Similar Films Individual Research (21 and Over)

Similar Films Research

21 & Over

Youtube Trailer:

Plot Summary: Straight-A college student Jeff Chang (Justin Chon) has always done what's been expected of him. But when his two best friends, Miller (Miles Teller) and Casey (Skylar Astin), arrive on campus to surprise him for his 21st birthday, Jeff finally agrees to cut loose. Although he has a crucial med-school interview early the next morning, Jeff lets his pals take him out for one drink. Many drinks later, Jeff has blacked out and is in danger of blowing the most important day of his life.

Even though the film '21 and Over' is of the Comedy Genre and our short film is a Thriller, both films include similar shots and scenes. For example when the boys go out and drink there's the scenes in the bars and parties, similar to that of our film. In addition to this, in the film '21 and over' one of the boys has too much to drink and passes out, leaving him unable to look after himself. Similarly, our character 'Grace' is drinking and her drink is spiked leaving her to be a very vulnerable character and it means that she too is unable to look after herself. 

Similar shots in the film '21 and Over' Include: 

 

A similar shot to this is used in our film however from a different low angle, we use this shot for presumably the same reason as the directors do in the film '21 and Over', to show the definite change in time. The shot is to tell the audience that time has passed in the film and so they then expect night time / evening scenes. 

These shots from the film '21 and over' are similar to the sort of films we will include in our short film 'Saving Grace'. The settings from both films include bars with a large amount of people of a similar age in, and the streets where reality of the night kicks in to the characters. The difference with the films is that our character 'Grace' gets taken away by somebody who drugged her and wants to take advantage of her, whereas the character on '21 and over' voluntarily gets drunk and doesn't have control over his actions. 

The film '21 and over' has an age rating of 15, higher than our short film, meaning it includes scenes that are more inappropriate than ours. In addition to this, the film '21 and Over' gives the audience a negative message, it only tells the audience what happens on a night out when you drink a lot, even though this could arguably be a message telling the audience not to drink. However, our short film 'Saving Grace' gives the audience the message that drinking on a night out can sometimes be dangerous if the precautions aren't taken, it also promotes safe drinking and informs the audience of the consequences of being unaware of the risks.