Beginning a Long Journey

As of now, I am very excited for this project; yet, I am also completely terrified. I seem to have fragments of ideas running through my head, and I am not quite sure which I want to choose and elaborate on. I am hoping that further research will assist my decisions for where I want this project to go. I think the best way to begin is to research genre. I am interested in the action and crime genres, as well as utilizing artistic storytelling.

Action films do very well in the box office profiting $2,296,781,414 in total as of 2016, and target audiences from all ages. Depending upon the extra elements and content of story I use in my opening, I can choose my own age demographic. In action films, there are prominent conventions that are almost always present, such as “tremendous impact, continuous high energy, lots of physical stunts and activity...and adventurous heroes,” (“Action Films” from filmsite). I will have to come up with a story that would involve major conflict, and allude to that in the opening, because I cannot necessarily stage massive stunts. The article also mentions that most protagonists in action films are male, and I would like to break that convention.

I am also entertaining the idea of allowing crime influence to seep into my film opening. Crime films often include conventions such as working against the law and highly suspenseful sequences. I would have to carefully plan out every element in my story to make each event entertaining, and include scenarios that could be filmed from interesting angles to hold the audience’s attention and use stings to build tension.

Finally, I am deeply interested in breaking the mold in the sense of actually filming my opening. I would love for it to include interesting angles, and maybe even different elements of mise-en-scene than a typical, realistic piece would include. I want to stylize. I believe that Wes Anderson and Quentin Tarantino are two directors who do just that, and I want to emulate their visions a bit.

I have picked two films to study such elements. I plan to view Kill Bill Vol.1 (Quentin Tarantino, 2003) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (Wes Anderson, 2014).

I hope that watching these movies will assist me in coming up with a story idea, as well as exemplifying techniques I may be able to utilize in my own production.

“Action Films.” 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/actionfilms.html. Accessed 10 Mar. 2017.

“Crime and Gangster Films.” 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/crimefilms.html. Accessed 10 Mar. 2017.

“Box Office Performance for Action Movies in 2016.” The Numbers - Where Data and Movies Meet, www.the-numbers.com/market/2016/genre/Action. Accessed 10 Mar. 2017.

“Wes Anderson.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/name/nm0027572/. Accessed 10 Mar. 2017.

“Quentin Tarantino.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/name/nm0000233/?ref_=nv_sr_1. Accessed 10 Mar. 2017.

“Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003).” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt0266697/. Accessed 12 Mar. 2017.

“The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014).” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt2278388/. Accessed 12 Mar. 2017.