Research into Chosen Genre

Coming of Age Drama

Classic Narrative:

Our film is going to be from the coming-of-age genre and also has influences from British rock films and period films, as ours is going to be set in the 1980’s. The story lines that coming-of-age films follow can vary across many topics but all the films display personal growth and change. They all focus on personal journeys of ‘discovery’ and often have explicit and controversial themes and content. This is usually reflected in the age certificates of the films and attracts teenage audiences of the same age. They all feature a specific person or a group of people who are reaching an important age in their lives and follows their transition from childhood to adulthood.

Important characteristics that coming-of-age films rely on are dialogue and emotional responses, rather than full on action. It is these elements, along with the teenage themes, that give a film its ‘coming of age feel’. This is something that we have made sure our opening sequence demonstrates to correspond with our chosen genre. There are going to be many close ups which clearly show ‘Jimmy Mavericks’ emotional response to his sister’s death. We have now also added dialogue to the sequences to show the early interest ‘Ruby’ has in her brothers best friend, a relationship that would go on to feature heavily in the films plot.

Common features of coming-of-age films are sexual identity (e.g. ‘Submarine’, 2010), personal philosophy and the forming of political opinions (e.g. ‘This Is England’, 2006). In order for the characters to discover these areas, ‘experimenting’ is required. Even though the overall plots of these films can vary, the idea of ‘experimenting’ in many different forms is something that is always present. For example, in some cases the experimenting is based around drugs and alcohol (i.e. ‘Cherry Bomb’) but in other cases is it with relationships and virginity (i.e. ‘An Education’). These themes are tackled in our plot, showing in part how it belongs under the coming of age genre; this will be made clear in our opening sequences as the audience are informed of  death caused by an over dose of drugs. Other common themes found in these films are the difficulty of home life, relationships with friends and the idea of straying away from social normality.

Stock Characters:

 A typical plot outline consists of a main teenager, usually a male, or a group of teenagers who are ‘coming of age’.  Things usually start prosperous but as they experiment with new things and begin to push boundaries, someone usually has to suffer great consequences or they soon begin to realise the world isn’t as amazing as they thought it could be. The stories typically feature a mid-teen male and are often told in flashback form.  This is something that we have too chosen to do for our opening sequence by beginning our film at ‘the end’ but then taking a flash back to 1983 to begin the story of the band. 

However all kinds of teenagers can be found in coming of age films as it depends on the individual plot of the story. The teens are the protagonists of the story and there is usually some kind of catalyst who causes problems. This again depends on the theme of the story and the catalysts can range from over bearing parents to a teen friend that encourages the wrong sort of behaviour.

There is usually some kind of best friend who experiences life with the protagonist and is usually there so they are able to share their feelings out loud with. We have this is our film in the form of ‘Sam’, ‘Jimmy’s’ best friend and band mate.

Sound:

The sound use in coming-of age films varies. Non-diegetic music is often used at various points throughout most movies and the genre of this music is often ‘alternative’ or ‘indie’. This is to reflect the theme of the teenagers trying to be different from everybody else and is also there to match their feelings when experimenting with different and new things. Diegetic music is also often played as a typical teenager spends much of their time listening to music and the genre of music they are listening to can tell you a lot about the character. Our choice of music will be key to the success of the film and we will be recording it ourselves to make sure we get exactly what we want.

The music, weather diegetic or non-diegetic can also be used to reflect the mood of the character on screen and can give an indication of how they are felling.  However, as the most important characteristics of these films are dialogue and emotional responses, music is not usually played during important parts of the plot that feature these characteristics. This creates stark but emotion driven scenes as having no music means that all attention is given to the actors and their dialogue. It would be handy if we could film the first part of the sequence on a rainy day to set the mood, although as we are using teachers as the news reporters, we will have to book their time and it might not be possible to coincide this with the weather.

Silence is an important factor within our chosen genre as it helps to heighten the emotions the characters are feeling, emphasising the changes and feelings they are discovering. We are also featuring silence in our opening sequence as we want all attention to be focused on the emotions displayed on ‘Jimmy Mavericks’ face.