Film certificate research

The first thing I need to understand is the average certificate to teen comedy. Here are a list of the films that I have researched from the genre with their film certificate :

• American Pie- 15
• Superbad- 15
• The Inbetweeners Movie- 15
• Sexdrive- 15 
• Eurotrip-15
• Project x- 18
• She's the man- 12A
• Adventureland- 15 

So according to the research it seems that teen comedy films are usually rated 15 and the exceptions are usually 12 or 18 rated.

Here are the following film certificates the UK uses:

Within Teen Comedy, the key features to what makes a film rated 15 are:

• frequent strong language 
• sexual references and nudity 
• drug taking 
• strong verbal references to sex 
• discriminatory language or behaviour 

Focus group on the film fonts

Having looked at a number of fonts, there were a few I looked at which I preferred. I will conduct a survey where people will look at those ten fonts and I will make a bar chart out of it.



The result that got the highest was Jimmy USA (Colleged font) and I agree that it should be the font. It has USA like font as it should be best associated with American teen age comedy.

Bar charts/scores etc.

Film title with fonts

For my teenage comedy film I have decided to name it "Jimmy USA". Here are a list of film fonts that would be potential for my course work.

I will conduct an pie chart to ask people which film title font they prefer.

My credits and billing analysis

Here is my version of the credits and billing for course work. They will appear in the film poster and a version of it in my teaser trailer. By looking at other credits and billing from teenage comedy films it gave me an idea in terms of order to where the cast and crew appear. To make my poster seem even more authentic I have included the names of actual crew that have worked within the teen comedy genre.

Synopsis & Script to teaser trailer

In order to create a teaser trailer, I need to make a final synopsis so I can make the teaser trailer without hesitation.

FIRST SHOT- get a location of London (mainly Central London). Maybe Big Ben. 

• Scene 1- Oscar Brody is seen walking through Euston station with bags. Shows himself to be very optimistic about his new future. SHOT of a medium closeup of the suitcases and it tilts up to his face. He drops the suitcases to the floor and then the camera angle switches to his face, where we can see he is lost and confused. "Are you from London?" "Do you know my friend Danny in Hendon?" "Excuse me" people ignoring him. 

SECOND SHOT: walking into a college with his suitcases and everyone looking up. "Howdy folks" Their surprise is neutral. 

One closeup of not reacting to them. C U close up. Him smiling and waving. 

Film the teacher: "So Jimmy what do you aim to get out of this school" Desk. 

jongilbert3000@gmail.com

• Scene 2- He is sitting in an interview with the teacher. The teacher asks him "So Jimmy, what do you aim to get out of this school? "I am looking forward to this new change. New people to meet. I am excited to observe and learn the culture of cheerful and sweet English people"
  
  
  Scene 3- fast shots us to the common room where he walks in. He goes into the college and sees absolute chaos (not what he was expecting). (Narrating) "First impression is always important" "Howdy folks!". All the bullies stop what they are doing and turn on him and look with disgust. Scene ends with them screaming "YANK".

• Scene 4 (Narating) Brings us back to school interview. Teacher asks whether he will be ok fitting in with new "friends". "It is also important to fit in with what the English love to do best". Scene takes us to a football pitch and there is a match. He is coming on to replace injured star striker of the school team. (Narating) "First impression is always important". Kicks the ball over the bar and is confused with American football so he celebrates whilst the other team look with confusion and anger. He screams "3 POINTS". (Narating) "I am really fitting in well with this Soccer". He gets a red card after doing an American football tackle against an opponent. 

Camera Shots:

• Penalty- CU and MCU of the ball being kicked 
• Foul- starts with MCU on opponent dribbling the ball. 
• Eitan then charges with MCU and MS out of frame. 
• Back to the opponent Eitan charges into frame, pushing him over
• Next shot on the ground, opponent falls down onto the ground into frame with Eitan on top of him. 
• The shot where Eitan is in Medium Close Up both fallen down 

• Scene 4 brings us back to school and he is trying to flirt with the British girls. (Narrating) "I am settling in well with these English chicks. They seem to really like me. They say they love my accent. The British guys seem to be quite jealous. But I think thats a good thing right?" 

