First Decisions

          As i've learned techniques on how to open a film, i still haven't figured out what exactly I want my movie to be about or what the genre is. By the way, throughout this little journey I decided to write all my ideas down on my notebook rather than save it up in my head until I blog. Every time something pops up, I can just quickly jot it down on my notebook and then have as a source when i'm blogging.
          Anyway, I believe that choosing a genre should should come out of my own very interest in movies. Instead of choosing a genre just because is it the easiest to do, I want to chose the genre based on my liking, even if it is hard to make. My favorite genre of movies are romance, comedy, drama, indie, and travel movies. Movies such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Lady Bird, Garden State, Into The Wild, Captain Fantastic are part of my favorite movie list (let's not forget The Emperor's New Groove). All of these movies have evoked something in me that calls me to be a film maker when i'm older, and they all relate to me on a personal level because I feel like I have been through what the characters have been through. Therefore I want to make a film that makes people connect with the characters and relate to the story on a personal level; I want the audience to have sentimental or bittersweet feelings like these movies have made me feel. In "Choosing a Genre for your Film Project", Julian A. Leu explains that the genre is usually determined by the story line of the movie. "The content of your project should determine its genre. If it involves spaceships and time travel, it’s gonna be a sci-fi, loosely speaking. Genre is going to affect who your characters are, how they speak, what they talk about, as well as pacing considerations and content tropes."
          At this point I have only thought about some cool openings for my project, but I have not thought of the storyline of the actual movie, which is the most important aspect of this project. So far, my ideas for characters are a young female protagonist in her 20's focusing on the obstacles she has overcome in her life to get where she wants to be. Supporting characters would be her family, her friends, and her boyfriend. I believe my genre will be centered around a drama or coming of age movie.
Another suggestion this article gave me was to know my target audience. As i said, i want to target people who connect with a character and have gone through human experiences. Therefore my target audience will mainly be young adults or older. 

The Beginning

Research

This is only the beginning of it all and i've got to say, I'm a little overwhelmed. My initial plan of working with a partner didn't work out, so now i'm a lone wolf. Today in class we learned about how to blog and what exactly we are supposed to do for this project. I really like that I can use this as a type of diary for my journey. The first thing I thought of doing was researching a bit more of what makes a good opening scene in a film. By watching the video "Opening Shots Tell Us Everything" on Youtube,  I was able to learn that good film openings music is an important factor in a film opening because it sets the mood of the movie. Another thing that I found very interesting and is something I love when movies do is symbolism. A Space Odyssey does this in the beginning of its film by having the sun rise symbolize the journey that the character will go through and that the movie will be about overcoming something.

In addition, I also watched "How to Begin A Movie", which also taught me very important things about how to open a film. It explained how the best films such as the Matrix, The Shining, and Indiana Jones don't go straight to the beginning of the story, but instead start with something related to the theme. I really like this method of film opening because whenever I watch something that makes me ask questions in the beginning of the movie, it makes me want to watch more. It suggested to not tell the audience all of the information about the movie in a the first scene, but rather gives clues and hints. The best way to open a film is by establishing the elements of the story like characters, genre, and theme. I am taking all of this into consideration as I continue to think about my genre and what I want to do.