A lot of my favorite films have very minimal openings. When I think about what my main influences are for this project, my mind seems to keep circling back on the examples that take an approach that shows the character in relation to their environment. One of my favorite openings ever is the one to Donnie Darko (2001), where Richard Kelly immediately introduces us to Donnie as an isolated, dreamy character who fares better with the natural world than the people in it. The opening to Brown Bunny (2003) does the same, with framing and shot lengths focusing on the isolation of Bud Clay from his surroundings. The Swedish film Something Must Break (2014) opens with shots of nature, before the main character remarks that “I’m not from here” with a switch to a club scene over narration. This establishes the character, Lily, as being removed from her natural surroundings - reflecting her removal from her biological identity - and feeling more accepted in social scenes where she can blend in.
All these examples place characters in natural settings with some form of commentary on their relationship to their environment and other people. I’ve chosen to adapt this type of opening to the coming-of-age genre. Like I said in my previous post, I think my film opening is going to center around a moving-houses situation. I’ve moved houses many, many times in my life and it still doesn’t get easier. Something I’d like to capture in my film is how the different places people live in contribute to who they are as a whole, and that kind of attachment and bond people form to where they live. I feel like those themes would work very well in the coming-of-age genre, and that if I were to adapt it to a feature-length film it would bode well with audiences.
Now that I have a solid idea of the genre I wish to work in and a concept to apply to it within my opening, I'll continue to research coming-of-age conventions so I can plan accordingly. I'm looking forward to delving into another genre, since I really enjoyed the case studies I did on the crime genre earlier this year. I also looked a little bit into coming-of-age during my midterm case studies on A24, and I think it's an interesting and malleable genre from what I've seen.
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