Genre 2: Back to tha Hood

Reflecting back on my last project, "As Long As We Both Shall Live", I want to do more research pertaining to genre tropes and conventions before actually completing an outline or shot list. In "As Long As We Both Shall Live" (I will refer to it from now on as LWBSL), all of the shots were hand-held, and from the point of view of the camera, as the Boy and the Girl were documenting, or "vlogging", their experiences as a couple. This year, I am more devoted to cinematography and the way I shoot the production is very important to me. I want to create more meaning and significance through shots and angles, and put as much thought into that aspect of the production as I do for character and content. Films are motion pictures- the "motion" aspect is something I intend to concentrate on over the course of the project.

Keeping this in mind, I began researching only knowing a basic plot and maybe a few shots. My google searches included "crime film", "crime drama film", "crime thriller conventions", and many other variations. I was looking for specific conventions, rather than film examples, but resources seem to be scarce on the specific "crime drama/thriller" genre. However, when I typed in "movies about abductions", I got taken to IMDB, where there was a list of kidnapping movie after kidnapping movie. I decided to look at what genre those films were classified under, which generally was "Crime, Drama, Action, Thriller, Mystery" (IMDB classifies with multiple genres per movie). When I envision the film I want to create, I don't imagine heavy action scenes, but rather short bursts of action or movement- causing me to sway away from the idea of an "Action" sub-genre.

I do intend for the film to be a dark drama, with the thrill aspect manifesting mentally in the audience's mind and physically on the screen. The mystery aspect will come not from the abduction itself, but why the abduction occurred and what the abductor's motive was. It seems that my film will be similar to ones such as "Along Came a Spider" (2001, dir. Lee Tamahori), "Kiss the Girls" (1997, dir. Gary Fleder), and "Trade" (2007, dir. Marco Kreuzpaintner). I plan on watching these films and taking note on technique and conventions for more "hands on" research and a better understanding.

A film I have seen that I imagine having a similar tone and style to is "Killing of A Sacred Deer" (2017) directed and co-written by Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthymis Filippou. The movie places the action primarily in the motive and mystery rather than using a plethora action-filled, gory scenes. This also intensifies the action scenes due to the scarcity of them in the actual film.

I plan on doing a lot of watching and viewing of films and television shows with similar genres and ideas as part of my research, and I can't wait to apply what I learn on screen.

SOURCES
https://researchguides.dartmouth.edu/filmgenres/crimefilms
https://thescriptlab.com/screenplay/genre/980-crime/
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls000011555/
https://a24films.com/films/killing-of-a-sacred-deer

A Good Day to Storyboard Hard

I realize how early it is to be story boarding, but this is a collection of images I doodled during downtime in class and at home. I wanted to jolt the audience from the beginning of the film, enter with a shock factor, so my idea was to create a series of juxtaposing shots intended to confuse and startle. The sequence will show a teenage girl running frantically through the forest, from her abductor. The establishing shots of woody, forest setting are going to be the peaceful side of the contrast, with calming sounds and a steady camera. The shots of the girl who is running will be shaky, mimicking her breathing and running, while containing loud music and sound effects. I feel like this contrast in the beginning will be a good way to set the tone for this Crime Drama film.

I will be primarily researching over the next two weeks, as I am in a musical at my high school right now, and the next two weeks are the tech period. I believe my genre will ultimately be Crime Drama, similar to Godfather and Gone Girl.

I will be back to report more soon!

Portfolio Project 2: Electric Boogaloo

Hello to all internet-surfers and mis-clickers! My name is Aly Burnett, and if you've read anything on my past blog (which you can find in the upper right hand corner) I dabble in the world of Media for fun and for a grade. Let's take a brief moment to welcome our truly special guest, who came all the way from England, the Cambridge AICE community!

This school year, I'm an angsty senior waiting to gain some freedom and go to college, trying to balance my school work, rehearsals, social life, and family life without combusting. Much of my interests have remained the same, like participating in musical theatre and drama club, film watching and creating, goofing around with my friends, and making people laugh.

This year, I came into the course not really knowing my options for the A Level portfolio project. I knew that all the options required a video component, but that was all. We learned about all four ("Four!?"- me, to myself) choices, and I was torn between the Film Promotion Package and the Short Film Package.  I ultimately decided to go with the Short Film Package, as I would rather make a film in its entirety, rather than film footage specifically for a trailer. With my fate sealed through a Google Survey, I got to work brainstorming for the story I would tell this year.

Lately, I've been avidly listening to a range of true crime podcasts, like "Crime Junkie", "Serial", and "Cold". "Crime Junkie" is a series which documents a new case each episode, while "Serial" and "Cold" document one case over an entire season. Within these episodes, a lot of cases I would hear were about abductions or murders, in which a person was reported missing to the police. Police don't immediately jump into action after receiving these reports for a number of reasons, telling families to come back and report the person missing again in a certain period of time if they haven't shown up- these time period ranged from 72 hours to one whole month. If someone is potentially abducted, the initial time after is crucial in ensuring they return home safely- it doesn't allow a perpetrator to get as far away from the abduction site, witnesses are more likely to report accurate information, and the public as a whole will be more aware and look out for the missing person. 

I want to tell a story that for some reason demonstrates the importance of these 72 hours, showing the public how crucial these hours really are in bringing someone home. The general idea is there, and I can imagine some specific points, but I need to do some research in order to completely flesh out the story.

I hope that during this project, I can grow and learn from my mistakes from my AS Level self, so that I can improve on my film making techniques and ultimately put out a better production.