In Depth Convention Analysis

Deeper research on the Coming-Of-Age Sub-genre: 

    As said in one of my previous blog posts, a coming of age drama focuses around the protagonists journey as a person. These films
do not need to specifically be about a high school story or about a young person, they just need to focus on the personal growth of a person. A Coming of Age drama usually has some kind of personal struggle or conflict that the protagonist needs to overcome. For example "The Outsiders" focus on a few different conflicts like the death of Ponyboys friend and a few other conflicts. By showing personal struggle it forms a sense of empathy with the audience as well as makes the film feel relatable, and showing the personal growth of the character. 

These struggle or conflicts can be both internal or external. It is important to make sure that your film focuses on using different forms of lighting and visual effects throughout the film to help engage the audience. For example, a coming of age film could use bright lights to express importance and urgency, while using warmer lights to represent comfort, and tranquility. They can also use a variety of different forms of mise-en-scene to help establish a connection to the scene. For example, formal clothes can represent wealth and business. It is also important to create a "time capsule" or in other words figure out in what time period your film is set. This helps the film feel genuine and engaging. 

After doing some deeper research on coming-of age films, I have learned a lot. I never realized how many small details and features go into making a film. Coming-of-Age dramas have a variety of different key elements that most films don't have.  For example, these films tend to emphasize some kind of form of nostalgia and the struggles both mentally and physically that comes with growing up. All these different features are what make the film enjoyable and engaging. From a viewers perspective you would never think to use white lights to express urgency, reduce shadows, and represent natural light rather than using soft yellow lights to create a mellow and relaxed feeling that also creates a sense of safety, and seems cozy. Overall, coming of age dramas have a multitude of different features and conventions that are necessary to make the film enjoyable. I have learned so many things that I never would have guessed were that important. My perspective on films has completely changed after starting my research. 

Sources:

https://industrialscripts.com/coming-of-age-movie/

https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/how-lighting-affects-the-mood-of-films-8509e8eb1e18

Subgenre Research

 Coming of Age Drama: 

A coming-of-age drama is a heartfelt and nostalgic drama. that is centered around the theme of youth, growing up, and maturing. They mainly follow the story of the protagonist and the progression of their life. A common element used in Coming-of-Age dramas are the use of comedy, music, romance, and in some cases even a little horror. The subgenera is mainly focused on the protagonists arc and how they develop throughout the film. Characters are typically younger or about to become an adult. Coming of Age dramas also explore awkwardness and uncertainty throughout their films. When researching this sub-genre, I had no real challenges as there were many different sources where I could gain information. Coming of Age dramas are very common in the film industry. You most likely know a lot of films like this. For example, Ferris Bueller's Day Off is a very popular coming of age drama that focuses on a high school senior who is tired of skipping school to just sit at home all day, and ends up driving around his favorite Chicago sites with his best friend and girlfriend. Another example is The Breakfast club which features five high school students that meet in high school detention and realize how much they have in common. 

Teen Drama: 

A Teen Drama commonly features the nerd, popular girl, popular boy, and underdog. They also tend to follow the same story line. They focus on situations that commonly occur throughout a teenager's life. Music plays a very important role in teen dramas as it helps form a connection between the film and the audience. The music of choice is usually 80’s pop or modern-day music. The main character also usually narrates the film, which is helpful to the audience because it allows them to understand what the character is feeling. Most teen dramas have at least one of these settings: school, home, by the lockers, cafeteria, field, etc. Finding information about teen dramas was relatively easy as it is one of my personal favorites. I ran into know problems in my research and have attached my source below. Some examples of Teen dramas are The Vampire Diaries which is a supernatural based tv show that is set in a town called mystic falls featuring vampires, werewolves, witches, hybrids, sirens, etc. Another example is Friday Night Lights which is a drama that follows the lives of Dillon Panthers, a high school football team, and their head coach Erin Taylor.

