CCR #1

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

    For this question I'll go back into my blog to reference the genre conventions and tropes that I researched within the first few weeks of this project. My film opening both challenges and uses conventions so I want to give a very nuanced answer as I list the tropes and how I did or didn't include them. 

Tropes I did use include:

• Working through a transitional period in your life 
• Relatable (awkward) experiences based on the writer's life (me)
• Romance blended with drama elements 
• Self-discovery 
• (Slightly) Dorky main character 

Tropes I didn't include:

• Characters in high-school
• Social cliques
• "Firsts" (ex. first kiss, first date, etc.)
• A big party 
• A mentor figure

    After listing these tropes, I would explain exactly why I felt some were necessary while others would have not helped me to reach my end goal and the overall purpose for the film opening. While I was creating my script and even before while I was still brainstorming, I was thinking about genre tropes. A big part of coming-of-age comedy films are the typical stereotypes and character types that are featured. There were some that are absolutely necessary for it to even be considered apart of the genre, like having the main character working through an awkward transitional period in her life. Others I left out purposefully because I heavily disliked them because I felt they were corny, or just would be out of place for the storyline I wished to create. Having a big party or social cliques in college would have been completely weird and is a huge pet peeve of mine. To me, it shows how bad the writing is when college-aged characters are written with high-school plots. It just seems lazy. I also specifically chose to have my characters be in college as it gives me more freedom in the sense I don't have to film at a high-school and could film the characters in their day-to-day between classes.