• Scene 5 (House party scene) (Narating) "Confidence is always important. Confidence will gain me attention from these Brits". Knocks on door whilst house party is going on. They tell him to get lost. Tries to gate crash but chased by small dog. EXAMINE HOUSE

• Scene 6- girl confronts the bullies. Also has a new friend who starts him. Main bully confronts the main character over girl and threatens him. The bully is with the girl in a separate scene.
  "Your a dead Yank"
  
  
    

Suggested music tracks for the teaser trailer:

American Idiot-Green Day

Teenage Dirtbag Wheatus  

Good Charlotte- The Anthem

Proplist:

Coloured lamps for house party
Football props for football scene

Research for directors and crew

As mentioned before previously my film has an American character along with British characters. The cast and crew would best fit my criteria by having a combination of British and American producers. I feel that putting down American producers for my credit and billing would look more authentic as teen comedy films have been more associated with American producers. Since British film companies such as Film4 would be low budget, I should mention low budget crew as well in order to make a good combination of the too (American + British crew).

Here are a list of cast and crew that would best fit the criteria:


Director- Greg Mottola (American Director)

He has directed two teen comedies, Superbad and Adventureland which are both popular and high budget films. As I need one director associated with high budget films for my genre, he is therefore worthy for my credits and billing.

Producer- Ben Palmer (British Producer)

He has directed both the series and movie of The Inbetweeners which is a high budget film and series though the director isn't famous and big. But since my teaser trailer would consist from the creators of Inbetweeners, he is best associated with it.

Cinematographer- Richard Crudo 

Cinematographer for American Pie. He is also the president of American Society of Cinematographers.

Music producer- David Nessim Lawrence

Music producer best associated with the American Pie films. He won the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers award for American Pie 2. I have chosen him to appear in my credits and billings as music composer, partly for his award with American Pie but also because he has been music composer for other teenage programs like High School Musical and the Cheetah Girls.

Costume designer- Debra McGuire

Costume designer that has contributed to other teen comedies as well such as Superbad and "The 40 year old Virgin".

Script writer (SCREEN PLAY)- Seth Rogen














He is also notable for his script writing. He has written for one specific teen comedy which was Superbad and he has also written for other comedy films such as This is the end and The Watch. By having him as script writer, the film would be pushed up the agenda as it has been written by a popular comedy actor.


Casting by- Nadira Seecoomar

She was used for casting by for the Inbetweeners movie


Production Designer- Louis G. Friedman

Production manager for the American Pie films.

Executive Producer- Michael J Nelson

An American comedian and writer who also stared as executive producer for American Pie.

Editor- Charlie Fawcett

Edited for the Inbetweeners series and movie.

Credits and Billing analysis

I have noticed that one of the conventions I have found is that almost all of them include credits and billing. To make my poster as authentic as possible, I am going to include my own credits and billing.

I have analysed the credits and billing from two films of my chosen genre, one American and one British to see what appears in the billing and the order of elements in the billing. 

Billing from Sex Drive:

Billing from The Inbetweeners movie:

The Billing starts with production and distribution companies and finish with the names of the screen writers and the directors. After production companies comes the film title or the names of the main actors. The film title is then followed by the rest of the cast. In the middle I found various other crew such as casting, music composer, editors, cinematographers and various producers. 

Before I create my own billing I need to research potential crew that would best fit my genre and then create fictional actors to star in my film. 

Potential production and distribution companies for my film

Having looked at a range of posers, teaser trailers and theatrical trailers for films within my genre I have noticed that in both the posters and the trailers, production company logos are included and that the company productions are referenced in the billing/credits. I want my poster and teaser trailer to be as realistic as possible so I will need to include production company logos on both- I am going to conduct some research into which production companies produce films from my chosen genre before deciding which companies will be most likely to produce my film.

Below is a list of potential production companies that have made films within my chosen genre.

Universal Pictures- One of the six major studios, It is huge hollywood company that produced the films in the American Pie franchise, role models, The 40 year old virgin

Columbia Pictures-Also one of the six major studios and owned by huge multi media conglomerate company called Sony. Has produced Super Bad, The Virginity Hit, Sex Tape, 21 jump street, Pineapple express, Not another teen movie, Tom cats. Loser, Booty Call

Dreamworks SKG- California film studio that produced She's out of my league, She's the man, Road Trip.

