Narrative Structure

Director Case Study

John Hughes was born in 1950 and he wrote his very first film in 1983 and it was called Vacation 58. A year later, he wrote his first Coming of Age film; Sixteen Candles. Shortly after, He signed with Paramount for multiple pictures. In 1985, he created the award-winning Breakfast Club and Weird Science. Then, in 1986, he wrote his third and fourth award-winning films; Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Pretty in Pink. In 1987, he branched away from Coming of Age films with Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Hughes created films like Home Alone, Curley Sue, 101 Dalmatians and Drillbit Taylor in the years that followed. He then moved out of the spotlight and died in New York in 2009.

John Hughes’ the Breakfast Club showed the world that American high school is about class wars and possibly identity crises. Hughes re-defined the dying out coming of age genre, especially with films like the Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Sixteen Candles. Hughes then moved down the ages and released films like Home Alone and Baby’s Day Out. Hughes had three recurring actors/actresses who played a part in at least two of his films: Ben Stein, Molly Ringwald and Anthony Michael Hall. Ben Stein was in Ferris Bueller and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Molly Ringwald was in the Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink and Sixteen Candles. Anthony Michael Hall was in Sixteen Candles, the Breakfast Club and Weird Science. 

His style is what sets Hughes apart from any other filmmaker of his time, though. When he was filming the likes of Ferris Bueller's Day Off and The Breakfast Club, he had respect for the teenagers that he had cast but also teenagers around the world. This is reflected in his films because of their brilliant storyline which allowed viewers of all ages to see and connect with teenagers in a way that had not been done before. His other main style was that he preferred to shoot teen comedy films. This is reflected as the comedy in all his films that were under the comedy genre, is cleverly written and incredibly funny.

Below are some opening scenes from his most popular films:

This task has shown me how important my chosen Director was in the modernisation of Coming of Age films. I also really liked his filming techniques and recurring actors that he decided to use for a few of his films. Another aspect of John Hughes' films that I like is his clever writing. This is possibly the most  important features of a film.

Audience Research

Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Watch the above clip and then answer the questions below:

Create your own user feedback survey

Below is the results from the above survey

Below is some information about the Breakfast Club 

(source The Breakfast Club Prezi)




Courtesy of Kit Fielder

This audience research has told me how age is very appropriate to the amount of people that are going to enjoy the film. Coming of Age films are enjoyed more from Teenagers, Action/Adventure are enjoyed by Teens to Mid-Adult and Comedy for almost all ages (depending on maturity of the comedy)

My Chosen Producers and Distributors

This task has shown me that the majority of the producers and distributors are based in America but they have earned a surprising amount of money for each film that they produce/distribute. 

Conventions of an Opening Scene

The first two minutes of Easy A tell the audience that it is a coming-of-age comedy as it is mostly set in a high school and the reason that I can tell that it is a comedy is that the lighting throughout is sunny and light-hearted. The target audience is mostly for 15-18 year-olds but can be watched at any age. This is because the film features people at that age and in the same environment so they are relatable to the target audience. It can be watched at any age because adults will be able to remember what their high school (or UK equivalent) experiences were.




Created by Oliver Favell (Link to his blog)

Toy Story is mostly aimed at a younger audience than most coming-of-age films as it follows on from the animated films. The reason why this film can be classed as a coming-of-age film instead of just an animated comedy is that it features the main human character and his short journey to college life and whether he can let go of the toys that he adored from when he was young. This is an experience that quite a lot of people have had to go through at some point in their life.

The History of Coming Of Age Films - A Timeline

From this task, I have learnt that Coming of Age films have become more and more popular whilst keeping up with modern dialect and clothes. The popularity of Coming of Age films had increased with the younger audience with Spiderman because it was the first film to receive a 12A rating. This then allowed any future Coming of Age films to open to a wider audience.

Analysing Opening Sequences

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xmiy7g_opening-credits-sliding-doors-from-get-smart-2008_shortfilms

From this task, I have learned that the best opening sequences are scenes that give some backstory to the film as this provides the audience with more knowledge than they possibly already had before starting the film. Another great feature is to include the institutions in a stylistic way. For example, I am more likely to remember the institutions mentioned in Kingsman and The Matrix, than I am with Forrest Gump.