Research into Chosen Genre

Our chosen genre falls under 2 different ones; the first being the sub-genre of the Psychological thriller; a Psychological Drama and the second, a ‘Coming of Age’. This is because, although it is a film about the rise and fall of an, in the end, successful band, it involves the drama of the suicide of one of the members – under suspicious circumstances (was she unhappy or did her party lifestyle lead her in the wrong direction?)

Typical Plot -

It is essentially the audience that experiences the unfolding of the psychological drama.

There are 2 main purposes of a Drama;

1. To entertain

2. To provoke thought and emotion.

This genre aims to engage their audience through revealing the main drama as soon as possible; once revealed it continues to go into depth on the storyline – including various different twists and complications. It is often narrated through the eyes of an important character, usually the starring role, but it wouldn’t be unusual to have no narration at all. The general idea of having the importance focused on one character is to make the audience feel like they are in this person’s position which will grasp their attention so they will want to continue watching.

A psychological drama, unlike the thriller, involves little to no violence – it instead focusses on characters relationships and the dilemma’s involved. The emphasis of a drama is conflict, and this conflict is more often than not internal or between a character and their self– this is why we categorized our film as this sub-genre as ours is heavily focused on the relationship between the brother and sister of the band and how the brother feels guilt over his sister’s eventual death. It then has minor mentions of how the band rose to fame and how fame essentially ruined them. 

Examples are based on Sucker Punch (2011) as the genre is the closest to an exact match of our own piece.

Characters –

 



Blue Jones is one of the main Antagonists

Baby Doll is the Protagonist

 

 

Camera Angles/Movements –

• Extreme close ups and close ups to emphasise characters emotions or significant props/details of the scene
• Soundbridges are often used – not only in a psychological drama but in a coming of age as well
• Unusual angles, such as canted, close ups to create confusion and sympathy
• Often various mid-shots to emphasise the current situation of the particular scene – usually empty spaces or clustered areas
• Tracking movements to follow particular characters

Misé-En-Scene –

• Lighting/Colours -

Baby Doll's appearance is emphasised through the amount of light she receives in comparison to the rest of her surroundings

Dim lighting creates a mysterious and eerie vibe. Although, we can see the girl’s face is slightly brighter than everything else – including the man beside her who appears to be blurred out as well.
The colour of each scene is often related back to the mood of the character; here we can the girl’s expression is dull and unimpressed- much like the lighting of the scene.

• Sound -
  

This depends a lot on the individual storyline because although the most obvious sound would be slightly opera/orchestral to create suspense, it can vary according to the course of the action involved. For example, our film consists of mainly silence because it begins through the eyes of the brother who has just lost his sister. The flashback then proceeds into a more upbeat, rock tune because of the 80’s theme.

• Costume/Make-Up -

This is generally natural because it is meant to be a realistic story – if the characters are unnecessarily ‘dolled up’ and over-dressed; the presentation of the storyline can become less believable. The audience is supposed to feel like they are engaging with actual people, not actors and actresses. This is reflected through different scenario’s, for example;




From Baby Doll's make-up here, it is easy for the audience to relate to her as an average teenage girl because she is not overly made up or exaggerated - she looks like a normal teenager would

From the dripping make-up and worn out appearance we are aware that she is distressed or upset

• Settings/Props -

Due to the genre not being a classic Psychological Thriller, where there’s more obvious props and settings such as; dark alleyways or deserted houses with various weapons involved, it again depends on the storyline – because the aim is to make the audience feel connected it has to be as realistic as possible, which means anything could happen and anywhere. 

I have analysed the coming of age genre more in my work on target audience.