~Textual Analysis~
Quite a lot of the plot is introduced in the opening few minutes of this film, we find out a lot about Poppy (the main character). To start with, we see her room is modern, luxurious and is overlooking the sea which tells us her family may be very wealthy in order to afford such a 'beautiful' home. We also see a theme of pink and light pastel baby blue which are both typically girly colours throughout her room as well as running through her choices of clothing. Poppy looks like a well groomed typical 'Miami girl' that prefers a higher and materialistic quality of life and this is shown through her tan, coloured and voluminous hair, and her taste for expensive clothing and her shrug as she gives a look and sound of disgust when she see's clothes that aren't up to her standards.
As soon as Poppy goes to talk to her sister, Molly, she begins to speak of somebody named 'Rosmary' moving in. Even though we don't know who she is we immediately realise Poppy isn't fond of Rosemary when Molly begs that she 'doesn't do anything stupid'. However, we see a sweeter side to Poppy when she comes down to her Molly to cut the crusts off her sandwich as we see she has a more maternal and caring element to her when it comes to looking after her.
We also see that Poppy is a daring character that is experiencing rebellion. During the conversation Poppy has with Molly she tells her 'not to worry' and that she 'knows what she's doing' with a smug look on her face as if she is planning something. It is then made clear that Rosemary is Poppy's Dads Girlfriend and at the van movers arrival she invites all of her friends and gives them one instruction; to help themselves. This would get the audience on Poppys side as usually 'Stepmothers' are the villains and most teenagers would rebel against them, this reveals some of the plot because it doesn't prove Poppy to be a 'bad person' it just shows that she seems to be fighting her mothers corner and is going through a stage of rebellion which is relatable to most young people (the audience).
We are also shown that Poppy is a popular girl due to both the amount of people that turned up to her house and by the lead she took when everyone was listening to her whilst standing behind - this could be to portray her importance or high social status as she stood infront of all of her friends or could just show the fact that it is her house and therefore she is the most important person there. We see that Poppy has a desire for this popularity and attention as she runs up to the pool side holding Rosmarys clothes shouting 'hey girls, watch this!' and jumps off it into the ocean - which is a very long drop, her friends appear terrified that she may be hurt and one of the boys rush over to see if she is alright and as soon as they realise she is, they all breathe a sigh of relief - which shows she is loved amongst her peers. This is a very big element to the plot as if you have seen the full film 'wild child' her likability is what saves her from lies and deciept, so by showing us that Poppy is a likeable and genuine character, the producer is setting us up for a dielemm later in the film in terms of which side to take and who to believe.
In the next part of the opening we are introduced to an older male character who we see has authority over Poppy as he shouts at her to get out of the water and to go to him 'right now' so we would correctly assume that this is her dad. We are shown how angry Poppy's actions have made him by the stern tone of his voice and realise that this wasn't the first time as he tells her 'its the final straw' and tells her that she is going to England. We know that Poppys dad isn't a villain in this plot either because Poppy implies that he has warned her about an English boarding school before and not carried it through when she mocks 'oh, the boarding school threat...again!' so this time he is standing his ground and is determined to teach her a lesson which is what any parent would do.
We see that Poppy has deeper motives behind her actions when she suggests that he has replaced her mother with 'a trashier version' and can now do the 'same to her', this tells us that she's emotionally raw about the situation with her parents and was most likely only trying to get her dads attention as she didn't feel like his family was important enough to him. This is followed by Poppy asking if her dad 'even remembers her mum' which suggests she has passed away and poppy is still very upset that her mother may have been forgotten and this may be the reason behind her attempted sabotage of Rosemary becoming part of their family. Poppy also says that 'just because her mum went to boarding school doesn't mean it'll straighten her out'. All of the above suggests that her mum will be an element in the rest of the plot in someway either by showing Poppy finally coming to terms with what has happened or realising that she needs to move on. It shows the audience an emotional side both to Poppy and to the film that one would not usually expect in a 'chick flick' or 'teen drama'.
