Analysing of genre

The film I am going to be analysing is A film called ' The Perks Of Being A Wallflower'. (TPOBAW)

Charlie is a apprehensive teenager who has just joined high school. He misses his best friend who has committed suicide and he writes letters to an imaginary friend telling his feelings. Charlie befriends two seniors, Sam and Patrick who introduce him to their wider circle of friends. Charlie discovers a new world and feels happy with his new friends. Charlie begins to date a common friend, Mary Elizabeth, but when they end their relationship, Patrick asks Charlie to stay away from them for a while and soon it triggers his mental illness of PTSD again.

The soundtrack to this film is different to your normal modern film. By this I mean it is quiet relaxed, minimum upbeat music, but not 'dance' music. This sets the tone for the film as it isn't full of action scenes and is just a quiet chilled out and at times, quite serious film. There is some form of upbeat music for happy, more 'energetic' scenes of the films, but apart from that, the music could be categorised as hipster or indie.

The characters in the film are all represented as normal, everyday teenagers which is an aspect of which a teenage audience can relate to. It has the stereotypical groups that are associated with high schools such as; bullies, popular an unpopular groups and the trailer plays on these stereotypes. Charlie, the central character, is represented as shy and awkward, particularly at the beginning of the trailer when he is nervous about his first day, A second main character, Sam, is represented as a fearless character as it shows her on stage alone, looking confident. She seems very outgoing at the beginning but her use of dialogue further on in the trailer changes and shows a vulnerable representation of her. The other and final main character, Patrick, is represented as a stereotypical homosexual character. He's represented as a very camp but a confident and funny character.

The voice-over in the trailer helps the narration of the trailer/film and gives the audience an omniscient narrative as the VO gives hints and clues about the film. As the VO is purely Charlie, it also gives us an insight into Charlie's mindset and the way of his thoughts. This is a good thing because it enables the audience the easily find ways to relate to this character.

. The film is set in the 1990's and the clothes tell the audience the film is set n the past. For example, Sam's clothes help to represent her confident character as some are revealing and compliment her figure, making her seem happy and has a lot of body confidence. A variety of different locations are shown throughout the trailer which is which is expected from a trailer but the main location used is the school.

Commonly of this genre the trailer mainly uses close ups and mid shots. Close ups are used to show the characters emotions but are also used to bring the audiences attention to a specific aspect of the film. Mid shots have been used to show the characters together and to show them when their having conversations. Wide shots have been used throughout to show locations or often to show a group of people. The use of high and low angle shots tells the audience more about the character and how they should be feeling. For example, the low angle shot of Sam in the truck shows her confidence and makes her look free and fearless. Many shots zoom in or out. When zooming in, it draws the audience's attention to a specific point within the shot whilst allowing them to see what else is going on. Zooming out reveals more of the location and scene to the audience.

There is a specific scene in the film called the 'Milkshake/Brownie' scene which is the scene that I'm going to analyse the director on.

 In my opinion, he is trying to create a teenage reality to create nostalgia for the adult audience. It captures the feeling that you belong when you're among your friends. It also shows that the pain of loss with kids is so real and occurs universal and happens to so many teenagers. The director wants to express respect for teens as it is represented throughout the whole film that life is not as simple and as easy for teens are most make it out to be.