Hello I figured I'd drop by to bring some updates to the table on my film opening research process! I have recently sat with some of my classmates in order to draw feedback for my current status during this planning period. I introduced my idea of a dystopian society coated with elements of horror surrounding current social issues. My peers pitched their opinions and suggestions after introducing my concept and how I would go about executing this "vision" of which I have conjured up in my head. They appreciated the breaking of conventions by including a variety of people of color as well as breaking a common stereotype in the genre of horror which is, people of color always dying first.  They appreciated the controversy of the film and how it can be representative of real social issues affecting many in the United States as political tensions grow tense. The reality of the situation being dramatized, but also holding truth was one of the major parts of the proposed plot that was commented on. My classmates appreciated this different take on what the horror genre could have the potential to be. The ability to create social commentary and enact change can in fact be portrayed through the medium of film and the manipulation of audience emotion can allow for a better representation of empathy as a glimpse of what it feels like to be a persecuted minority is created on screen. 

     One of my peers suggested viewing the T.V show, 'The Man In the High Castle" she believed that both my idea and that of the T.V show had similar qualities. Both my idea of a dystopian society with a legal race war, this T.V show is also of a dystopian society and centers in on the possibilities of what society would have looked like had Germany won World War II. Both concepts deal with persecution of mass groups of people and her introduced idea of watching the first episode of the season allowed for me to pinpoint shots and concepts from the television show and incorporate them into my own film opening. I am excited to further analyze the first episode of this series and pull inspiration from the variety of camera shots and angles used to convey the overall message of dystopia and fear of being persecuted. Another one of my peers suggested creating more depth to my opening by beginning the scene with a man watching a television news cast of the group of 4 girls on the run from the two white men and using an extreme zoom to bring the events occurring on the man's television screens to "life". This would be done by switching point of view and focusing on the perspective of the 4 girls and depicting their stories from a variety of lenses, ultimately adding to the understanding that this is in fact a dystopian society. I think this addition to my film opening will prove to be very beneficial in establishing context rather than simply having a voice over. I am still trying to implement just how and what role the man watching the news cast will play, but I will definitely keep updating here with new ideas and progress during this process!

The Man in the High Castle. (2015, January 15). Retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1740299/