Portfolio Project Genre #2

Another genre that I'm interested in is fiction, more specifically dystopian. I think these types of films are so interesting beacuse it deals with real world situation and fears of society that could happen in real life. I love the mix of real-world situations, working together with powers and technology components. 

What makes the fiction/dystopian genre?

What makes the fiction/dystopian genre special is that according to How to Write a Dystopian Movie or TV Show, they say, "Dystopian movies typically feature a government or ruling authority that exercises extreme control over its citizens." This attracts audiences between the ages of 12 and 30. People love dystopian films because the audience can see what would happen if this and that happened. 

 Content

• The person/organization in control suppresses society and manipulates citizens

• Guards, military, or some kind of surveillance that indicates that the people/citizens don't have power or freedom.

• Prohibited protest, images, books, religions, beliefs. Everything is regulated by the people in control. 

• Often shows a drastic difference and justice for the high, middle, and lower classes.

• The environment or atmosphere usually seems deteriorated and destroyed by the control group over the years, usually in a big city 

• The main character takes action and contradicts the control group

Source for convection content (more)

Technical

• A lot of low-key lighting is used to create a cold and dark atmosphere. Color schemes and grading establish the tone of the film. Dystopian films commonly use cold and neutral colors 

• Long establishing shots showcase the decaying landscapes.

• Tracking shot following the character's life in this world, showing how they see "normal" things that the audience might find peculiar compared to our real world.

• Editing techniques include straight cuts to switch from one scene to another, fades to show panic, and jump cuts show time progressing through the film

• Diegetic sounds are normally used to convey a realistic feeling, but nondiegetic sounds create suspense or action.

• Close-ups to focus on the emotion, most likely fear, and tilts to create tension.

Institutional

• The narrative image of dystopian films is demostrated trhough marketing before the film release and techniques that ensure the audience will see the stereotypes of the dystopian genre.

• The branding of the look of the movie, posters illustrate neutral color palettes of blues, gray,s and orange tones indicate the film's genre and informing the audience.

• The protagonist realises reality and wants to make a change, promising a rebellion

• Iconic brand symbols that the audience only associates with the film, for example, for Hunger Games is a Mockingjay.

• Marketing techniques: Marketing combines traditional billboards of decaying cityscapes with heavy social media engagement. One recent engaging marketing technique is having "rebel" or "government" accounts interact with fans, while media creators react to trailers and teasers.

• TikTok's trends like "survival POV" actor showing iconic hand symbols in videos, some actors have recreated dramatic cinematic moments from the film to engage the audience.

• Interactive media, like themed websites or a phone number that is shown in the movie, can include an experience or roleplay to make the audience feel they are in the dystopian world.
• Most institutions rate the film PG-13 to reach a larger audience of young adults.

MUST be included in my film opening

•  The setting, which sets the vibe/ mise-en-scene of the fiction/dystopian genre. For example, films can be set in decayed cities or a futuristic future. The goal is to see the corruption of this world, to immediately catch what is wrong and not normal in the real world.

• Costumes showing the type of world the film is set in, costuming plays an important role and can also be used to show how different the protagonist is from the rest of society, and how they adapt to the environment.

• Establish the control group and why they are in control, how ot impacts society as a whole, and relates to the main character's struggles.

• Color grading of blues, grays, and neutral cold tones to set the mood and tone of the film. (of course, this can change based on the story)

• Music that matches the environment, fast-paced/dark that builds suspense, some great examples are Skyfall by Adele and and Black out days by Phantogram, Future Islands. 

Writing Dystopia: The Keys to Crafting an ORIGINAL Dystopian Movie

 Some dystopian film examples and their openings:

 

film opening for The Hunger Games

film opening for Gattaca

These films embrace the dystopian genre, not using much dialogue and showing how the characters life is in this corrupted world. It is also demonstrated as normal or a daily routine; this is what the opening of Gattaca is about. Seeing what the male character is doing intrigues the audience because it's not a normal routine; we see all kinds of close shots of the process he is doing to get ready for the day. These suggest that the film is fiction and leaves the audience to wonder why this man is doing weird procedures. 

The Hunger Games is a little bit similar since we also see what a day in a life is for the character, but something interesting about this opening is that the establishment of the world is told in the beginning by text. This is a good technique and use of a narrative image since it establishes the world, and it's effective for the production since it might be hard to use dialogue and scenes to establish the world situation. 

For both openings, color grading of grey, blue, and neutral colors and low-key lighting are being used, which again indicates it is a cold, fictional story.