CCR

 The short film my group and I have created consists of a teenage girl going through five stages of heartbreak. These stages consist of Denial, anger, grief, bargaining, and acceptance. This short film represents teenagers as a social group and covers the issues of relationships and breakups. There are many factors that contribute to teenagers as a social group. At this age, people are discovering who they are and who they want to be. This is a crucial age for people to start making decisions that benefit their prolonged future. We are forced to mature at this age and start thinking with an adult mindset in hopes of success. This age puts a lot of stress and pressure on individuals but the amazing thing about it is that you are surrounded by people going through many of the same struggles. The similarities between these young adults creates a “culture” between the teenagers. This culture consists of certain fashion trends, language used, ideas and values shared, plus much more. This culture changes often and is often hard to keep up with. I thought that representing this social group would be appropriate for my group and I because we are currently living in the culture. We are in our prime teenage years which means it would be the best choice for people of our age group to accurately represent the group. We have implemented elements of current teenage culture through adding scenes such as parties and driving. In Florida, sixteen is the age teenagers are able to get their license, showing the characters driving represents an exciting part of teenage culture. The issue I have chosen to represent with this social group is a relationship break-up. I thought this issue correlated best with this social group as relationships are a key component in teenage culture. This is the age where you start to explore potential significant others as you're surrounded by so many options.  This process takes a lot of trial and error as most people are simply in search of “The one”. Most of us hear the stories of “Highschool sweethearts” and want to experience a love like that for ourselves. Although relationships are meant to be a positive thing filled with love and appreciation for another being, they can just as easily take a hurtful turn and end off completely differently. Even though a relationship dynamic between one couple is completely different than a relationship between another couple, people often share many similarities to others in relation to the process of relationships and how they end.  Although the film is passive towards the audience by not directly recognizing them, I made sure to keep the audience engaged by choosing a plot and situation that many can emphasize with. This film represents some of the similarities that many people share in a break-up whether it’s the age, situation, emotions or other factors represented. I did this by choosing some of the most common emotions that come after a break-up and putting a teenage girls personal story to it. This allows the film to appeal to a wide range of audience members. While all audience members will be intrigued by the personal story of the main character, members who have been through a break-up will most likely relate to the film and the emotions being expressed. Even if an audience member has never experienced a break-up, this can give them a chance to understand the feelings that may come with one. These emotions are portrayed as much as possible through facial expressions, music, events, and costumes. This film can also relate to many age groups as relationships are an element of life that can be experienced throughout any stage of life multiple times, not just teenage years. Overall, I believe teenage relationships were the best social group and issue to represent as these are the beginning years to finding relationships. These are the years where many experience their first break-up, so emotions are high and hormones are in full effect, making it essential for my group to portray these emotions to the highest extent. While researching, there were many genres that could've been applicable. My first choice being Drama. The point of a drama film is to have an intriguing plot which emphasizes emotions, most likely sadness or other negative emotions that humans don’t typically express to others. There is often a conflict involved and the film makes sure to focus on the character's mental state and emotions which are typically hidden. My short film was directly about emotional phases experienced after a certain conflict, it seemed to fit perfectly with the genre's criteria. Not all characters in the film express these negative emotions though. In my short film, the other character's portrayed were talking with an upbeat tone and seen partying. This was done to show the contrast to how others are feeling compared to how the main character is isolated with her emotions. Drama also seemed to be a perfect fit for this film as teenagers are often looked at by society as over dramatic. We contributed to the proof of this stereotype by showing the main character's dramatic phone calls to her friends and her loss of appetite. The characters emotion's are emphasized by adding elements such as ambient sounds of a heartbeat and close up shots of facial expressions throughout many parts of the film. Overall, most of the film is full of high emotions and relatable struggles. It is ended with the acceptance phase as the main character has learned, and can finally move forward with her life. Some may interpret the film as realistic instead of over dramtic. It is down to the audience and what they have previously experienced to make an interpretation of the film. Either way, the emotions in the film are expressed clearly and fits right into the drama genre. I'm excited to create more films with the elements that I've learned while working on this film.