Film 4- British owned digital television channel owned by Channel Four Television Cooperation. Produced The Inbetweeners movie

Bwark Productions- London based comedy production founded in 2004. Produced The Inbetweeners movie as well as the series.

Apatow Productions- American film and Television production company that produced Superbad, The 40 year old Virgin

Revolution Studios- American production and distribution company founded in 2001. Produced The new guy

National Lampoon Productions-  Comedy and Entertainment company that was formed in 2002. Known to have produced Surf Party, Bag boy, Dorm Daze 2

Summit Entertainment- American film studio and subsidiary of Lionsgate Entertainment. Produced Sex Drive, American Pie

Miramax Films- American entertainment company best known for producing foreign and independent films. Produced Adventureland,



Universal Pictures and Summit Entertainment present in association with Zide-Perry Productions and Film 4 A Bwark Film Production.

Potential tag lines for my own film.

"You snooze. You lose"

"He scores when he wants"

"A banging entertainment"

"He moves from the states to England. Biggest mistake"

"New kid. New banter. New player"

"The American nightmare"

"He is taking her for a Texas spin"

"A hard man is good to find, instead of a good man is hard to find"

"He's got Holly-Wood"

"He has a degree on pulling..... himself"

"No hard feelings"

"He is hoping life sucks"

"He has come a long way to go all the way"

"He came. He saw. He touchdown"

Tagline consistency

I aim to write a number of tag lines using those conventions before deciding the appropriate one. Throughout this research the following conventions I have found for teen comedy tag lines are:

• Sexual innuendoes and sexual puns 
• There have been some rhythm 
• Short sentences 
• Second person- involving the audience 
• Reference to College/school 
• Reference to rules being broken/recklessness of youth

List of taglines found in Teenage comedy genre

There are two reasons why I am looking at tag lines.

One is because I need to write my own both for my poster and for my teaser trailer. It is going to be the same tagline on both which will help create a sense of unity and consistency across my marketing campaign.

The second reason is because for films from my genre is to see if there is a consistency in terms of elements within the tagline that are repeated. Once those consistent elements are identified, I will be able to create my own tagline that includes those elements.



American Pie- "There's something about your first piece" 

American Pie 2- "This summer it's all about sticking together" 

Dirty Deeds- "10 Dares. 12 hours. One wild night" 

Sex Drive- "He can't wait to take it out for a spin" /"He's learning virgin territory" / "How far would you go to go all the way" 

Euro Trip- "No actual Europeans were harmed in the making of this film"

Road Trip- "The greatest college tradition of all" 

Dude, where's my car?- "After a night, they can't remember, comes a day they'll never forget" 

Superbad- "Come get some" 

Project X- "The party you've only dreamed about" 

Adventure land- "Nothing brings people together like a crappy summer job"/ "Long hours. Low pay. High times"/"It was the worst job they ever imagined.... and the best time of their lives" 

Accepted- "The rejected have defected" 

21 Jump Street- "The only thing getting blown tonight is their cover"/"They're too old for this shift" 

Porky's- "You'll be glad you came" 

Easy A- "let's not and say we did"

Fired up- "2 guys. 300 girls. You do the math"

Harold and Kumar go to white castle- "Fast Food. High Times" 

The To Do List- "She's going from straight A's to getting her first F" 

Fun Size- "Some people just cant handle Halloween"

The Inbetweeners- "Surf. Sun. Shagging"/ "This summer, four boys become men"/ "Out of school. Out of their league" 

Going the Distance- "They came. They saw. They came" 

Hole in One- "Keep your eyes on the ball"

Kids in America- "Get schooled. Not fooled"

Dorm Daze- "College freshman. Virgin Territory"

The New Gulf- "A zero will rise"

Private Resort- "They're looking for hot times. And they came to the right place"

Research on fonts

For this task, now that I know what my genre is I am going to research numerous film titles by finding the font types. This is to help me choose the right font for my film title which will feature both in my teaser trailer and my film poster.

American Pie- Akzidenz Grotesk BE Bold Extended

 (strenuous font)

FIND A FEW MORE