Film
studies for new media. – Musicals
The musical genre is a particular genre of film that sets itself apart
from most others. Most other film genres do not require sound, however this is
a prerequisite to the musical genre. Musicals first appeared around the 1930’s,
(often considered the golden age of musicals) after the advent of synced up
sound to motion pictures. A musical film
in itself could fall into a number of categories based on musical style for
example; rock and roll, or dancing films)
In the world of animation, one of the first musical animated movie that
was became widely regarded is the 1937 Disney movie, Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs.
The animated musical became suddenly popular and continued to be up
until recent years, especially from the Disney Company. They created animated
movies that endured for decades, such as, Pinocchio, Dumbo and more recently
Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King.
There doesn't seem to be as much call for musicals as there was in the
past, certainly not as much in the more adult demographic sector, though there
are still many children’s animated movies still being produced today.
Film
Studies for new media – Westerns
The Western is one of the oldest genres of film; dating back to when
motion pictures were called silent pictures (absence of sound and voices).
The Western Genre generally takes place in western America and parts of
Mexico, usually in the mid 1800’s to the early twentieth century. The action
takes place back in a time when western America was largely unpopulated and on
the edge of ‘civilization’. The environment in a Western film is predominately
hot arid deserts, small towns with saloons and bars, ranches and sometimes jailhouses.
Typically, Western storylines involve cowboys, gunslingers, sheriffs
and their deputies and even Native Americans and soldiers at arms against each
other. They fight over territory, money, revenge, to preserve the law and
sometimes just to prove who the best with a six shooter is.
Within a Western film, you can expect to see things such as guns and
horses, shootouts, bank or stagecoach robberies, and bandits and outlaws
fighting to kill or escape the local authority.
An example of a typical western is the Sergio Leone Trilogy of movies
starring Clint Eastwood.
Within an animation focused western genre, we can look at the Universal
Pictures, Steven Spielberg film, An American Tale: Fievel Goes West (1991).
Although the animation revolves around a young mouse’s adventures in
the Wild West, it still hold on to the overall stereotypical western genre with
shootouts, saloons etc.
The examples so far have been for the typical Western film genre but a
film does not have to be confined to just one genre. Sometimes, mixing too
genres together can give a film a fantastic contrasting quality that can be
very enticing to a viewer. For example, in the Pixar movie Toy Story there is
an example of cross genre.
One of the lead characters is a
cowboy toy called woody. His adventures with contrasting opposite, space ranger
toy, Buzz Lightyear highlight how two opposites can overcome their differences
and solve their problems together.
Film
Studies for new media – Horror
A horror film is designed to unsettle and/or frighten the audience by
playing on their hidden fears. The
Horror genre is one of the oldest genres in film. For over a hundred years,
Horror as a genre has been in cinemas but it wasn’t until the 1950’s that the
genre took a more mainstream place in our society. Films such as War of the
Worlds, Dracula, Frankenstein and Psycho helped bring the genre out of the
B-movie era and into the public eye.
Typically, horror movies are aimed at an older target audience as
generally horror movies are not suitable for children, but this is not always
the case. There are some contemporary children’s films and animations which
deal with horror stories in a more child friendly fashion. In the 1990’s this
was especially prevalent with children’s television shows such as Goosebumps
and The Demon Headmaster. The filmmaker Tim Burton has produced many animated
films that fit the Horror conventions but are somewhat child friendly, such as
The Nightmare Before Christmas, Victor and The Corpse Bride.
There has always been an attraction in telling stories about the fears
and weaknesses of mankind, the horror genre simply takes those fears and makes
them a reality within the picture.
There can be a variety of types of horror movies too, there are the
gruesome bloody slasher movies which focus on showing all the gory details and
there are also movies that imply that the terrifying entity is coming for them
through use of shadows and tricks of the mind.
Film Studies for new Media – Sci-Fi
The Science Fiction genre of film usually adheres to certain narrative
structures. In some cases, they can be set at some point in the future, or in a
time different to our own. Sci-Fi’s can be set on Earth, on other worlds,
space, and even other within alternate dimensions. The basic principle behind a
science fiction film is that the setting/characters/events of the story are not
what we could normally see in modern day Earth, but is scientifically plausible
to happen at some point in the future or in extra-terrestrial environments.
There really is no limit to what can be portrayed in a science fiction
environment. You may see massive monsters destroying cities, inter-galactic
space battles, time-travel, even microbes infecting people in various harmful
ways. An iconic example of Sci-Fi is George Lucas’ ‘Star Wars’ saga.
Quite often in Science fiction, the story involves an imminent
catastrophe or large obstacle that must be overcome, either by characters or
the human race in general. Sometimes these doomsday type films can promote a
warning to people in general about the dangers that we could face as a
civilisation, e.g. Can we stop that space rock from blowing us up?, Is there a
cure for the recent pandemic?, Can we come together as a culture to overcome
our evil overlords?
A science fiction film does not have to be over the top doomsday films
we often see though. There are a range of Sci-Fi’s that are more subtle for
example M. Night Shyamalan’s ‘Unbreakable’ is set in modern day America but
focus’ on one man’s struggle to understand himself and discovering his inner
power.
Film
Studies for new Media – Comedy
A film or animation within the comedy genre sets out to promote
happiness and laughter in the audience. Comedy is the light-hearted, fun and
laughter inducing genre of film that has been renowned almost as long as film itself.
People can watch a comedy for the purposes of having a good laugh or even
simply to cheer themselves up.
A comedy has a wide variety of subgenres that span out from it such as
slapstick (characters performing sometimes violent acts that come off in a
humorous way), verbal humour (funny dialogue and jokes), and even satirical
comedy (Parodies of other works that pick on the humour aspects of sometimes
quite serious works). Comedy has rocketed off in many directions and is not
limited to film and television. Comedy is prevalent in theatres, circuses and
even stand-up comedy routines by a single performer.
