For this task, I researched and compiled together information regarding one of the most well-known directors when it comes to coming of age films:
John Hughes has made some of the best films that we would typically class as 'coming-of-age classics' including The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Buellers Day Off, Weird Science, Pretty in Pink and Home Alone. All of them are comedy's while also reflecting the more serious and real side of teenagers nowadays. In an interview with Roger Ebert for the upcoming release of 'The Breakfast Club' and 'Sixteen Candles', Hughes said " Teenage audiences are ready for movies that take teenagers seriously.....Kids are smart enough to know that most teenage movies are just exploiting them." He also said he thought that, "They'll respond to a film about teenagers as people. Both of these movies are about the beauty of just growing up." This is shown in the majority of Hughes films that are funny but don't exaggerate stereotypes or show a negative side to teenagers, this may be why his films were such a success. Hughes films have a distinctive theme that could be termed his 'style' (coming of age films) and he also set a lot of his films in Chicago or Illinois as that was where he lived. He also refused to make any films in Hollywood as he detested it due to the pretentiousness and feeling that "everybody is trying to shoot you down." However as far as editing techniques and mise-en-scene goes Hughes didn't really have a go-to style. However, he did quite often break the 'fourth wall' where he had the characters talk directly to or acknowledge the audience. This was particularly affective in his film 'Ferris Buellers Day Off ' where the use of this got across the protagonists' character and his need for attention/being in the spotlight. He also used a form of it in 'The Breakfast Club' where he used narration/voice over where the characters explained what was happening to the audience in the beginning. Also, due to producing a lot of comedy's, most of Hughes films feature high-key lighting and upbeat, light-hearted music to convey the genre and atmosphere. Some less known facts about Hughes is that he was an extremely quick writer, he actually wrote 'The Breakfast Club' in only two days, while also letting the characters of that film ( while telling each other why they're in detention) have free reign and improvise. He was also notoriously hard to work with, once he fired the prop supervisor because they ran out of pizza in a scene in 'Curley Sue', possibly because he'd become so fixed on his vision for a film. Hughes attended school and university before dropping out and selling jokes to well-established performers such as Joan Rivers and Rodney Dangerfield. Awhile later he wrote his first screenplay 'Class Reunion' which was a failure before creating 'Sixteen Candles' which launched his career. He stopped producing major films in the late 90s and became a recluse, refusing any photos or interviews, before dying on August 6th, 2009.
Below is a mashup of clips from all of Hughes most famous films:
These are two examples of John Hughes most famous film opening sequences:
This is a particularly insightful two part interview between John Hughes and Corey Brunish:
Learning Comment:
Through this research I have learnt that a good coming of age film doesn't have to be cheesy, over the top and exaggerating the typical stereotypes related to teenagers and high schools. Often the opposite is more affective as it portrays a realistic view of teenagers as the young adults and growing people they are. A comedy can be created while the characters still maintaining their maturity( such as John Hughes as demonstrated in many of his films). I'm not sure if i'm such a fan of breaking the fourth wall but I do like the idea of a narrative voice-over as I feel that it can give you insight into a character that you may have not obtained otherwise. Even in opening sequences I think voice-over can be effective so I may try and in-corporate this into my own opening sequence.
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