Genre Standoff

I’ve decided to choose a genre as my first step in this endeavor. There are several different genres that can be viewed here. Like I mentioned before I will not be doing a horror film, so I can mark that off my list. Next is comedies, which have light-hearted plots, that are deliberately designed to amuse the audience. Comedies include some of my favorite movies like Superbad and The Hangover. Although I do enjoy watching comedies i feel like one would be incredibly difficult to execute, mainly because the scripts have to constantly include witty one-liners, even if the plot is serious. For that reason a comedy does not really appeal to me for the purposes of this project. Action movies are high-energy, constantly moving films, that often feature a fight between the “good guys” and the “bad guys.” To be honest this sounds awesome to me, but looking at it realistically, i do not have the budget or equipment needed to create a good action film. I don't want to turn in a subpar final just because I think explosions are cool. Another genre that is out of the budget range is the epic/historical category. These movies take place in imagined or historical events, with usually a legendary, mythic, or heroic character. The last genre that I can't see myself making because of budgetary restrictions is a western movie. Now don’t get me wrong I absolutely love western movies and their depiction of the early days of the American frontier; I could watch john Wayne movies all day, which I can’t say about many other genres. Moving on to musicals, which emphasizes song and dance in a cinematic form. Musicals are also my least favorite genre of movies because I find them extremely boring (other than high school musical because of the nostalgia)  and I find it stupid how people just randomly start singing in their everyday lives and everyone acts like it is normal. War movies is a tricky one for me. I feel like the intro does not have to include all of the fighting battlefield scenes, so I might be able to make one looking at only the budget and my filming/editing capabilities. On the other hand I would have to gather a lot of costumes and actors for this genre, which is a challenging task. Sci-fi movies are great, but futuristic technology and extraordinary lifeforms, all don’t really sound like easy things to create. I genuinely don't even feel like creating a movie of that sorts anyways. After careful consideration I think that my top three choices for a movie that can be made by a novice filmmaker like myself are: crime and gangster, adventure and drama. Crime and gangster movies are perhaps my favorite types of movies. Classics like The Godfather and Goodfellas, will get me sitting in front of the T.V. any time of day. These movies portray the sinister actions of criminals or mobsters. The movie goodfellas has one of the most iconic movie openers and could be useful if I go that route. Adventure movies tell exciting stories with new experiences and usually exotic locations. I think a movie like this would be really fun to shoot and I think that I could do it well. Lastly the drama category is possibly the easiest one to create for someone like me considering they portray real-life scenarios, with intense character development and interaction. The story for this genre could be easier to write, so if all else fails I could always go with this. I’m still debating on these different genres, but as of now I feel like i'm leaning more towards the crime and gangster category. I’m going to watch some openers from these three categories and see which one I feel most comfortable with. I’ll be back when I have an answer….

Citations:

“Main Film Genres.” An Award-Winning, Unique Resource of Film Reference Material for Film Buffs and Others, with Reviews of Classic American-Hollywood Films, Academy Awards History, Film Posters., www.filmsite.org/genres.html.