Generic Conventions
Genre conveyed in Step Up
The opening of ‘Step Up’ is a contrast between two scenes of which there are two different groups of dancers. One group is hip-hop dancing whereas the other group is ballet dancing. To change from one scene to another the editor uses parallel editing; about every few seconds the ballet dancing fades into hip-hop dancing and vice versa. Parallel editing is when the camera is going back and forth from one scene to another. It is used to show contrasts between two things and also, it works effectively because the audience can see both scenes and compare easily.
The camera frame generally uses establishing shots all throughout but occasionally focuses on the dancers leg movements by using middle-shot or close up. The camera uses an establishing shot to show the majority of dancers and frame their full body as well as the setting of where they are. The ballet dancers are in a spacious hall with bright lighting, which emphasizes the formality of ballet dancing because, the hall. An establishing shot is also used to frame the hip-hop dancers to show their full body and the setting of where they are which is in the urban streets.
This is a contrast to the ballet dancers because dancing in the streets shows that it is informal. The use of close ups on the legs of the dancers is to show the differentiation of the dance moves and how upbeat or low beat each move is.
Mise en scene in the opening of ‘Step-up’ additionally portrays the class of the dancers in each type of dance. The light pastel colors that the ballet dancers are wearing connotes the higher class that they come from. Whereas, the dark bold colors that the hip-hop dancers are wearing connotes the lower class that they come from.
An upbeat and loud hip-hop music plays all throughout the opening of ‘Step Up’. Although the music is from the hip-hop genre, it relates well with the ballet dancing because it shows that any kind of music can be danced to using any kind of moves. Instantly, the audience can tell that this is the basic message of the film because its unusual to see ballet dancers dancing to hip-hop music. The music has violent aspects to it and seems competitive meaning that the film has some sort of competition between the two dances. However this doesn't have to be literal; it can be metaphorical or symbolic.
The genre of my film is dance/teen drama. It is a hybrid of genres. The music all throughout is hip-hop, upbeat, RnB. This automatically links to the target audience of young teens. The generic conventions of a dance film, is the music.
The shots are parallel; this shows two different things happening, so this film is step up 2. The shots are parallel which shows the two types of dancing which is street dance and ballet. This shot is used to contrast between the two shots as well as showing the target audience there is two different worlds, in this case, dances. There may be a clash between the two types of dances because they are very different. Also, the cultural boundaries are introduced from the on set because street dance is related to lower class people, whereas ballet is linked to upper class and the elite.
The camera shot starts off with a close up of their clothes. The ballet dancers are wearing tights, tutus and ballet pumps. Their colors are very neutral and pastel which represents unity and calmness where as the street group is wearing clothes
linked to what your average teenage boy or girl would wear on a very day basis.
Their colors are very bold and bright reds. The girls are wearing very revealing clothes and high-heeled boots. Whereas the boys are wearing baggy clothes tracksuits and trainers with baseball hats.
The lighting is very distant as well. The ballet dancers are in a studio and you can tell this by the mirrors and the poles. Also the lighting is very bright.
The street dance group is in the ‘’hoods’’. Their lighting is very dark so this would definitely be filmed during the night. They show the contrast between the two types of dances.
High angle shots are used in the ballet-dancing group. To show their group is more powerful as well as superior. Contrastingly, the street group is viewed from a low angle, showing they are lower. There are also long shots, showing the dancers dancing synchronized. This shows structure and formality within the two groups.
The genre is conveyed through the opening sequence of step up two, reflecting the music, sound, setting and clothing.
Genre conveyed in Hitch
Immediately the opening of the starts with credits fading in and out the color of the text is white and the font is simple which fits the genre, this indicates that the genre is most likely romance/comedy. Slowly there is a romantic mellow song in the background, which also helps the audience establish which genre the film is. Firstly there is a close up of different characters however there are a lot of characters set in different scenes.
In most of the scenes, it is set in busy city; New York and female characters are introduced which shows there will be some sort of romanticism. One of the female characters wears a pink preppy jumper which connotes love.
Whilst the characters are shown the scenes are switching, Will Smith does a voice over this also indicates that it could be a romantic film because horror or actions movies are opened with dis equilibrium which is usually mysterious and often no speeches to start with.
As there are different scenes showing potential couples a point of view shot of a male character, holding a dog that one of the female characters may have lost. A shot reverse shot is used to show the expression on the women’s face when he ‘finds’ her dog.
Will Smith looks smart yet casual which suggests he is a laid back character.
