Exploring the generic conventions of the genres my group are choosing to aim towards will be useful as it would stop us trying to "reinvent the wheel" with a lot of independent ideas that may not work, instead the best way to go around it would be to form our film opening around these generic conventions.
Crime Drama in TV and Film
Setting - Usually a well known city, represented in a negative light, more as a dangerous place than a place for comfort. The reason they do this is because it is a well known place, and this may help their audience relate to the situations that go on within the film / TV show. That, or because the place actually has a high crime rate, so they use this place to add a sense of realism to the film / show
Examples:
Sherlock - uses London for their setting, makes it look frantic and dangerous(Uses a popular place, but also a dangerous place too.)
CSI Miami - Uses Miami as their setting, mainly because Miami is a place that nearly everybody knows about (uses a popular place)
On the other hand, some films / shows use a place where crime doesn't happen at all, such as the countryside or a small village, to highlight the importance of the situation taking place
Example
Broadchurch Season 1 (uses a village on the coast and contrasts it peacefulness with a serious crime, to highlight just how serious it is).
Titles - The name of the film may give the audience insight as to the position of work the show revolves around.
Examples:
The Bill - Slang term for the police, gives the audience insight as to the line of work this show will revolve around.
CSI - Stands for Crime scene investigation. Hints at the line of work that the show revolves around. some strands of the show also hint to where the show will be set, for example, CSI: Miami
The title used in the film may also hint towards where the show is set, just like my last example of CSI Miami, but this is a generic convention because the technique is also popular within Crime Drama films / TV.
Characters - The generic characters that appear in Crime Dramas are split in to 4 categories, and usually involve
1) Crime Solvers
2) Criminals
3) Victim (usually not in the actual scenes for long, but is referenced to throughout the show, or within flashbacks)
4) Family / Friends of victims
*Propps theory of characters can also be applied here, expanding the regions to explore within character development.
Story-line / narrative - The generic storyline to each episode / movie usually revolves around a crime that needs to be solved within a certain amount of time before the offender commits the same crime again. towards the end, the audience will usually see the perpetrator punished, or left on a cliffhanger, where the investigator of the case ends up in a more serious predicament, such as framing, or danger, where the characters life is in the balance, the wrong person has been caught, another person dies, or the offender manages to escape, leaving the show on a cliffhanger, and setting it up for another episode / movie.
Examples:
Sherlock Season 1 episode 3. the protagonist is put in a dire situation where if he doesn't abide by the offenders rules, his assistant will die.
Broadchurch, Last episode - the perpetrator is caught after a lot of twists and turns, and leaves the audience shocked.
Opposites that appear in crime dramas:
Crime solvers vs. Criminals
Innocent vs. Guilty
Police vs. Criminals
Truth / Justice vs. Lies / Injustice
This is generally used to keep the audience interested and intrigued as to how these binary opposite characters will end up reacting to each others actions.
Camera:
Angles - The camera will generally follow that of the detective and the group he/she is working with to solve the case at hand. in a title sequence of a film / TV crime drama, a lot of close ups of the detectives will be shown, or if the crime is about to be solved and a tense moment occurs, the camera may begin to become unstable, or will remain stable to show that everything is falling in to the detectives plan.
Lighting and colour:
Low key lighting - Used when the criminal is shown. Uses dark colour to hint at the offenders nature, or intention. Opposing this, a criminal may look like even more of a threat if they to, wear business clothes (shows that they know what they're doing), and also has a colour palette of white (white = peace, purity, health, opposes the general connotations of the criminal). The colour palette of the show may vary, but may also keep dull colours to show a business like nature in their work, like the colours apparent in suits, e.g. Greys, blacks, browns, whites, beige.
Dark clothes are used to co-ordinate with the dark lighting, creating a very low-key dark colour palette.
Props:
Usual props in crime drama include
- Guns, weapons
- Laboratory equipment, or if the film is set in the older times, more clues on the crime scene, very basic forensic science emerges.
- Police banner tape
- Police cars, or if set in older times, more cars that suit the time, maybe some police lights, but not many at all.
- Magnifying glass, especially if a film is set in older times.
