CJ Teen films: conventions and features

In researching teen films, I have found a number of recurrent features that have now become associated with the genre. This is due to the fact that film producers will reuse the same structural material repeatedly in order to keep the film appealing to a mainstream audience and to avoid risk. This has come to provide the audience with a familiar concept to get to grips with for every genre, as they can anticipate where the film is going to do next based on their accepted conventions for the genre.

Some of the things I noticed in looking at the characters in teen films:

• Characters are usually very easily definable, by the clothing they wear, by the language they use, and by the part they play in the narrative. For instance, in teen action film Kick-Ass, the three friends are easily definable as 'nerdy', as they wear out-of-date looking clothing, have an awkward gait and talk nasally.
• There will be a character opposition in the narrative, either between the lead character/protagonist and an antagonist. Specific to teen movies, the antagonist will take the form of a school bully, or other intimidating presence (usually the one with the most respect in the class/school e.t.c.).
• There will be a limited range of stock characters, and each will be heavily stereotyped. There will be the 'sporty' types, the ladykiller types, the nerdy types, the goths, ethnic minority groups - each clearly defined by their portrayal on screen.
• ...however, our perception of these groups changes depending on who we are positioned with. For instance, the viewing stance taken by the audience on 'nerds' will be different if watching a film about a teen sports star to what it would be if we were positioned within that character group.

Looking at locations: 

• Most are mainly set in or around the lead character's home town or school in order to relate the audience back to their lives as much as possible. 
• The school setting is typically used to establish conflicts and hierarchies between characters, as the classroom provides an entertaining and relative location to achieve this in.

Looking at iconography:

• The iconography used in teen films will be based around otherwise unimportant objects - for example the cigarette butt in Brick is used in order for the lead character to make a revelation about the position of another character. 
• Some of the items used will be deliberately unimpressive for comedic effect. Something as simple as a baseball or an item of clothing can be hyped up enough within the narrative to allow it to take on a sole significance within the story. This can induce an overtone of naivety within the film, in that the iconography that the object takes on can become so out of proportion to its material significance that it can make the narrative seem intentionally childish.

Looking at mise-en scene within teen films:

• The font of the lettering on the title screen can say a lot about the film. A preferred style of font used in teen films is scrawly handwriting, which underlines the fact that the film is about a school-age set of characters.
• However, sometimes the style of font is juxtaposed with the genre of the film in order to deliberately make the opening sequence look pretentious and/or show that the film is going to be a pseudo-action/horror/drama film. This is mainly used in teen comedies.
• The clothing that characters wear in teen films is nearly always very stereotypical of the character's social status. For example, the sporty characters will all be wearing baseball jackets, the popular male characters will be wearing expensive designer clothing, the popular female characters will be wearing low cut tops and sexually provocative clothing and the nerdy kids will be wearing bland outdated clothing. 
• The lighting is generally high key, low contrast. This is to attempt to recreate a realistic and almost intentionally mundane setting - emphasising the fact that the film is about real life-based events
• In terms of colour, this varies with the general overtone and subgenre of the film. For instance, in a teen horror film, the colours might be relatively subdued, with reds accentuated to connote danger or gore. Alternatively, in a more upbeat film based around teenage life, brighter and cooler colours like blue and light green might be accentuated to connote calm, tranquillity and peace of mind, or yellow to connote happiness.