Genre conveyed in 500 days of summer
The shot starts off with a man and women sitting on a bench but from behind.
They are over looking a busy city with tall buildings and lots of cars and roads. The shot goes to a bird’s eye view of both their hands. Significantly showing a ring on her wedding finger.
There is violin music playing throughout this and a voice over in the background talking about both the main characters we first saw on the bench. The narrative voice clearly tells the audience that this a romantic chick flick. They are both smartly dressed here. He is wearing a suit and tie and she is wearing a gray dress, with a black winter coat on top. She is wearing heels and is nicely presented with shoulder length hair, neatly let loose over her shoulders.
Tom Hansen;
Narrative flashback zooming into Tom as a boy sitting on the edge of his bed watching T.V. there are posters stuck on the wall and books on the shelf. It then cuts to a shot of Tom sitting in a business meeting, looking sad and depressed. He is dressed smart, wearing a suit and tie. This clearly represents Tom as being successful and he clearly worked hard to get where he is.
Summer Finn;
The shot is zooming into Summer in a busy work environment, sitting at her desk, typing on the computer whilst answering a call. She is dressed in a smart white shirt with gray long trousers. Her costume also represents she is successful and really cares about her job. Her hair is tied back in a pony tail.
It jump cuts to a shot of Summer looking in the mirror. She is brushing her long black hair and is dressed in a white night dress. By her clothes I can tell she is a young vulnerable girl with something wrong in her life as she is looking in the mirror. It is a typical girls room, tidy with a lot of accessories and boxes. She chops her hair in clumps. This is metaphorical to her life being cut in chunks.
Just by watching the opening sequence, these two people will meet, fall in love brings them together. However, this does not happen because there is new equilibrium at the end.
Genre conveyed in Confessions of a Shopaholic
The shot starts off with zooming out a pair of pink shoes. The music in the background is upbeat and high tempo.
There’s just a lot of high angle panning shots of shoes and girls trying them on.
Then the title appears. The title is in bold, bright pink but ‘’of a’’ is in small letters whereas the rest of it is in capitals.
A voice over starts off with the main character talking about shopping. Instantly the audience will be girls because it has a lot of shopping involved. There is a close up of two adults and a child.
It jump cuts to a shot of three girls trying shoes on, laughing and making fun out of the previous girl.
There is an over the shoulder shot of the girl’s reaction. She looks very upset as the popular girls are bitching about her and mocking her.
We learn that she aspires to have lots of nice shoes and dresses when she grows up. She looks into shop windows in awe and inspiration.
This is a picture of the little girl all grown up. She is very stylish and also when she appears a song comes on.
Genre conveyed in Lizzie McGuire the movie
The opening of this movie starts of with an equilibrium includes a lot of elements to a chick flick movie by the font its cute and girly sometimes pink sometimes blue. The fact that she is getting ready, changing outfits portrays a girly image of Lizzie McGuire caring about how she looks. There are a variety of rapid shots while she gets ready from medium shots to close-ups while she's deciding what to wear, which connotes that she is trying to impress someone, or maybe she is insecure or even just conscious of her appearance as most girls are represented in chick-flicks. The soundtrack of Atomic Kitten - The tide is high is being played.
Genre conveyed in John Tucker Must Die
The shot zooms in into cheerleaders dancing, later following a basketball game. The camera is focused especially on one boy.
There’s a voice over as well as diegetic sounds in the background. From the voice over we can instantly tell this film is a chick flick aimed at girls.
The main boy/ heartthrob is denoted as a player’s type pretty boy who gets all the girls. The music played in the background is the All American rejects with dirty little secret which gives out and enigma code.
He takes three different girls to the same restaurant. So they figure out and plot against him connoting GIRL POWER.
Dont cha by the pussycat dolls is playing at this bit.
The title is bold white and underlined in red.
The setting for the opening of our film is in a shopping center. In many chick flicks, there will be a key scene during which a character goes shopping is a similar setting to ours. All chick flicks share many similar elements including; pretty girls who take great pride in their appearance, they are generally known as ''hot and popular girls''. Their main hobby will be to go shopping and they seek to follow only the latest trends. The girls in our opening are all of the same age range, which is of the teenage age range.