Comedy has been around as long as can be expected. Many of the old
silent films incorporated slapstick humour and as there was no sound present, a
slapstick gag was ideal as it could be conveyed purely visually alone.
More recently in the animation world, many children’s animations thrive
on the comedy genre as it can be very child friendly. Contemporary comedy feature
film 3D animations could include Dreamworks Studios’ Shrek (2001), Blue Sky’s
Ice Age (2002), Pixar’s Toy Story (1995), and many others.
Film
Studies for new media – Abstract Cinema
The experimental and abstract film genres are much different to the
other more well-known film genres that we may be used to. In most other genres
of film there is typically a central character in which the movie revolves,
expanding on the characters story and pushing them through various fictional
scenarios. In abstract film however, there does not have to be a central
character in the film.
In an abstract film, the lead role goes to the film itself. Experimental
films show can show a range of emotions and ideas through use of colours, form,
shapes and sound. Abstract film can be compared to abstract art in moving form.
It’s much like expressive pieces of art that we see in some art galleries.
In other genres of film, there are generally plot points that the
audience is made to follow, so sometimes they can miss the basic elements
within the scene they are watching.
Because
abstract films and experimental media do not always have plot points they do
not always follow the same narrative structure as other genres of film. There
does not have to be an opening, rising action, and conclusion. There are no
typical narrative principles that characters tend to follow.
The Ramp – Synopsis
The Ramp is a family friendly story of Tractor, an old farm
vehicle who aspires to soar into the sky by driving over the Ramp at speed.
Tractor is a large, rusty-green and timid agricultural machine, not built for
stunt jumps, but this will not diminish his will to succeed.
Tractor is simply driving along his usual country road,
avoiding obstacles in an exaggerated fashion by driving round them very widely,
which strengthens his timid nature. Suddenly he spots a road sign, describing the
new stunt ramp opening up ahead. This inspired Tractor to be more than he is.
On Tractors arrival, he watches in awe as other vehicles, stunt cars and even a truck soar across the ramp in ease and make a perfect landing further down the road. If a massive truck can hit the Ramp and land successfully, surely a tractor could make it.
On Tractors arrival, he watches in awe as other vehicles, stunt cars and even a truck soar across the ramp in ease and make a perfect landing further down the road. If a massive truck can hit the Ramp and land successfully, surely a tractor could make it.
Tractor decides to give it a go. He speeds up as fast (slow)
as a tractor can go and launches himself into the air. For a few moments he
hangs in the sky blissfully. Reality kicks back in however and he meets the
road at force by slamming into the tarmac upside-down. Tractor tumbles along
the road, pieces of metal and debris disintegrating as he bumps along.
Tractor sadly sighs and puffs smoke out of his broken engine
after he rolls to a stop as the other cars gently fly overhead and land
perfectly. It wasn’t meant to be.
Treatment Draft
‘The Ramp’ is a 45
second 3D animated short, in which we suspend reality a little as our main
protagonist ‘Tractor’ a living agricultural vehicle.
‘The Ramp’ will be
a light hearted comedy set in a fictional universe in which cars are alive. I
take inspiration for this animation from other animated films such as ‘Cars’
and ‘The Brave Little Toaster’. The animation is aimed at a young family
friendly audience as there will be an emphasis on slapstick humour and also
because the short will have quite a Wiley Coyote-esque feel to it.
I chose to use a vehicle in my animation as it is something
I have never tried before in 3D animation and as animation is all about the art
of movement, what better way expand my knowledge further than have a character
who is essentially an inanimate object.
The short begins with a simple shot of our agricultural
hero, driving along an open country road, whistling to himself cheerfully. Tractor
is a very timid, shy character who doesn’t think too highly of himself. Tractor
is as you would expect a green, rusty old farm vehicle and is very slow in
comparison to his automobile counterparts. He has a larger set of back wheels
in comparison to the front. A lot of the characters personality is shown in the
way he moves in a comical way (shaking, struggling to accelerate etc.) and will
really benefit from animation techniques such as anticipation, and squash and
stretch.
He comes across a sign/billboard that advertises the new
stunt ramp that has recently opened further up the country road and is
instantly inspired to try it out. As he moves along he drives slowly up to a
large rock that is in the middle of the road. Tractor timidly swings widely
around it in an exaggerated fashion.
As he arrives at our antagonist, The Ramp there are other
cars performing fantastic jumps over the wedge shaped monstrosity. Tractor now
has one dream in life, to jump over the ramp like all the other vehicles. The Ramp
itself is not self-aware or can move in any way, yet it represents a huge
obstacle to our main character. As Tractor watches on in awe, he becomes very
jealous in the other cars and wishes he could fly through the air from the top
of the Ramp too. He is startled as the horn of a massive truck sounds as the
large vehicle soars through the air to a perfect landing. This is the last
straw for Tractor.
Tractor lines up his jump, rears forward slowly in a puff of
black smoke and careers towards his advisory. He hits the Ramp at full speed
and for a moment, blissfully soars through the air. There is slow angelic music
at this point as Tractor roars through the air in slow motion. We see Tractor
floating along with only the sky as his backdrop as he has long left the ground
behind.
Suddenly though, it all comes to an end as Tractor crashes
hard onto the road, upside down at the other side. Tractor cartwheels along the
tarmac as pieces of shrapnel and tyre burst out from him.
Tractor skids to a stop and comedically emits a puff of
smoke from his battered engine and a sigh as the other cars effortlessly float
over him and safely to the road.
There
will be many Foley sound effects in this short because I don’t have a tractor
to hand so I will need to come up with a way of generating the various engine
sounds and crashing noises myself.Thumbnails/Storyboards
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