Sub-Genre Research: Drama

Drama

Dramas are capable of moving a person emotionally and evoke empathy from the audience by reenacting relatable situations. Generally, this genere follows realistic and likeable characters dealing with traumtic or conflicting issues and follows them as they attempt to correct wrongs that they have done to others or that others have done to them. Dramas give actors the chance to fully immerse themsleves in a role due to the fact that characters usually develop over the course of the film thus allowing the audience to engage with them fully. Within Drama itself, there can also be sub-genres that act as subordinates in order to focus on a main theme of the film. They are as follows:

War Drama:

Drama films that are set during a time of war tend to focus on how larger conflicts between the public can threaten human exsistence. For example, The Deer Hunter (1978) reflects the aftermath of the Vietnam War on the lives of three Russian American steelworkers and their struggle to return to society. The film cost $15million to make and was highly controversial for the scenes depiecting Russian roulette between Robert De Niro's character and the Viet Cong soldiers because there were no documented cases of it taking place thus making the scene incredibly unrealistic in it's portrayal. However, the film depeicts how the war traumatises the main characters and the pressure put on soldiers to move on from the destruction they've been witness to and return happily to the people they've left behind.
Romantic Drama: 

These films generally focus on the passion, affection and emotion relfected between the main characters and the journey that their love takes them on, whether it be through marriage or turmoil. Romantic Drama revolves around an obstacle that is preventing the two main characters from finding love. Music is often incorporated to indicate mood and create atmosphere. In Brokeback Mountain (2005) follows emotional and sexual relationship between Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist in the American West in the 60's. The film shows how the prejudicial views of society prevent the two main characters being open about their love for each other and the angst that it causes them both in later life.
Crime Drama: 

Crime Drama can vary from realistic portrayals of figures actually involved in crime to the crimes perpetrated by imaginary villians. Road To Perdition (2002) directed by Sam Mendes takes place in 1931, during the Great Depression, as a father and his son attempt to get revenge against a mobster that murdered the rest of his family. The story explores the themes of violence and the powerful relationships between Fathers and Sons. The films title, is both the father and son's destination town as well as a euphamisim for Hell, which the father tries to prevent his son from travelling.
Comedy Drama:

Comedy-Drama is a popular sub-genre of film that combines elements of comedy with serious subject matter. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011) follows a group of British pensioners moving to a retirement hotel in India and their exploration of going beyond what is expected of their age group. The film was successful because of it's ability to play on the stereotypes associated with elder individuals but also the refreshing angle it took in putting the characters in elements that audiences wouldn't expect such as romance and xenophobia.
Melodrama:

Melodrama is dramatic due to the plot becoming typically sensational to the point of overtaking the characterisation of the characters. It is designed to appeal to the audience's emotions and music is often used to accompany the major scenes. Volver (2006) is a Spanish film that follows an eccentric family of women as they attempt to make amends with their dead mother's ghost and hide the body of the main sister's (Penelope Cruz) dead husband after he attempts to sexully assult her teenage daughter.

Shooting pack 2 - War scenes.

The following is a list of things we needed/used during filming of our opening sequence.

Shot List

Storyboard

Script 

Props

Character Profiles

Equiptment

Analysis of film posters

The Huntsman: Winter's War.

This film has multiple posters but I have chosen the two which best represent the film and link to our own film. The first poster shows a strong woman who's affected by war, much like Georgie. The white background connotes loneliness and desolation, whilst contrasting with her black outfit to suggest that her innocence has been tarnished. The use of snow and ice depicts the film's big budget and helps to market it as the massive fantasy epic it is, which would appeal to the film's specific audience. The second poster depicts 4 characters from the film, all of equal importance. We could use this technique for our film and show both Georgie and the 'ghost' of Charlotte behind her. This would subtly hint at the content of our film without giving too much away. The key colour in both posters is gold, which typically represents wealth, affluence, royalty and abundance. We could use a key colour in our film poster to create connotations and reflect the tone of our film, which would further help the audience to grasp the film's feel. We could use the colour green as it has connotations of the military and dark times, which could represent Georgie's mental health issue.

5 Days Of War.

This poster is similar to the dream/ flashback sequence in our film as it shows the characters running away from a dangerous situation. Unlike our film, 5 Days of War evidently has a big focus on special effects to convey the horrors of war. However, our film relies on the imagination and implication to portray the horrors of war experienced by our characters. The main colours on this poster are grey and orange, which conveys the fire as chaos in the bleakness of war. It also uses the contrast of dark and light, which is something we could consider for our film poster. In our poster, the dark could represent the tough experiences Georgie and Charlotte faced when fighting, and the light could represent the safety of being back home and Georgie's recovery. The bold, red title connotes death, destruction and bloodshed, which would have been one of the major factors that influenced Georgie's decline in mental health.

Arrival.

 Both posters tell very different stories about the same film. One poster focuses on the face of the main character and places emphasis on the theme of space and the stars. This poster has much more emotional depth and connotations of destiny laying within the stars, which is a key theme in the film. The prevalence of the blue gives an uncertain feel and doesn't give too much away about the storyline. In addition, there is little text on the poster, only giving vital information which allows the audience's focus to be pulled to the actor's face. Our film could have a poster like this to symbolise Georgie's life when she returns home, and hint at the slightly supernatural theme of believing Charlotte is always with her. The second poster has much more information and contains the names and faces of other actors in the film. The prominent colour green reinforces the military theme, which is something to consider when making our film poster.  Must more information is given away in this poster as the spaceship is show. The sunset connotes the dawning of a new age which would make the audience intrigued to know more.

