First Official Genre Research and Story Exploration

 I first want to say that, while I love Westerns, the story that I am choosing is more suited for a dramedy. And the reason that I say this is because dramedies are the most like real life (the dual-tones are most like the life we live, and it gives the characters more dimensions). The story that I am going with revolves around a very real character She is going to be more-or-less like me, meaning that I could possibly explore my psychology a bit more - psycho-analyzing yourself and thinking about what motivates you to get up in the morning is always fun. Centering the story around a dramedy also allows for me to best explore the relationship between her and her brother. And just like that, I'm revealing my story to you: it's based on the relationship between the two siblings who are part of a working class family who want to get a better life by being the best at a sport (I'm thinking of going with basketball, since I love the sport myself). I might elaborate on the whole entire story later, but I already know where I want it to go and because of that I think I already know what I want my film opening to do. 

Now to the fun part, researching some examples from the dramedy genre. For this post, I'll be looking at Lady Bird. 

The story automatically begins with the two-shot of Lady Bird and her mother. The film is already stressing the importance of the pair's relationship and is telling the audience that their relationship is going to be central to the story. There are a lot of two-shots that make up this beginning scene because of how important the relationship is, from them sitting on the bed to them in the car. I really want to capture the importance of the dynamic of my two characters, and this might just be how I'll do it. The colors also seem more muted in a way that makes it feel more realistic, with Lady Bird's clothing and hair being bright; these are just some other things that I want to try in my film opening. 

And now, how Lady Bird utilizes color:

The "blue house at the end of a cul-de-sac" is meaningful to Lady Bird, and its warm blue hue does not represent sadness, but a sort of warmth. I'll get into my character a little later, but dramedies (as well as countless other genres) have certain colors that represent something for characters or for the audience. This house is no different, as when it loses its magic for Lady Bird, the color changes more into a muted gray, symbolizing how the house no longer brings the joy that it once did for Lady Bird. I also want to do something like this for the siblings, but I'll explain this in more detail later. As of right now, I'm thinking that I want to have more warm blues be the background for them.