Quick Updates and The Genre Talk

   Hellooooo!! 

   Before I start talking on and on about our genre, I want to give a quick update on our progress as a group as well as my personal progress. Over the past couple of days my mind has been going in a million different directions at every second of every day. As a group I feel we have been working really well together, listening to each others ideas and trying as best as we can to incorporate them in order make our idea more unique. One struggle I've faced with myself is just how this idea can be portrayed. I started thinking about how difficult it's going to be because we clearly don't have the resources we wish we had. This type of thinking has had me constantly doubting because we want to do something unique and different but also so difficult to do. Then I had a self talk moment and just told myself that even though it is gonna be difficult, I won't be as proud as I could be of something if I didn't work as hard as possible on it. So as i've said before, one step at a time. Another thing we have struggled with a bit is finding the lights we want to use while filming as one way to show the different worlds. I had said I would prefer it to be more of like a light that we can just plug in and move wherever we'd like in order to make the shot come out with the undertone we want it to. We went literally everywhere. We started at Home Depot where they only sold light bulbs, then went to BrandsMart and Target where they didn't sell what we were looking for either,  and finally we went to Best Buy which wasn't any better because whatever they had cost more than my life. We decided to just wait until I got to speak to one of my friends who spends a lot of time taking photographs and ask her where she got her lights from. I spoke to her today and she told me that the lights she had were the LED light bulbs from Home Depot and they worked just as good. Although its not ideally what we had hoped for we know we can eventually try and make it work. So thats pretty much it for the not so quick update!

   Moving on to the genre talk, over the past few days I dove straight into everything that has to do with our genre Scifi/Drama. We decided to make it part Drama because of the issues the protagonist is going to have to face on her own showing her journey/development. Another Drama genre convention we are incorporating is how to emotionally attach the audience to the character in order to move them with the reality of her life which is either surrounded by constant lies or oblivion. 

   When people think of Scifi movies, they usually associate it with aliens or space movies etc. Although all this is true, there was so much more to the Scifi genre that I didn't even know about. When looking up the definition of a Scifi film, a Wikipedia article says "Science fiction film (or sci-fi) is a genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial lifeforms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception and time travel, along with futurist elements such as spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar travel or other technologies." This is a genre convention that most people would expect when watching a Scifi movie, what many people don't expect is the deeper topics that these films can actually be trying to talk about. As I continued to read the article, it stated 

"Science fiction films have often been used to focus on political or social issues, and to explore philosophical issues like the human condition."

"Avatar" dir. by James Cameron 

Once I read that sentence I was instantly fascinated with the idea that Scifi films could create what could be a very important message in an incredibly unique way. So I dove into even more research to see what films have taken that route. One film that does this is "Avatar" (dir. by James Cameron). This film was mentioned on the article "7 Best Sci-Fi Films With Social Commentary" stating how the film is not only an action packed film with Scifi elements like extraterrestrial lifeforms and futuristic technologies, but it also offers strong social commentary. In the artcile it states how The Los Angeles Times spoke to director James Cameron about the film and its social commentary. He goes on to state, "This movie reflects that we are living through war. There are boots on the ground, troops who I personally believe were sent there under false pretenses, so I hope this will be part of opening our eyes." The film also touches on the environment and its resources and showing how we can destroy our own planet. Another film that touches on social issues is "Her" (dir. by Spike Jonze). The article states how one should leave it to director Spike Jonze to express social issues in a scifi film. In the article it states, 

"Her" dir. by Spike Jonze

"It's more of a notification to society one sent specifically via a smart device. Samantha, the operating system to which the main character, Theodore Twombly, becomes desperately attached, is an obvious nod to Siri (the voice of Apples iOS). The relationship and the dependence between the Twombly and Samantha show both our reliance on technology for everyday tasks, as well as communication. Perhaps the saddest bit of commentary is about the inauthentic interactions that result."

I feel these films have offered me a lot of insight into the vision these directors had when telling these stories with these social issues and adding these elements of fantasy mixed with reality. In doing this research I feel so much more inspired and prepared to challenge myself and I couldn't be more excited!

Until next time!
  Jess

Citations:

"The Home Depot." The Home Depot. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.
"BrandsMart USA | TVs, Kitchen Appliances, Washers, Dryers and more." BrandsMart U.S.A. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.
"Target : Expect More. Pay Less." Target : Expect More. Pay Less. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.
"Best Buy: Expert Service. Unbeatable Price." Best Buy: Expert Service. Unbeatable Price. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.
"Science fiction film." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Mar. 2017. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.
"Avatar | Official Trailer (HD) | 20th Century FOX." YouTube. N.p., 09 Nov. 2009. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.
"Her - Official Trailer (HD) Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams." YouTube. N.p., 07 Aug. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.
Young, Miles. "7 Best Sci-Fi Films With Social Commentary." WhatCulture.com. N.p., 25 Mar. 2014. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.
FarjanaTahmin Follow. "Conventions of Drama Films." LinkedIn SlideShare. N.p., 22 Oct. 2011. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.
"Her movie gif." Tumblr. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2017.
Read-Dominguez, Jennifer. "Here's your first look at Disney's Avatar theme park." Digital Spy. N.p., 14 Mar. 2017. Web. 16 Mar. 2017. Avatar gif