Psychological Drama:

A psychological Drama focuses on the complexities of the human mind, and how those complexities affect a persons life. These films are designed to identify a characters deepest struggles and thoughts. They tend to focus on using auditory techniques like close-up shots, haunting soundscapes and emotional intensity. Psychological dramas also focus on using dark claustrophobic spaces, and surreal landscapes. It is important for these dramas to engage their audiences emotionally by using relatable characters and situations. Finding information about psychological dramas was a little tricky because I struggled to find a good source. I eventually found a good source to do research and have attached it below. A good example of a psychological drama is The Shining, and The Woodsman

Sources: 

 https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/what-is-a-coming-of-age-movie-definition/

https://www.imdb.com/list/ls021246041/

 https://prezi.com/j1jspffo9y4w/conventions-of-teen-drama/

https://prezi.com/p/1mihuqfb4hre/codes-and-conventions-of-psychological-drama/

Picking my theme

 After some deep thought, I have decided to go with the sport themed drama. I chose this theme for my drama opening because I felt that it would best suit me. With access to all the sport equipment and props I'll need, my 2-minute opening should go fairly well. While I am still thinking about it, my opening will take place very early in the morning at my house and then slowly transition to outside. 

This film will be focused on a young barrel racer trying to achieve her dreams. It will start by showing an alarm clock, this will emphasize a sense of urgency and emphasize how early it is. It will then move to the kitchen where a cup of coffee will be poured. After that the setting will change from the inside of a house, to the outside of a barn.  I don't want to spoil my entire opening so that's all I'm going to share about the storyline. Im very exited to start this project and enhance my experience with film editing softwares. 

Digging deeper into Drama

 After picking my choice of genre for my film opening, the next step will be to dig deeper into the drama genre. I will work on figuring out how to structure my film opening and what im going to film about. With so many different theme options it will definitely take some time. While researching the different genres, I have been looking into different movies for some inspiration. I have narrowed it down to either a mental health awareness opening, a high school based film, or a sport based film opening. 

As someone who has struggled with mental health and has seen other who suffer from mental health issues, this film opening could help spread awareness, and importance. It can also help me express issues that I have faced throughout the past few years and how I overcame them. There are millions of people around the world who struggle with mental health, and this opening could help people gain some perspective on these issues. 

If I were to do a High School themed film opening, I could use real Personal experiences to create it. There are thousands of high school dramas all over media platforms so there would be plenty of film to reference. A shortage of information on high school film would definitely not be a problem. This film opening would follow the story of a young sophomore girl just trying to make it to senior year. 

The sport based film opening is a theme that definitely has peaked my interest.  As someone who actively competes in a sport, it will be very easy to film and build my opening. If I do choose this opening, it will be about a young girl with a horseback riding dream. While it will only be 2 minutes, it will focus on hooking the audience and wanting them to be interested. This theme is defiantly on of my favorites and is at the top of my list. 

Exploring Genre Conventions

When starting this project, I didn't really know all that much about film related genre conventions. With just my first search I was met with so much new information that I had never seen. My first genre search was horror, one of my personal favorites. I started my research by looking for websites regarding genre conventions of horror films and was very quickly greeted with hundreds of sites. The site I ended up choosing was https://media-studies.com/horror-genre/. This site had a lot of very useful information on horror films. Some of the things I learned were that when making a horror film you want to make sure to have a dark and ominous atmosphere, eerie lighting, scary background elements, horror inflicting music or just eerie/creepy music, lots of background audio depending on the film, and so much more. When making a horror film you want to try and inflict fear into your audience. This can be done by using all the elements I listed before and combining them into a wonderful and scary production. 

Drama: 

Finding Information about the genre conventions of a drama film was definitely much easier than for a horror one. I used the site https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/drama-genre-guide-78027/ when finding all my research on drama films. The average drama film includes many key elements including emotional depth, unfolding plot, good monologue, compelling well written characters, character development, some kind of character conflict, a meaningful resolution, and depending on the movie there can be many other key elements. Drama themed movies also tend to be more serious rather than humorous. While drama films can be perceived in many different ways, they all still share the same key elements. 

Romance:

When researching romance films I used https://nofilmschool.com/. Romance films follow similar conventions to Dramas. They also focus on character development, meaningful resolution, conflicts, and exploring different elements. While they do share some similar qualities to dramas, they are very different. Romance films also focus on the creation of tension, avoiding cliches, unique twists, love at first sight, opposites attract, second chance romance, forbidden love, misunderstandings, and both happy and sad endings. These key elements really bring the film together and give it that warm fuzzy romance feeling.

After researching these three genre conventions, I have decided that my choice of genre will be Drama. I found myself looking into drama much more than the other genres. It really drew me into the topic and made me want to learn more. When making drama films there is a variety of different films you make that follow different themes. This gives you a variety of different options and cool themes to pick from. When starting my research I was definitely at a crossroads with with genre I should pick, but after completing my research my option is quite clear. I am 100% choosing drama as the genre for my 2 minute film opening.