CCR reality show

 CCR 2 is about this reality TV show house where I am getting interviewed as one of the contestants. I'll be answering questions 1 and 2 in this.

How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

My film opening titled Anxious Melodies challenges conventions of the coming of age films. Coming-of-age movies that focus on teenagers focus a lot of teens finding love, climbing the social hierarchy but my film focuses on a part of a teen's life that doesn't get shown. From what we learned this year lots of shows and films tend to steer away from mental health topics, especially with teenagers. Mental health in teenagers gets labeled as a sensitive topic that most films think is too deep to talk about. Although in my film the main character Olivia does find her best friend which some coming-of-age movies also do it's more than her finding a friend, it's about her getting into a better place mentally. It's all about the deep relationships you can form over a similar interest, it's about how being around the right people helps you become who you really want to be. I think it represents a lot of teenagers who struggle with anxiety, depression, and just any life problems, being surrounded by movies about finding the perfect boyfriend or getting popular doesn't accurately represent current teens. The reason I wanted to stay away from the cringy stereotypical coming of age is because I relate to the story, the film is loosely based on my life and what I struggle with. I've seen movies about mental health but they aren't popular and not made enough, showing people what it feels like to be a real teenager has a bigger effect than the typical teen movie. By representing this group of people it shows teens that it's ok to struggle with mental health and that it happens to a lot of people, it even helps other people understand the situations some people are in. 

On the other hand, the film does follow the conventions of most psychological fiction movies where we get to connect to the characters and understand what they feel. I think the psychological fiction genre does a great job of depicting mental health issues and that is why I wanted to make one. By understanding the character you form a connection and you almost feel the way they feel and I wanted to do that to make people understand mental health better.

How does your product engage with audiences and how would it be distributed as a real media text?

My film's target audience is teenagers, with the combination of a coming-of-age film and a physiological fiction the film would interest teens and young adults.  Since the film revolves around the life of a teenage girl and her issues the target audio will most likely be teenage girls but it's not restricted to that. People who would watch this film opening are most likely aware of mental health problems and may even struggle with it, when watching they can relate and find comfort that things can get better. When beginning to work on the film opening I thought of what I watched and why I appealed to psychological fiction coming-of-age movies. It was because of the connections, I loved how the character connected deeply with one person who helped them with what they struggled with and that's what I did in my story because I wanted the audience to see how people can change you. When it comes to distributing my film I thought about it a lot. Since this is my first ever film I would distribute it on platforms that are easily accessible by lots of people for me to reach as many people as possible which will help me grow as a filmmaker. I would use platforms like YouTube and websites made for other amateur filmmakers; I would also submit it to competitions and film festivals for it to get recognized and gain more viewers.

Let's get to writing

So everyone in this house is insane, we've been here for 8 weeks and everyone hates each other the only thing that everyone likes at this point is blogger.com

 producer- so do you think yours is better than everyone else i don't want to start drama in the house again but I personally think my film opening was better than most

producer- and why is that

come on please my film opening challenged the conventions of coming-of-age movies which no one would expect from a teenage girl. And the film itself is about a deep topic that doesn't get talked about enough which is mental health

producers- why do you think that is?

well, coming-of-age movies are all about being popular and finding love they don't actually have deeper meanings to them because they are afraid to talk about pressing teenage issues which as mental health. In my film, i combined a genre that usually never gets into mental health issues with one that does very often, which is psychological fiction. psychological fictions get a look into what the character is thinking and makes mental health an easier topic to bring up

producer- why did you make your film about this

i wanted to tell the untold story of many teens in a way where they could see that things get better and that mental health is someone a lot of people struggle with. After being in this house I see that people don't think it's a big issue with teenagers but in reality, it is, and since people don't think it's an issue they don't address it.

i basically made my film to show people that they aren't alone

producers- is that who the film is for teenagers

yes but also no, the target audience is obviously teens because it is a movie about a teenage girl but it can honestly be for anyone

producer-how is that

well to educate them to show that teens are struggling too but in general when I made the film I made it with other teens in mind, this story is very close to my heart and I think a lot of other teens would connect with it.

producers-do you think you did a good job at appealing to teens

I sure did, since I kept them in mind while making the film I made sure to add elements that teens have in their day-to-day lives like music

producers- do you like music

I love music which is why it's a big part of the film, being in this house full of other teens I've seen how much people feel from music and that's why music was a way to connect with teens in my film.

after the show here is what you plan to do with the film you made while being on Top List island

Since Top List Island was my first time ever doing something like this film opening I want to post it on YouTube and social media, which hopefully all the show watchers will follow. I'm also thinking of submitting to competitions and film festivals and you never know maybe come back for top list island season 2.