The genre that we have decided to base our opening sequence on is a mixture of psychological drama and coming of age film. There are a lot of conventional elements to both these genres and I am going to research this and then discuss how we might mix them.
The main goal of a psychological drama is to draw the audience into the moods and emotions of the main characters. As it is such a broad genre there are a lot of different sub-genres and as there are so many crossovers it can sometimes get confused with e.g. teen drama.
Common Sub-genres
- Psychological thriller is a specific sub-genre of the broad ranged thriller with heavy focus on the unstable emotional states of characters, in combination with mystery and thriller. However, it often incorporates elements from the mystery and drama genre, along with the typical traits of the thriller genre.Although we have a dramatic story line, there is not the danger element that goes along with the classic thriller.
- Mystery film is a sub-genre of the more general category of the thriller genre. It focuses on the efforts of the detective, private investigator or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of a crime by means of clues, investigation, and clever deduction. The plot often centers on the deductive ability, prowess, confidence, or diligence of the detective as they attempt to unravel the crime or situation by piecing together clues and circumstances, seeking evidence, interrogating witnesses, and tracking down a criminal. In some ways we have a kind of mystery film. Because we start our film at the end, we are almost creating a kind of murder mystery (in our case suicide). It's more a case of why she did it rather than who did it but the story works the same, looking for clues.
Thriller Theories
Partial Vision
This is where only some of the narrative information is given, leaving the audience to wonder what is going to happen next. This gives a chance for the audience to think of their own theories about what is going to happen in the film. Se7en is a great example because the audience only see the murder scene, not the murder happening. In our film, starting with the ending tells the audience what will happen, but not how.
Question Answer Model
This keeps the audience asking questions. We create a lot of questions at the beginning of our piece.
The Heroic Romance
The Protagonist of the film is shown to be an ordinary person but acts in heroic ways to survive during the film. In Thrillers the hero is usually portrayed as having an ordinary job and an ordinary life. In our film, we take a very ordinary girl and turn her into someone famous.
This is where only some of the narrative information is given, leaving the audience to wonder what is going to happen next. This gives a chance for the audience to think of their own theories about what is going to happen in the film. Se7en is a great example because the audience only see the murder scene, not the murder happening. In our film, starting with the ending tells the audience what will happen, but not how.
Question Answer Model
This keeps the audience asking questions. We create a lot of questions at the beginning of our piece.
The Heroic Romance
The Protagonist of the film is shown to be an ordinary person but acts in heroic ways to survive during the film. In Thrillers the hero is usually portrayed as having an ordinary job and an ordinary life. In our film, we take a very ordinary girl and turn her into someone famous.
Feature films that take up serious social issues and are placed within the contemporary cultural context. It’s usually a gritty film that involves social issues such as drugs, sex or crime.
Characters
Characters in social realist are not generally found in mainstream films.
They draw in characters who inhabit the social margins of society in terms of status and power. It usually involves the representation of working class at moments of social and economic change. They tend to represent the working class to be seen as more energetic and vibrant. They also seem to focus on white working class males. The characters are usually troublesome and have involvement with something such as drugs or alcoholism.
Iconography
Iconography is language of images and forms that are typical to a particular genre. Some typical ones you may find in social realist films might be:
Drugs- creates social issues found in most social realist films. It creates an idea that they live a rough life.
Bottles- to represent alcoholism and show they don’t live in an upper class way.
Dirty clothing- to show they are working class and don’t take much care of how the look, or can’t afford too.
Council house- to, again, show a working class representation.
Crime- to show they live roughly and dangerously, they don’t live in a nice area or live high class lives.
Mise-en-scene
Social realist films are typically set in working class areas such as council estates and run down areas. This is to make the film grittier and will add to the troublesome lives of the characters.
Actors used are usually young males. They don’t tend to be typically good looking to make them seem more normal. They are also likely to be unknown actors to make the story more believable and relatable to the audience. If they use a film with a well-known actor the audience is likely to associate them with other characters they have played.
They are likely to use props such as weapons and drugs to relate to the rough story lines and atmosphere. They also use props in the homes to make it look more run down or something like a broken car.
Our film will combine many elements from these different genres.
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