This is all just in the opening, a lot of the plot is revealed without giving too much away so that the audience would still ask questions. I think its a perfect opening because somehow it manages to reveal the majority of all emotionality's and sides to a person that there could be, in Poppy. Its all anyone will need in order to know if its the kind of film they would like to keep watching.
The only key characters that have been introduced in the opening are Poppy, her Dad, Rosemary and Molly, her sister. Even though one would assume all of these people were key characters, having watched it I know that we never actually meet Rosemary and Molly isn't shown very much throughout, she has no big role in the storyline. There are more important key characters that haven't been introduced yet however this isn't a negative thing considering they are in England and showing Poppy moving to England and the reasons behind it in under 2/3 minutes would not be efficient enough or give the audience enough insight into who she is and her life - it would be putting quantity over quality, which is a bad idea when it comes to film.
All I would expect from an opening is to have been told a background story or given an insight into the main characters life, as well as being given an idea of what the story may entail - which is exactly what the producers of this film have achieved.
There is a lot of dialogue as you can see, with more or less equal amounts coming from her friends, sister and her dad - it is all split out fairly evenly so that we get a good idea of Poppys relationship with each as well as how her character changes around them.
The typical conventions of a teen film are usually mainly about romance or bullying, even though Wild Child did conform to this (through the romance Poppy had with the Head Teacher's son), this wasn't the backbone of the entire story, instead the film was about the relationship between Poppy, her friends and family and the importance of these relationships, therefore the typical idea of a teen movie was challenged through this alternative 'meaning' or 'moral of the story' - that not everything in a teenagers life is as it is often portrayed in terms of love, it is about love in many forms - not just romantic. The film conformed to its comedy aspect as well and this is through poppy's funny and naïve character, for example not wanting to get on the bus because of 'germs', the comedy aspect was more laughing at poppy and the stereotype that is a 'typical American girl' rather than laughing at what was being said because it was aiming to be funny. The drama aspect was also confirmed to in some ways due to the story unfolding about Poppy's deceased mother and how they both went to the same school without Poppy realising, there is emotion and it is not too heavy but it is moving and appropriate to the genre. The overriding genre of this film is that it is a teen film with aspects of other genres, if the main genre was romance then the storyline would have challenged the usual conventions of a romantic film because as I said, the aim wasn't solely romance - however it did include characters a romantic film would have, 'Harriett' being the jealous girl, 'Freddie' being the love interest and the parents and friends acting as either supporters or opposers.
Overall I think the 'Wild Child' opening was very cleverly produced with just the right amount of information, dialogue and characters.
This was a professionally made film.
We also see that Poppy is a daring character that is experiencing rebellion. During the conversation Poppy has with Molly she tells her 'not to worry' and that she 'knows what she's doing' with a smug look on her face as if she is planning something. It is then made clear that Rosemary is Poppy's Dads Girlfriend and at the van movers arrival she invites all of her friends and gives them one instruction; to help themselves. This would get the audience on Poppys side as usually 'Stepmothers' are the villains and most teenagers would rebel against them, this reveals some of the plot because it doesn't prove Poppy to be a 'bad person' it just shows that she seems to be fighting her mothers corner and is going through a stage of rebellion which is relatable to most young people (the audience).
We are also shown that Poppy is a popular girl due to both the amount of people that turned up to her house and by the lead she took when everyone was listening to her whilst standing behind - this could be to portray her importance or high social status as she stood infront of all of her friends or could just show the fact that it is her house and therefore she is the most important person there. We see that Poppy has a desire for this popularity and attention as she runs up to the pool side holding Rosmarys clothes shouting 'hey girls, watch this!' and jumps off it into the ocean - which is a very long drop, her friends appear terrified that she may be hurt and one of the boys rush over to see if she is alright and as soon as they realise she is, they all breathe a sigh of relief - which shows she is loved amongst her peers. This is a very big element to the plot as if you have seen the full film 'wild child' her likability is what saves her from lies and deciept, so by showing us that Poppy is a likeable and genuine character, the producer is setting us up for a dielemm later in the film in terms of which side to take and who to believe.