Examples of such movies are:
- Confessions of A Shopaholic
- Mean Girls
- Pretty Woman
- Bridesmaids
- Confessions of A Shopaholic
Industry Research on Chick Flicks
Top 10 Chick Flicks
The Production Company
How much the film made
1. Legally Blonde2; Red, White and Blonde (2003)
Legally Blonde2 made: $95,001,351 (USA)
Production Company: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
2. The Notebook (2004)
The Notebook made: $81,001,787 (USA)
Production Company: A New Line Cinema
3. P.S. I Love You (2007)
P.S I love you made: $156,835,339 (USA)
Production Company: Alcon Entertainment, Grosvenor Park Production, Wendy Finerman Productions.
4. When Harry met Sally (1989)
When Harry met Sally made: $92,823,546 (USA)
Production Company: Castle Rock Entertainment, Nelson Entertainment.
5. Somethings Gotta Give (2003)
Somethings Gotta Give made: $124,590,960 (USA)
Production Company: Sony Pictures Entertainment, Warner Bros, Fox Warner
6. Sex and the City 2 (2010)
Sex and the City 2 made: $95,328,937 (USA)
Production Company: New Line Cinema, Home Box Office (HBO)
7. 27 dresses (2008)
27 Dresses made: $160,259,319 (Worldwide)
Production Company: Fox 2000 pictures, Spyglass Entertainment
8. The Princess Diaries (2001)
The Princess Diaries made: $165,335,153 (Worldwide)
Production Company: Walt Disney Pictures, Brown House Productions
9. Dear John (2010)
Dear John made: $80,014,842 (USA)
Production Company: Screen Gems, Relatively Media
10. The Proposal (2009)
The Proposal made: $317.375, 031
Production Company: Touchstone Pictures, Mandeville Film
Through this research it has become evident that there are a variety of Production Company’s, which market and make films of this popular genre. This kind of hybridity of comedy/romance is becoming an ever-growing and popular genre. One of the things, which are significant, is that, most of the big box office chick flicks are American. For example; Beaches and Dirty Dancing. One of the things I have understood is that in order for it to be successful is that it has to be American. However, when they do use British actresses and actors, the director’s stereo type them. For example; in Bridget Jones Diary: The Edge of Reason.
Character Research
Pictures and analysis of artists who would fit into our genre;
A sweet blonde girl would fit into our genre because chick flicks represent the stereotypical ‘it girl’, this indicates popularity, and perhaps a character who is naïve.
Pink symbolizes her femininity once again, and reinforces the stereotypical image used in a chick flick. The character is on the phone; this shows us the character is gossiping, which is a key event within a chick flick.
A handsome dark-haired character, is usually a stereotypical view of the male 'crush' in a chick flick, the dark hair gives an idea of edginess which makes the character appear attractive. This makes the audience automatically assume he is a 'heart breaker'. The image of this character isn't too scruffy yet isn't too neat, which gives the audience the impression that he takes care of himself however he still give the 'bad boy' affect, which appeals to girls.
Here is Sandra Bullock from miss congeniality. She is wearing a hot pink prom dress. She is also wearing a sash connoting beauty pageants. Her hair is very beautiful, long and volumised. 
This is Shawn Ashmore. He is in Cadet Kelly and he is the male heart throb that two girls fight over. 
This is Anna Faris. She is in The House Bunny. She wears many revealing dresses, she has a nice figure so she looks gorgeous wearing the stuff she does. 
This is Juss Carr, Jesse and in Bring it on - All or nothing, he is the male heart throb. As you can tell he is very cute which popularly girls like.
Robert Patinson is the heart throb in the sequel of Twilight. 
This is Hillary Duff, she is in A Cinderella Story. She is understatingly very attractive with nice features, additionally she is wearing make up which appeals to teenage girls, not only teenage girls, but women of all age. 
Justin Timberlake is very good looking as many girls think so. 
Channing Tatum is just so hot.Audience Research
This is the age, gender and class for the film Dear John. From this I can instantly tell that the target audience is females. The classes fall into the categories of 15 plus (young and upmarket), another group focusing on attracting housewives and a child audience and lastly the older category. From this table I can see that the upmarket class have got the highest views.I did some research on the Pearl and Deen website on films in the genre of Chick flick/Romance'. Some films such as Clueless and Mean Girls have more female percentage who watch these films. The general age group which watch alot of this type of genre (in films) is from the ages of 15-24. Generally it is more females who are higher in percentage who watch it than males.
Sound Research
Typically Chick flicks are about conflict and this is reflected in the music and more often the lyrics.