Research into short film posters

Many short films tend to have multiple posters for two main reasons; creating hype and merchandising. Having more than one poster allows a creator to release them gradually in the run up to the film, this keeps the film fresh in the minds of the audience and therefore creates hype for the film, increasing the audience. More posters means more opportunities to sell those posters as merchandise for the film, of there is more that one style of poster this means that more people are likely to like at least one of the posters and therefore buy it increasing sales and profits. This can be seen in many short films for example, The Fleeting Little Life of Peter Wright (Tim Hautekiet and Sammy Paul, 2015).

The Fleeting Little Life of Peter Wright had two poster designs, as seen above. The posters shared some similarities that tied them together such as they were both portrait and both featured the same logo and text at the bottom. Both images on the posters were from the film yet they were different enough from each other to set them apart. The first features the backs of the characters with a skyline of London and a blue sky with some clouds. This doesn't give away much about the film but the way that the female character is looking at Peter suggests something isn't right, this causes intrigue. The second poster features a potato smiley face that has a chunk out of it with ketchup representing blood making the smiley face look injured, with connotations of the smiley faces brains being blown out, hinting at the films themes of suicide. These posters are effective at both causing intrigue for the film as they do not give too much away, or if you've already seen the film telling the story in a single image.

 

The three posters for Stray Dog (Bertie Gilbert, 2013) vary in orientation. Two are landscape whilst one is portrait. The portrait poster features very little showing only a shadowy figure wearing a wolf mask, the title of the film and the information about who made it. The first landscape poster is somewhat different to most posters as the text orientation does not match that of the poster. The text contains the same information as the first poster and the image of the main character Bertie gives a bit more information than the last as it reveals the main character. The third and final poster features one large film still with five smaller film stills underneath. The title of the film and the director are over the larger still whilst the rest of the information is on a black bar at the bottom of the poster.

Growth (Elliot Gough, 2013) has two posters which are identical apart from orientation. They feature a still of the main character walking down a path towards the camera out of focus with the text laid over it. The title of the film is in a different font to the rest of the information to make it stand out as important

Research into Film Posters

As our short film is a war drama I decided to look into war film posters. The one I decided to do is the film poster for 'War Horse' (Director: Steven Speilberg, 2011), I choses this becuase it is personally one of my favourite films, and also because it works well for the film. The title of the film is bold and stands out against the background making it easy for the viewer to read, also the fact that that it is placed top and centre of the poster it makes it more eye catching. A picture of Albert and Joey is set in the middle of the frame, which allows the audience to know who the main characters in the film are. 'Steven Spielberg' who directed the films, name is placed under the title, allowing the audience to know who directed the film. The quote 'Separated by war, Tested by battle, bound by friendship.' is symbolic of the film because it acknowledges the whole plot of the film. It gives a further insight into what the film is about and also the friendship between Joey and Albert. The use of orange tones connotes warmth and happiness which links to Joey and Albert's friendship as Albert keeps Joey warm, which in turn makes then both happy.

The 'Lasse Hallström' film Dear John (2010), is Romantic Drama, which has elements or war running throughout. The title of the film, 'Dear John' hints to one of the main plot points that also runs throughout the film. As the film is based of the novel by 'Nicholas Sparks' (indicated above the title) it was a hit in the cinema, which in turn lead to people reading the book. The picture is positioned centre frame, of the two main characters in the film, John and Savannah. It allows the audience to get to know the characters personality from the film, as they are quite close which could imply that they are in a relationship, or maybe very close friends. Linked with the picture is the name of the two actors 'Channing Tatum & Amanda Seyfried', this gives the audience information for them to then go out and potentially find out more about them or see what other films they have been in. The title of the film is in bold block letters, it is also in white and cream, which is able to catch the audiences eye. There is also production credits at the bottom of the poster in a smaller font which doesn't stand out as much as the title, however it is good to have one as it pays tribute to all the people who worked on the film. 'February' is printed in white which catches the audiences eye, this is the release date for America, which implies it is an American film poster. The use of the almost white sand in the background could connote loneliness, which contrasts with the dark blue tones of their cloths which connotes warmth.

Dirty Dancing (Dir Emile Ardolin, 1987) has a simple film poster, staging just the main two characters, Baby and Johnny. The plain white background allows the characters and writing to stand out, a bold title catches the attention, which allows the readers eye to then be drawn to the picture and the small piece of writing which readers 'have the time of your life', referencing the final song of the film. Actor names are featured in the top left hand corner, informing people who stars in the film. 

Doctor Strange (Dir Scott Derrickson, 2016) is an action, adventure staring Benedict Cumberbatch,

as a former neurosurgeon embarks on a journey of healing only to be drawn into the world of the mystic arts.The poster embodies the world of mystical arts aspect, through the kaleidascope effect with the buildings, this gives the effect of the film, and also adds a disorientateing effect. The colour scheme of keeping the background light allows text and Benedict to stand out. In contrast the vivid colours of Benedicts costume to stands out and allow the audience to see how the character looks in detail.

Pride & Prejudice (Dir Joe Wright, 2005) is a romantic drama, adapted from the iconic novel written by Jane Austin. The poster portrays the two main characters Elizabeth Bennet and Mr Darcy. Elizabeth is shows in to forground, using shallow focus to slightly blur out Mr Darcy to the background. As Elizabeth is positioned in the forground, it conveys that she is the main focus of the film, however it can be argued that Mr Darcy is also a main character since he is the only other person featured on the poster. The bottom half of the poster, portrays the landscape it is set in.