Genre Research

     Genre Conventions

Hello everyone! I am currently on my journey of my Cambridge Portfolio Project and I have narrowed down a few ideas out all the different kind of research I made. I will be composing my film opening based on bad luck and superstition. 

    Superstition is a belief based on fear or ignorance and not specifically based on no rational substance . An example of this is thinking it is bad luck to walk under a ladder. A belief, not based on human reasoning, that future events may be influenced by one's behaviour in some “magical” way. Superstition and bad luck combined are what create a film that comedic but also traumatizing.

    After doing my research, superstition is mostly categorized as horror and the majority of films are scary, since it is an example of belief in ghosts. However I decided to take a turn of events and make my film translate more to real life situations.

Horror

    I researched horror as my first genre idea which contains different aspects of superstition. Overall what caught my eye from these three things is they all have one thing in common, belief of the supernatural world, although my film opening is going to strive form more of a realistic comedic outcome, the base of believing something that is not rational is a main factor for my film. These three films also contain young characters as the victims of the whole film. Taking this into consideration my subject will be categorized as a male teenager.

Supersstition(1982)
Its plot deals with a house haunted by a spirit of a dead witch, who has killed many in a span of 300 years.

Babadook (2014) - an Australian film about a woman reading a disturbing children's book to her violent son, who believes he sees the monster from the story. 

Insidious (2011)- Is a film about parents who suspect there are bad spirits in their new home, where their son falls into a coma.

 
    

Fantasy Comedy

Bad luck happens to all of us even when we least expect it. Watching an overriding cycle of bad things that happen to us can be stressful but after researching, film makers take that stress and that anger of not knowing why those things happen to them and simply turn those emotions into comedy. Jinxed for example is a teen who embarks on an adventure with her brother to break her family's curse of never-ending bad luck. Thunderstruck is composed differently elaborating the same message, "A teenage klutz (Taylor Gray) becomes the star of his high-school basketball team when he magically acquires the abilities of his hero, NBA star Kevin Durant -- but the switch leaves Durant unable to score." My film opening will acquire most of these comedic fantasy characteristics by making my character believe that he is reigned with bad luck and cannot find a solution to strain form it. 
 

    Usually when theres a course of bad things that happen to us we let it overtake us and out mental health will begin to get consumed with untrue scenarios. This could stand out as being a delusional disorder or overall feeling paranoid. My goal for my film opening is for my male teenage character to overcome this "delusional/paranoia" feeling and conquer his own mentality. 

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/superstition

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unlucky

https://www.imdb.com/search/keyword/?keywords=superstition

https://bestsimilar.com/tag/4711-superstition