‘Mean Girls’ is a film about conflict between girls over boys and fashion. The film uses ‘one way or another’ by Blondie. The name itself shows that the girls in the film the girls will get what they want ‘one way or another’; this reflects the types of characters that there are in the film such as strong and competitive.
The genre of the song is rock which indicates harshness and violence. Some of the lyrics are ‘I’m gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha one way or another’ meaning ‘I’m going to get you one way or another’; this suggests violent behavior between the girls which is a conventional feature in the genre chick flick, traditionally based around jealousy between girls and more often around the issue of boys.
‘A Cinderella Story’ is about conflict between girls who want the same boy. This film focuses on the boy falling in love with one girl but the typical generic convention of a chick flicks is when the other girls are envious. To represent the couple who are in love, the film uses the song ‘beautiful soul’ by Jessie McCartney. The title of the song ‘beautiful soul’ shows how it isn’t all about the looks in love, which is what chick flicks typically represent.
The general theme of the song is jolly and this shows the happiness in a chick flick when there is one girl and one boy who love each other. Not all chick flicks are based around jealousy but there always are a group of girls who tend to be jealous of something or someone. The song ‘beautiful soul’ has lyrics such as ‘I don’t want another pretty face’ putting across the point that in chick flicks the boy usually goes out with a superficial looking materialistic girl but in the end settles for a girl with more of a heart and soul rather than looks.
‘Picture This’ is another film about the clash between girls about boys and fashion. This film uses ‘a day in the sun’ by Angie Hilton. The title of the song ‘a day in the sun’ can have a metaphorical meaning of being the center of attention. Having all the attention is important for a girl in chick flicks because it’s all about popularity.
The theme of this song is happy and bright which shows’ how being the center of attention for a girl is so important that it can make the meanest girls happier than they already are. Being in the spotlight ‘a day in the sun’ is important especially in this film because the main actress Ashley Tisdale is actually an unpopular teenager who has only two friends. Sometimes a girl in a chick flick only has one chance to be in the spotlight and this is by dating the most popular boy in school which is what happens in this film.
The soundtrack in a chick flick is important and needs to be chosen wisely because every lyric metaphorically or literally supports and represents the storyline. It subconsciously gives the audience the vibe that they should be feeling while watching it. For example, in ‘Mean Girls’ most of the genres of the songs are ‘rock’ so therefore it makes the audience feel violence or spitefulness towards certain scenes.
Costume Research
Out-going/girly character description (Milly) - pink lipstick, eyeshadow, false eyelashes, curled hair, eye catching high heels, hand bag.
Sophisticated/smart character description (Fahima) - Glasses, peg leg straight trousers trousers, simple eye makeup, up-do styled hair nude lipstick, hand bag.
Sporty character description (Ayesha) - baggy 'boyfriend' jeans, hoodie, converse sneaker, simple makeup and straightened hair but tied back in a pony tail.
'Heart throb' charcter description - Ruhel or Khurshed - jeans, gelled hair desginer clothing.
Title Research
The title of a film is important in terms of advertising it because it needs to be appealing to the target audience. Our film genre is chick flick and the title of a chick flicks should appeal mostly to teenage girls. The following list of film titles interest teenage girls because they represent teenage dramas from a stereotypical view.
'She's' isn't in capitals how 'MAN' is emphasising how men are being portrayed as strong, but also breaking the stereotype of a girl being manly hence the title she's the man. The colours chosen are very unisex however red can also connote love which is relevant because the film is a rom-com movie.
- She’s the Man
- Just My Luck - the colour pink suggests romance and it shows the title as girly which is good for establishing what kind of genre the film is.
- Mean Girls
The title ‘Mean Girls’ is very bold and is in pink and purple gradient. The word ‘mean’ is bolder than ‘girl’ and therefore emphasises it.With our genre being chick flick, we will focus on coming up with a suitable title for our film opening that will be interesting enough for a teenage girl to pick up.
- Bring it On
- Love Wrecked
- Knocked Up
- A Cinderella Story
- 27 Dresses
- 50 First Dates
The title Mean Girls is very bold and is in pink. The word ‘mean’ is bolder than ‘girl’ and therefore emphasises it.
With our genre being chick flick, we will focus on coming up with a suitable title for our film opening that will be intresting enough for a teenage girl to pick up.
This is how mean girls starts off, this highlights how glamorous and shining they are supposed to be.
The movement is normal paced and appears then disappears again.
The contrast of adding colour, especially green shows envy.
Another title opening we analysed was A Cinderella Story.The typical movement if this was normal in pace and also the writing looks very posh and formal. It is written in gold colour font showing luxuriousness.
