Film Genre Research: 16 Wishes
Camera shots, angles, movements: The film begins with an establishing shot of a bedroom with a girl lying in her bed. This establishing shot clearly constructs the location where the action is about to begin. The scene then abruptly cuts to a close-up at a slightly high angle while using a static shot to reveal who our sleeping main character is. With this close-up, we can see discomfort in the girls' facial expressions as she begins to awaken. After a few seconds the camera zooms out and pans to the left towards the bookshelf in a dolly shot. At eye level, the camera holds another static shot before panning left towards a cabinet zooming into the piece of gum on the handle. The zoom in on the gum infers that it will have an impactful meaning to the character. We then get another pan shot into a zoom in and out of a wall and a desk with pictures, which helps emphasize the emotional pull towards this other character. While the camera still dollies around the room zooming in and out of different items it makes it back to the girl. Through a close-up the girl finally wakes up and cuts to a point of view of her looking at her clock. The camera cuts back to the close-up of her smiling demonstrating the true joy of seeing the time on her clock. Soon thereafter, once she was getting out of bed, we could hear our first dialogue of the film. The scene cuts back to an establishing shot position, except now the girl is up from bed running to her desk as the camera pans to the right. When she picks up a picture, we get an over-the-shoulder shot with her talking to it. Next, she walked to the cabinet after grabbing the gum, which was all shot as a medium camera shot. When she opens the cabinet, the camera shifts from a point of view shot to an objective shot revealing her name Abby Jensen and a poster with 16 wishes.
Editing Techniques and Tone: The film begins with a black screen and slowly fades into the opening scene. In the first cut, we can see the girl begin to wake up. This clip is filmed at a normal pace, but as soon as the camera zooms out, it starts filming in fast motion, allowing the audience to get a full view of the girl's personality. The cuts highlighted in the first three minutes create an exciting atmosphere and draw the audience when each of the personal items are shown for only a few seconds at most. After she opens the cabinet revealing the personalized colorful poster, the cuts get shorts and become shot-reverse shots as we see her face light up while finishing the final touches on her poster.
Sound Techniques: As the film begins, an upbeat pop song plays and can be seen as a non-diegetic sound, not affecting the sleeping character. The upbeat music enhances the scene's upcoming mood and creates a fun atmosphere. When the camera cuts to the clock it makes a very quiet swish sound as the time changes from 6:59 to 7:00. The scene then cuts back to the main character getting out of bed and the audience then hears her dialogue. The tone in the girl's voice creates the idea that something exciting happens while rushing out of bed to her desk. We can then hear her dialogue while the music is still playing but then while she opens the cabinet staring at the poster we hear a shimmering sound. While the pop song plays the dialogue, and the sounds are imbedded to slowly start the action of the film.
Mise-en-scene techniques: The girl has her hair up in a messy bun with a piece of snoring tape over her nose which conveys how she prepares herself for the day. The bedroom gives us an idea of the girl's personality through her room as it is filled with lots of girly decor, glitter, and bright colors. This adds to the sense of playfulness. As well as informing the audience that she is a teenager and possibly a girly girl. We can see personal items in her bedroom like stuffed animals, a doll house, stickers, and fuzzy rabbit slippers, which connotes her possibly being childish. The items in her room that draw the camera and the audience to them can lead to foreshadowing important events later in the film. To set up the film, the dimmed lighting strengthens the morning setting and is further demonstrated when she is shown wearing her pink pajamas.
Production and Distribution Techniques: Unity Pictures embraced director Peter Luise and cinematographer Michael Lohmann's visions for the film 16 wishes. With the help from their distributors like Disney Channel and Family Channel Canada now 16 Wishes can be streamed on multiple different streaming platforms such as Roku Channel, Apple TV, Prime Video and Fandango.
Opening Credits: The first credits shown are the film production companies, Unity Pictures and Mar Vista Entertainment Production. The credits appear through a black screen fading into the establishing shot revealing the title. The next credit scenes use a white and pink retro font to reveal the actors who have roles in the film. The credits in the bottom left and right corners fade from the casting directors, editor, production designer, director, writer, and producers. This starts off the film with a playful feeling to draw the audience's attention.
Awards/Nominations/Reasoning: 16 Wishes won one Young Artist Award for best performance in a TV movie and for the support of young actors. It was also nominated for another Young Artist Award and was in the same year.
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