Genre Research - Your Film

You need to have a clear understanding of film genre before you begin planning out and producing your opening sequence.

Let me talk you through a few exemplars about how you can approach this:

We all know that genre means type, and that you are going to produce a certain 'type' of film opening.  So what are the genres?

http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html

Gives you the basic codes and conventions of each genre and talks about some of the sub genres available.  A good starting point is to prevent this visually through a word cloud.  Here's one I made at www.worditout.com although I could use www.wordle.net but only works on home pc.

Here I have a quick reference of what I'm looking to find.  Alternatively, if I want to choose a sub genre, I suggest you look at this:

 

 

Film Genres from newestprod

Now that you have identified the genre, you need to research it. 

When did the genre come about?  You can answer this by looking into the oldest films of this type.  So for Gangster I would probably research a classic black and white film, then a classic modern gangster film, and then one contemporary.  See below.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mob_film

1. The Public Enemy (1931, W Wellman)

This is one of the earliest, classic gangster films starring James Cagney, an iconic Hollywood actor who was typecast as playing a tough guy (stock character for such a genre). 

When analyzing the type of films typical of your genre it is worth analyzing all promotional material associated with it, such as movie posters like the above.  This shows typical codes and conventions of the genre (the high key lighting, costume, use of dark colours, shadows, the colour red, representation of men as being dominant). 



The clip above is not the opening, but it does highlight the typical codes and conventions we have come to associate with the crime/gangster genre.

2. I could look at another similar film made at a later date, like Brian De Palma's The Untouchables (1987), but instead I think looking at a film like Scarface would be more appropriate.

Interestingly enough, Brian De Palma also directed this film in 1983, so there is scope to do some director research, since it seems De Palma might be a bit of an auteur when it comes to producing gangster films.  The poster is significant and still holds dear many of the conventions associated with crime (guns, bold contrasts, use of red text, chiseled expression) and has Al Pacino, also a star of films such as Godfather, Carlito's Way, Heat, etc.  There is a pattern.  As you research, you will also discover a pattern in your genre.

 

 

This clip links to other famous scenes from the movie.  You need to analyse and comment on what you see and hear.  These are the codes (repertoire of elements) that you need to explore in your film.

Lets think about clip number 3.  Perhaps a British Gangster Film would be good, and a current one too.  There are loads.  Lock STock, Layer Cake, Gangster Number 1 all spring to mind.  Even the newest ones below are worth a look to show you have up to date working knowledge of the genre.




Don't forget to analyse all of the promotion material and create a mood board (a visual representation of the codes and convetions of the genre) on your blogs/websites.

The above is the bare minimum I expect.


BLOG BLOG BLOG!! You are not doing this enough!