Boarding School Location

We researched boarding school locations as, although they are often similar, we wanted to ensure that our location reflected common perceptions of boarding and private school girls.

In 'Cracks', the boarding school has large grounds of green grassy areas, suggesting it is rural. The building is old fashioned and large, with paths and stairs surrounding it in the areas. It appears very old fashioned, showing the large part that the idea of tradition plays on boarding school representations.

The 'St Trinians' school building is similar to that of 'Cracks' in that it is large and old fashioned. It consists of brickwork, turrets and detailed architecture that suggests the wealthy nature of the students that attend it. It also has large grounds. However, although the building would normally suggest a strict and moral code of conduct in the school, the 'St Trinians' students are shown to be disrespectful and often cause damage to the building. Despite this, it is clear that the setting of the school is still that of a large old building.

Although part of a fantasy franchise and created by special effects due to its huge scale, the castle of Hogwarts in the 'Harry Potter' films uses the same idea of boarding school settings. It uses old and detailed architecture that involves turrets, ornate windows and brickwork in order to show it as a well-established and respected place. While also showing the magical nature of the place, the location could be said to create ideas of mysteries and relate to gothic ideas, which could also apply to our trailer. The grounds of the school are also large and widespread.

Through looking at boarding schools in film we could clearly see that a large old fashioned building would be needed in order to suggest that the girls go to a boarding or private school. This led us to the use of Tonbridge Boys' School, as it has ornate architecture and large grounds that show the wealth of the girls and the prestige of the learning environment. It also connotes some gothic ideas such as that of castles, which could link into the interests of the girls and support their use of the ouija board. The building would suggest that the girls are well behaved and respectable students, but the trailer introduces them as rejecting the authority of the school by not obeying a strict dress code and committing corrupt acts such as smoking. This therefore shows their unscrupulous characters which is emphasised through the party scene and makes them less likeable so that the audience may understand why they are being haunted.

-Emily




 Also see... Shots of School

Boarding Schools

We researched boarding schools presented in the media in both American and English cinema, to examine the codes and conventions commonly used.
Common motifs included:

• Main character is sent against their will to the boarding school
• Main character meets a group of friends and becomes one of them
• Main character dislikes certain aspects of school life
• Antagonistic characters dislike main character
• Headmaster dislikes main character
• One teacher who has strong bond with main character
• Main character gets into trouble for something they did not do
• Group of friends do something they shouldn't 
• Homosexual experimentation occurs
• Group of sexualised girls
• Religion could be important
• Clueless staff

Most of these motifs are not suitable to include in our trailer as they focus on events in the school, but a few have affected what we include in our trailer. We have decided to make our group of protagonists similar to the group of friends that are sexualised and promiscuous to make them appear more immoral to play into the idea of revenge being drawn onto their characters. We are also linking to the idea of useless staff by including no adults in order to make the characters more vulnerable to the spirit. The theme of religion occurs in our trailer due to the nature of black magic used through the ouija board and the following wrath of the spirit. We are also following the idea of sexual experimentation by including a shot of a kiss between two girls during their party, to emphasise their promiscuity and also follow conventions. The idea of doing something that should not be done is also included in the act of the ouija board. Therefore we are adhering to some conventions of boarding school films in order to create perceptions of the characters of the protagonists and refer to their pasts so that the audience already has some idea of their lives and a back story does not have to be focused on.

The genres of films that are set in boarding schools are varied, such as comedy in 'St Trinians' and drama in 'Cracks'. Some horrors have been created, such as 'The Woods', and supernatural themes are included in the film 'The Craft'. Boarding schools are typically linked with England, as characters staying together for school is more commonly seen in America through sororities and fraternities, but the conventions of both are quite similar such as the idea of sexual experimentation. American boarding schools are often shown as more corrupt, possibly due to England's more reserved representation, so we are using inspiration from American stereotypes for our promiscuous protagonists. 

Boarding schools in cinema and television often offer stereotypes in terms of the characters in a friendship group, especially female groups. These commonly include characters such as the Mean girl, the Mean girl's followers, the Funny girl, the Shy girl, the Loud one, the Different one, the Ethnic one and the Sexy one.

We have decided to make our five character fit into these stereotypes, although their characters will not be completely revealed in the teaser trailer so would only be fully presented in the full film. 

The group of girls will consist of the 'Mean girl', who is also the leader of the group as shown through the placement of her at the front when they are seen walking. She is also ethnic while the other girls are white. 

Two characters are the Followers of the Mean leader. 

One character is the 'Outgoing one' that is louder than the other characters. She is more boisterous and likely to cause disagreements.

The main protagonist who we intend to survive, in accordance with the Final Girl Theory, is the 'Nice/Shy one'. 

All of the characters could fall under the 'Sexy one' stereotype due to their promiscuous representation, although the 'Nice/Shy one' is less promiscuous than the others. 

-Emily