Q1 Evaluation - Conventions of Teen Drama title sequences

Conventions of Teen Drama title sequences

            Teen dramas – productions with a major focus on teenage characters, tackle often trivial issues from the perspective of a teenager. They are commonly based on the interests of teenagers such as first loves, rebellion, conflicts with parents and alienation.

            The main sub-genres of teen dramas are High School Dramas and Youth Dramas. High school dramas often revolve around girls and include mainly female protagonists. The characters are of high school age and the film includes sexual themes and crude humour. Youth dramas are set in cities and tend to include characters from all social groups in order to reflect reality in cities such as London.

                In terms of micro features, High school dramas tend to utilise editing techniques such as slow motion, which can be seen in mean girls at several points within the title sequence and beginning scenes. Also, close ups are often used in the title sequences for high school dramas as they allow small differences between people such as the use of make up to be identified. They are often shot in locations established with young people such as schools/ colleges and parties. Costumes of students are often very similar in order to create cliques that are easily identifiable to the audience. Non diegetic sound is used a lot in high school dramas as pop music is laid over the moving image to create the fun high school atmosphere.

               In youth dramas, the micro features used vary slightly because of the large amount of themes that can be portrayed. They are a majority of the time, set in dark, urban, city like settings. Costume is very ordinary and plain as the aim of the film is to replicate extraordinary events in the lives of normal people. All shots are used in the title sequences of youth dramas as the location has to be established as well as the characters being introduced. Diegetic street like sounds are used to enhance the realism, however foley sounds are also added to enhance the natural sounds. This can be seen in the title sequence of Kidulthood.