- Newspaper stories
- Case files
- Black gloves / jacket (also links to costume stereotype and connotations for the criminal)
Storyline - Todorov's theory
1) The story begins in equilibrium.
2) Something or someone disrupts this equilibrium
3) This disruption gains recognition
4) Because the disruptions has gained a lot of recognition, attempts to repair the disruption take place
5) Equilibrium is restored
or
Equilibrium is nearly restored with attempts, but then becomes worse because of attempt, and then becomes more complex.
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Film Noir
Setting: The location of the set is really key when it comes to defining the looks of a film Noir film. stereotypical locations of where you would see these films being shot would be in:
- Docks, seaside, anywhere near the coast
- Alleyways and empty streets. (IMPORTANT)
- Abandoned buildings, factories, industrial areas, etc.
- Diners and gambling dens
- Police station (IMPORTANT)
Setting in this genre can also be linked to the iconography within it as well. typical definable icons would be
- Fog: I have noticed whilst also creating the mood board that a lot of fog is present within all of the pictures i gathered, but it is also a generic convention and can really define this genre of film when combining it with multiple other elements. The fog has a mysterious feeling to it, that, or it wont be foggy, but maybe extremely gloomy and/or dark. Fog can also link to the days that we end up filming, as well as the time (night), or we made need to sort out a machine which makes this smoky effect
- Camera and lighting: Reoccurring uses of canted angles and low-key-lighting will be used to add more mystery to the scenes within the film. because of this, we may need to think and plan out our camerawork in detail before we instantly start filming, especially with lighting, as we will need to start experimenting with how different levels of light, as well as different levels of effects, will change the overall quality of our final opening scene.
- Non-diegetic (background) sound: Jazz music is the first thing which popped in to my head with sounds associated with this particular genre. the music in the background, or just any background sound can really help defining the mood of the particular scene, it also gives the film a certain level of sophistication, but can also add mystery. make sure any background noise we get actually fits with the scene being played on screen, otherwise it's going to be hard to get this effect which is seen in good films within this genre.- Costume Design: Smart suits, coats, Trillby hats, polished shoes, cigarettes, nearly everything I've picked up on before when talking about Mise in character costume is now beginning to be really helpful. the costume design is really key when trying to make your character stand out, define the role in society, and defining the character archetype.
Characters: As stated just then, costume design will need to be considered when trying to define the typical character archetypes within a film Noir setting. There can be many sorts of characters within these films, but the most common ones are:
- Detective (Flawed hero)
- Corrupt police
- Gangsters
- Femme Fatal
- Criminal (petty and extreme)
- Down and out writer
There are obviously going to be many movies with such characters in as they are generic conventions, so it will be good to look at images or clips, to see what helps define these roles of key character archetypes in the film, and how we could present them.
Visuals: Film Noir has a specific look to it, and this is done by using key visual styles and combining them to make a particular scene. it also uses elements of film which wouldnt normally be seen in film. Different visual effects lead to different feelings about the scene, but usually wanders on the mysterious side, these are:
- Blocking shots (normally through blinds)
- Low key lighting (IMPORTANT)
- Canted angles, low angles, high angles. variation between these extreme angles that aren't commonly seen in many films
- Shadows, and a lot of them, to help portray a mysterious feeling to the scene, also links to a silhouette effect that is used commonly throughout this sort of film.
- Ominous facial expressions
Themes: multiple themes within our film will help us what we want to define within our final opening, as the story will need to revolve around some, or most common themes of Film Noir, which are:
- Greed
- Love
- Betrayal
- Lust
- Justice
- Murder
- Corruption (IMPORTANT)
- Revenge
The themes may also directly link to the narrative of the film, which generic conventions include:
- Voice-over narration
- Fast forward and flashback
- First person narrative (IMPORTANT)
- Good cop, bad cop
- Convoluted ending
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Conclusion
Looking at these Generic conventions within these genres will really help the creation of our film opening sequence / scene as it will help us prioritise what we definitely need within our film opening to make it look like a legitimate Noir film, and what we wouldn't need, so it doesn't drift off of our main chosen genre. Analysing the Crime Drama aspects within TV and film, we will also be able to implement some elements of the generic conventions shown in this genre.
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