World-Ending Genres

Hi guys it's me Santi,

Me and my team have decided to go for a disaster movie vibe but more grounded than the usual vibe of disaster movies, so our two genres that we'll analyze are Drama and Sci-Fi.

Drama films typically focus on realistic characters dealing with emotional themes and conflicts, something that will definitely be hard to pull off when trying to build our character for the opening (though we won't have to show much of the story since it's just an opening). Drama movies often explore complex relationships, personal struggles, and social issues, but what makes drama films special is their ability to make audiences connect deeply with the characters through raw, authentic performances and relatable situations. Examples like "Aftersun" or "The Whale" come to mind when I think of "grounded," the twist in our opening is that I want to go for this "grounded" vibe in a plot that's more fictional, which will require a lot of thinking.

Still from "Aftersun," I like the use of color here to "ground" the scene more.

On the other hand, Sci-Fi films allow for more creative freedom with the nature of their environment and vibe. While they often deal with advanced technology or futuristic concepts, I think that the best sci-fi movies use these elements to explore very human themes. Movies like "Arrival" show how sci-fi can also be used serious topics while keeping elements of fiction, and it also gives filmmakers the ability to create unique visual worlds and use special effects to enhance the storytelling rather than just for show. I think a great example of this are the visuals in "The Creator" which has one of the best environments in my opinion. 

Still from "The Creator"

Still from "The Creator"

The reason why I love "The Creator" so much is because they have a lot of sci-fi elements, like the floating ships or the giant structures, and yet it all feels so real, it feels as though this was something they actually built and not made with computer graphics (even though it was). It's a vibe that I haven't seen recreated in many other films (Side note watch "The Creator" it's a really good movie.)

Combining these genres could work really well for our film opening. The drama elements would help keep the story grounded near the beginning of the opening, while the sci-fi aspects could provide an interesting backdrop or cause for the disaster itself. Films like "Interstellar" have successfully balanced both genres, using sci-fi concepts to drive the plot while keeping the emotional drama at its core. Using these two genres would also help to hide the twist we're trying to go for (but more on that for a later post!)

Until next time, Santi :)