Wild Child

 

Characters

Poppy Moore

A stereotypical spoilt teenage girl from California, Poppy lives in luxury until her father sends her to an English boarding school.  Her life is suddenly completely different and she finds it difficult to adapt to a new lifestyle. Poppy is represented as spoilt and childish, until she makes friends with Kate, Drippy, Kiki and Josie. Under their influence she changes to be more mature and a nicer person.  Her character seems confident but also has a vulnerable side and faces everyday teenage problems, such as relationship problems. Many of the target audience will find these issues relatable.

Freddie Kingsley

Freddie is the headmistress’s son and is also Poppy Moore’s love interest, and later on her boyfriend. He is a stereotypical attractive male with blonde hair, British accent, and natural good looks. This would attract the target audience of female teenagers.

 

Harriet Bentley

As head girl of Abbey Mount Harriet takes her role very seriously, she is the antagonist of the film and with her stuck-up and pretentious attitude she and Poppy straight away dislike each other.  

Poppy’s friends

Drippy, Kate, Kiki and Josie are Poppy’s new found friends and are protagonists within the film. They are all close loyal friends, but are represented as less dominant, pretty and cool than Poppy.

Settings

Poppy’s house in California

The first part of the film is set in California at Poppy’s house. It is a stereotypical large, wealthy glamorous house with a swimming pool overlooking the sea. It’s all very clean and precise, it’s the kind of place you stereotypically associate with a character like Poppy, popular, spoilt and rich.

Abbey Mount

The school is also a main setting in the film, it is stereotypical English mansion and shows the contrast between her life in California and England. It looks dull, gloomy, yet posh and well looked after. It has pillars showing that it is expensive and therefore suggests the school has a high standard. Inside is also well decorated with stereotypical English Boarding school features, such as wooden panelled floors, wide staircases and book shelves.

Dormitory

The girls all share a room, it’s plain, simple and is the first place where the girls begin to bond. Very different from the rest of the school, it appears friendlier and looks like a stereotypical dormitory with simple furnishing and plain single beds.  

Mise-en-scene

Clothing

Poppy’s clothing is very stereotypical, she wears expensive designer brands and carries bags from Chanel. She also wears sunglasses despite the fact it’s dark and raining. This shows she has a sense in fashion with expensive taste. It also makes her stand out from everyone else with her expensive clothing, shoes and numerous flashy accessories. Even when forced to wear a school uniform she has customised it so it’s shorter and more stylish, she also wears heels with it. This is a countertype to what you expect to see in a high standard, English boarding school.

Her friends however wear a plain, boring school uniform, with sensible shoes and their hair up, showing they respect the schools standards and do not care about their looks.  The way they dress is iconography for a girls boarding student. They wear long tartan patterned skirts and a grey blazer.

All the girls have basic, cheap mobile phones whilst Poppy has multiple iPhone’s. This shows the contrast between them and that poppy values expensive things more than the rest of them.

Camera Shots

A variety of camera shots are used in the film, there are numerous close-ups on Poppy's clothing and expensive accessories. Eye level shots are used between Harriet and Poppy to show the tension and dislike between them. Establishing shots are used to show Abbey Mount to portray that it is dull yet magnificent.

Lighting

Low key lighting is used in England whilst high key lighting is used in California. this shows the contrast in environment and also the atmosphere at the beginning.  The use of a lighter when the rest of the room is in the dark shows signifies the importance of what you can see. Which in this case is Poppy, it represents her isolation and loneliness.

 

Narrative

Poppy is sent to England boarding school after her father reaches fed up of her childish behaviour. She starts off as an outcast, believing she is above everyone, however she soon makes friends with the girls she shares a room with. However she still hates life in England is determined to return home. Between the girls they come out with a plan to get Poppy expelled. It begins with childish pranks such as filling the swimming pool with red dye and re-recording over their teacher’s lesson. Things are then taken a step further and she knows the only way she will be expelled is to ‘snog Freddie.’ As the headmistresses son she knows this will get her kicked out once and for all. However she begins to enjoy her life at Abbey Mount and after getting to know Freddie realises she actually likes him and wants to stay. After playing with her LA lighter, she accidently sets fire to a curtain, she puts it out and goes to bed. Harriet see’s this and goes back to restart the fire, when the fire spreads out of control she frames it on Poppy. Poppy turns herself in thinking she was to blame, not knowing Harriet had re-started it. She finds herself in Honour Court fearing being expelled. After nearly being kicked out it is discovered that Harriet was to blame. Harriet is expelled and Poppy continues to board at Abbey Mount. The film ends with a stereotypical happy ending, where she wins over the antagonist, and ends up with the boy.  Her father also comes to visit and is shocked to see how much she has changed into a mature women.