Diaries use various ways to establish the binary oppositions in the opening scene. They introduce the characters which means we could straight away establish the relationship between the main character and another character just by seeing how they get along with each other. Through the opening one of the main binary oppositions we have are mainly popularity vs non popularity. The main character Mia is so to say 'invisible' to her school mates and classified as unpopular and not very appealing in the way she looks however, we have the popular group of girls that are the opposite which are very pretty and girls who immediately get attention if they're in your presence. Here it is obvious that another binary opposition we have is 'beautiful girls vs ugly girls'. Another thing you would notice in a high school is that typically the popular and non popular girls don't get along with each other and this is exactly what occurs in the movie which establishes conflict between the two separate category of girls. Without binary oppositions it wouldn't bring the movie forward with interest and engagement as it shows us what the main differences are. Usually when popular girls get attention from the crowd, they are extremely confident in their surroundings as they're used to being noticed however, the unpopular girls would be fearing more with how people will mock them if they're openly exposed in a situation for e.g. stand in front of a classroom and speak as they consider themselves as not important to the society. This therefore establishes the binary oppositions with confidence vs nervous. Lastly, the last binary opposition I found in Princess Diaries is 'royalty vs non royal'. The grandma of the main character is the Queen which we could therefore see the difference between popular girls in a high school and a queen that is responsible for the whole country they live in themselves.

In '10 things I hate about you' is another typical teen movie where the mis en scene is usually based in a high school. 

Storylines, openings and binary oppositions

Teen films incorporate numerous different binary oppositions, and the best moment to get all of these into focus is in the introduction before the film focuses onto narrower aspects. We studied binary oppositions in 4 different films, and each of these films used over 5 in the opening 5-7 minutes.

10 Things I Hate About You
The first film we looked at was 10 Things I Hate About You y Jill Gunger. The first binary oppositions are apparent from 1:03, when the older sister drives up next to the group of popular girls. The binary oppositions just from this clip are:

• Pop music vs grunge/punk
• clean vs greasy
• happy vs moody
• bright colours vs black
• nice convertible vs old car

When Joseph Gordon-Levitt gets introduced there is an immediate change with how he expected teachers to behave and how the headmistress was behaving. Then, when the person comes to meet him, he describes the different group types, the coffee drinkers, the beautiful people, the Rastas, the Ivy Leaguers and the cowboys.

Ferris Buellers Day Off

Ferris' naughty nature creates vast amounts of binary oppositions. There is the difference between reality and his lies:

sibling rivalry: 

school and home:

TASK 2

17 AGAIN

17 again in s a rom-com teen film about a man who turns into a teenager again and tries to make things better but gets put off track and the ending is what all teen movies usually have, a happy ending.

This movie usually  for audiences between the ages 13-18 probably because it doesn't have a very big story line that would interest adults. I think it can be both for male and female because it involves comedy scenes and not many romantic scenes and when there is you usually have some comedic phrases.

It mostly appeals to females because of the protagonist Mike O'Donnell (Zac Efron) and how good looking he is to girls in the age group 13-18. I think males would like this movies for the simple reason that it is a good movie and has a decent story line.

The setting is mostly a high school which we see a lot and two other houses which big scenes happen in. Us as teenagers are able to relate to the high school scene and trying to become popular as Mike O'Donnell tries to do. 

JUNO

This film is a very unusual movie because it doesn't only have romance and comedy in it but it shows the life of what a pregnant teenager endures. It is a film about a girl called Juno (Ellen Page) who gets pregnant by her so-called boyfriend Paulie (Michael Cera). She goes through the pregnancy mostly alone but in the end e comes back to her.

I think that the age ranger for this movie might be 15-19 of both male and female. I think that both genders are appealed to this movie because it doesn't show just the view of what the female is going through but also the male. Pregnancy is also another thing that teenagers fear these days which makes this movie a sort of insight getting pregnant might be like.

there isn't a main actor or actress that attract the audience to watch movie but for the story line that the movie has. Teenagers can sort of relate to the feelings of the characters. It is set in various locations but again you have high school being one of the main places which the movie happens in and you see how Juno gets treated because of being pregnant and how that affects Paulie. 

REMEMBER ME

Remember Me is a tragic romance and is in the genre of romantic teen films. It is about two students meeting and falling in love with each other but throughout the way they encounter things that should make them break up but in the end they stay together but their lives are full of death and tragedies that we see through the movie. This doesn't have the happy ending that most teens films have.

This movie would attract the age group of probably 15-20 year olds because of the story line and now heart breaking it is. Most female viewers would feel like they connect to this movie because of how the characters portray themselves. Not many males would see this movie at their own free will because it's too 'lovey dovey' for them.

The setting is not in high school and is more about how they lead and live their lives together and apart which is why it attracts a higher age group. This movie is still a teen film but a tragic teen film

GENRE AND CONVENTION

Teen films is a film genre targeted at teenagers and young adults in which the plot is based upon the special interests of teenagers, such as coming of age, first love, rebellion, conflict with parents, teen angst or alienation. Often these normally serious subject matters are presented in a glossy, stereotyped or trivialized way. Some teen films appeal to young males while others appeal to young females.

The most common sub-genres in teen films are:

• romance
• comedy
• thriller
• horror
• tragedy
• drama
• psychological
• geeky
• fantasy

etc.

Most teen films are set in educational places such as high schools and Universities. By doing this it relates to teenagers because they set it someplace they know very well. In quirky films you have the usual Hot/popular person and then the geek who then becomes the hero in the end. In romanatic comedies it is always the guy who goes for the girl of his dreams and that mostly happens when they're at school. Basically, they have very generic plots that are easy to guess the outcome of.