Exploring Genre

I have decided on the final storyline I will pursue for my film opening.  My film will revolve around the life of a young Christian boy who was raised in an overwhelmingly religious community, and is of strong religious faith.  The film will explore the consequences of the boy's homosexuality, including his own afflictions as well as that of his family.

I have already began to plan some filming, editing, and sound techniques, but I want to focus on researching the film's genre before I get too involved in production.  Because the film follows this boy on his journey of self-discovery and acceptance, it will naturally be a coming-of-age movie.  However, because of the taboo nature of homosexuality in the church, it will ultimately be a drama as well.

As I've made very clear in my previous exploration of genre characteristics, I thoroughly enjoy slice-of-life productions.  If I were to make my intro into a longer film, I would definitely follow slice-of-life conventions.  However, because the into is only 2 minutes long and must accomplish the goal of creating intrigue, I want to make more action-packed and emotional series of scenes.  With all that being said, I begin my research.

Boy Erased (2018)

The first movie I began to research was Boy Erased (2018), dir. Joel Edgerton.  This film is branded as a teen biographical drama, and it follows the life of Jared Eamons after he was outed to his parents as gay and forced to attend conversion therapy.  Because both of our films follow the same overarching storyline, I thought that this would be a great film to base my research off of.

The film is an adaptation of Garrard Conley's memoir by the same name, yet the film is more dramatized to achieve lasting audience impact.  The film was marketed using dramatic posters that allude to religious motifs, trailers that focus on Jared's strained relationship with his parents and the conversion camp, and through social media and websites.  The film, although described as "admirable, but [missing] a sense of the texture and complication," and "a summary of it's noble intentions" by A.O. Scott's New York Times review, still grossed $11.4 million dollars and was nominated for 23 awards (winning 5).

Regardless, Joel Edgerton did a great job of branding Boy Erased as a queer coming-of-age drama.  Like most movies under this genre, Boy Erased deals with Jared's internal struggle and the hardships he had to overcome in order to grow and mature, and be comfortable in his own skin.

The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018)

Another coming-of-age movie about conversion therapy that I researched was The Miseducation of Cameron Post (2018), dir. Desiree Akhavan.  This movie, although described by Google as a "drama/romance," also fits the exact requirements of every good coming-of-age film.  The production focuses on developing characters, creating a "realistic depiction of [the teenage audience's] own lives," and fighting "against [the] zealous oppressors," according to A.O. Scott's review.  The film revolves around the protagonist Cameron Post, who is outed as gay by her boyfriend and subsequently sent to a religious conversion camp.

In the first 2 and a half minutes, The Miseducation of Cameron Post achieves all of its goals.  It begins with a scene of Cameron at worship with a group of young kids around her age.  They listen, although probably unattentively, at the middle-aged preacher.  While the man continues to preach, an L-cut allows us to move on to another scene of Cameron and her friend biking home, where it is then revealed that the two girls are in a relationship.  The juxtaposition of the man discussing sin ("And you think, 'Oh, just this once, just a little longer...' Click. It's gotcha") and the shot of the two girls kissing does the perfect job of setting up the rest of the movie.

Meanwhile, Boy Erased begins with home-movie recording of young Jared that is paired with a sweet, melodic song.  The reminiscence ends and instead we are confronted with a family eating breakfast in the darkness, with Jared stating that he wishes that none of this had ever happened.  Although I prefer the former intro, this one does accomplish a sense of intrigue.

When planning how I will execute my film intro, I hope to do something similar to Cameron Post.  I love the slow buildup that leads to a pin-drop moment, and I love how it is led by dialogue.  Additionally, I love the over-lapping speaking with other scenes.  I wish to do a similar thing by implementing a J-cut at the very beginning, and perhaps another J-cut a bit later into the production.