As you can see, it only mentions one actress, this is because she is famous and well known enough for people to watch and enjoy the film, because Hilary Duff is in it.
The credits appear in a fast fade in and fade out due to the fast tracking of the background.
Another film title we analysed was 27 dresses.
The colours here are all pink, which is a girly colour. Also the font is very elegant and feminine. The titles appear in a normal pace as we have analysed through traditional chick flicks. It appears and slowly fades out into a new credit.
Music and Sound Research
Instrumentals or remakes of :
Instrumentals or remakes of :
- Who's that chick - Rihanna instrumental - this fun - loving girly track represents the young girls in todays society. Rihanna is seen as a pop icon therefore many girls must look up to her, which is why this instrumental would benefit our opening.
- Tick tok - Ke$ha instrumental - Ke$ha has also become a pop-icon to young girls, the quirky tempo of the instrumental gels well with the genre of chick flick.
- Beyonce - Who run the world (GIRLS) instrumental - this song represents female domination which is interesting and attracts female audience.
- Jennifer Lopez - On the floor instrumental - this song has dance beats which symbolizes teen-parties and fun which is usually involved with-in chick flick movies.
- Beyonce ft Lady Gaga - Telephone phone instrumental
- Lady gaga - Starstruck instrumental
- Marvin Gaye - sexual healing
- Massari - Real Love instrumental
I tried to look for a correct beat to suit the genre of chick flick, however it didn't meet our expectations for example i tried 'beats' but it was too aggressive. I tried the 'cheerful' category however it was far too mellow, as we need a specific tempo to fulfill the expectations of our opening.
What We found from Title Research
From looking at lots of different titles we found that the romance and chick flick genre consist of very feminine colors of pinks, purples, red, peaches, pastel and neutral colors. The colour of the texts are 'girly' that is a common convention of chick flick showing it that its aimed mainly at teenage girls. The fonts are funky and playful which acts upon the genre. for our title as most chick flick romance films use soft dissolves and slow fades, we are going to imply this in our opening. we are going to use pink color as we have found this to be a convention of teen girly films and our target audience would be younger women so we want the opening to have a very girly atmosphere to draw the audience in. In terms of movement it will be sort of slow with dissolves and fades.
We are hoping to go for a different style to make it slightly different. Although we looked at different elegant and soft titles we want to recreate that with girls as the icon. we will have items like lipsticks and kiss marks within the text. We are going to use photoshop to do this and not boris.
What we found from Genre Research
What we found in genre research was that the typical conventions of chick flick are related to teenagers, ideally girls. There will always be an understated beautiful girl and other girls who are a bit different. Also, there's a male character who is really good looking who all the girls like and have crushes on.
Chick flicks is designed to appeal to a female targeted audience, there are many types of films that are directed to attract the female population, but chick flicks is used in reference because they are heavy with emotion and contain themes that are relationship based.
What we found from Music and Sound Research
The backing tracks in chick flicks are usually songs that were new and fresh of when the film was released. Our group wanted to use the instrumental of Ke$ha - Tick tock but to gain extra marks for sound we decided not to because we are not allowed to use music by an established artist and it has to be copyright free. Hence we will create our own sound in garage band, but it will have funky similar beats to what we originally was hoping for.
Voice overs are used quiet a bit too to establish who is who and what is going on. We are going to have speech in the opening of our film opening. The way we are going to do this is record it on photo booth and put the voices of the three girls when they are looking at the heart throb like a thought track.
What we found from Costume Research
While analyzing costume we found that the main characters wear nice distinctive clothing to generalise them away from the normal standard of people. Also the type of clothing they wear does matter, it is a really significant feature of their personalities. We used this research by making Milly wear a red provocative dress, also red has many different connotations of sexy, flirtatious and love. Making Ayesha wear sporty clothing of consisting of converse trainers, hooded jumper and jeans. Furthermore, Fahima is supposed to be sophisticated and intellectual, she wore glasses, which is significant as glasses are generalized with brainy people. Also her clothing is smart, entailing straight leg trousers and a pink blouse. Pink is a girly colour and many girls like it. Lastly, Ruhel, the heartthrob in our film opening is wearing a red checkered Ralph Lauren shirt, a white Lyle and Scott jacket and Armani jeans with Vans. As you can see these are all branded, designer clothes because this is very important to boys and also he is of a well off class and likes looking nice as well as attracting girls.