In the next part of the opening we are introduced to an older male character who we see has authority over Poppy as he shouts at her to get out of the water and to go to him 'right now' so we would correctly assume that this is her dad. We are shown how angry Poppy's actions have made him by the stern tone of his voice and realise that this wasn't the first time as he tells her 'its the final straw' and tells her that she is going to England. We know that Poppys dad isn't a villain in this plot either because Poppy implies that he has warned her about an English boarding school before and not carried it through when she mocks 'oh, the boarding school threat...again!' so this time he is standing his ground and is determined to teach her a lesson which is what any parent would do.
We see that Poppy has deeper motives behind her actions when she suggests that he has replaced her mother with 'a trashier version' and can now do the 'same to her', this tells us that she's emotionally raw about the situation with her parents and was most likely only trying to get her dads attention as she didn't feel like his family was important enough to him. This is followed by Poppy asking if her dad 'even remembers her mum' which suggests she has passed away and poppy is still very upset that her mother may have been forgotten and this may be the reason behind her attempted sabotage of Rosemary becoming part of their family. Poppy also says that 'just because her mum went to boarding school doesn't mean it'll straighten her out'. All of the above suggests that her mum will be an element in the rest of the plot in someway either by showing Poppy finally coming to terms with what has happened or realising that she needs to move on. It shows the audience an emotional side both to Poppy and to the film that one would not usually expect in a 'chick flick' or 'teen drama'.
This is all just in the opening, a lot of the plot is revealed without giving too much away so that the audience would still ask questions. I think its a perfect opening because somehow it manages to reveal the majority of all emotionality's and sides to a person that there could be, in Poppy. Its all anyone will need in order to know if its the kind of film they would like to keep watching.
The only key characters that have been introduced in the opening are Poppy, her Dad, Rosemary and Molly, her sister. Even though one would assume all of these people were key characters, having watched it I know that we never actually meet Rosemary and Molly isn't shown very much throughout, she has no big role in the storyline. There are more important key characters that haven't been introduced yet however this isn't a negative thing considering they are in England and showing Poppy moving to England and the reasons behind it in under 2/3 minutes would not be efficient enough or give the audience enough insight into who she is and her life - it would be putting quantity over quality, which is a bad idea when it comes to film.
All I would expect from an opening is to have been told a background story or given an insight into the main characters life, as well as being given an idea of what the story may entail - which is exactly what the producers of this film have achieved.
There is a lot of dialogue as you can see, with more or less equal amounts coming from her friends, sister and her dad - it is all split out fairly evenly so that we get a good idea of Poppys relationship with each as well as how her character changes around them.
The typical conventions of a teen film are usually mainly about romance or bullying, even though Wild Child did conform to this (through the romance Poppy had with the Head Teacher's son), this wasn't the backbone of the entire story, instead the film was about the relationship between Poppy, her friends and family and the importance of these relationships, therefore the typical idea of a teen movie was challenged through this alternative 'meaning' or 'moral of the story' - that not everything in a teenagers life is as it is often portrayed in terms of love, it is about love in many forms - not just romantic. The film conformed to its comedy aspect as well and this is through poppy's funny and naïve character, for example not wanting to get on the bus because of 'germs', the comedy aspect was more laughing at poppy and the stereotype that is a 'typical American girl' rather than laughing at what was being said because it was aiming to be funny. The drama aspect was also confirmed to in some ways due to the story unfolding about Poppy's deceased mother and how they both went to the same school without Poppy realising, there is emotion and it is not too heavy but it is moving and appropriate to the genre. The overriding genre of this film is that it is a teen film with aspects of other genres, if the main genre was romance then the storyline would have challenged the usual conventions of a romantic film because as I said, the aim wasn't solely romance - however it did include characters a romantic film would have, 'Harriett' being the jealous girl, 'Freddie' being the love interest and the parents and friends acting as either supporters or opposers.
Overall I think the 'Wild Child' opening was very cleverly produced with just the right amount of information, dialogue and characters.
This was a professionally made film.
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