What does this project really mean?

Challenging Conventions

As I near the end of this project I have to start realizing how it would fit into the real scheme of the world. If this were a real film opening what would make my film different from others? How would it make a difference, and what would be its purpose? How am I challenging conventions? Well for starters, no creator of any media wishes for their end product to be mainstream. To make a production and be someone who is creative is to come up with ideas that are new and provide a different perspective and impact others in ways that haven't before. 

However, there is a caveat in this aspiration. That caveat is that my group and I are students and considering this would be our first film opening challenging conventions in an extreme fashion would not be wise due to the fact that we are not an established production company and we do not have a reputation. In order to build that reputation, we must first put out content that generally follows conventions. 

However, this does not mean that our film has to be bland or boring, there are small ways in which we are provided creative freedom to step outside of boundaries without scaring away audiences. In the Genre of Psychological Films, the opening scenes usually consist of setting up the beginning of the film, a story which proceeds in chronological order. This can be seen in Gone Girl where there is a voice over of  Nick describing his wife, in the shining where there is a series of establishing shots, and in Split where the plot just starts right away. My team and I wished to do something to challenge these general conventions.

Therefore we decided to start our film opening with a fast forward, bringing the audience to the climax of the story and then sending them back to the beginning. In this way, we wish to capture audiences attention by providing them with a film that is not sequenced in a conventional manner and that keeps them wondering how the character reached that point. 

Representing people with OCD

My group nor I can say that our film is attempting to make a societal statement by releasing this movie. It is most uncommon to say that about any film within the Thriller genre since incidents which occur within these films are often exaggerated for dramatic effect. For example in Split, various articles were written on News outlets such as CNN and The Guardian criticizing the film for portraying Dissociative Identity Disorder in the wrong way by making it seem dangerous and violent. 

In our film, we have carried out research concerning the disorder to make sure we had a strong understanding of what OCD is and how people with the disorder actually carry on with their lives. Although the film will exaggerate various aspects of the disorder since it is a Thriller, we want to make sure it is rooted in factual information of how people with this disorder act. 

By Challenging conventions and waiting to make a film after being well informed of the facts, we wish to make a film that truly is enjoyed by the audience.     

References

https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/23/health/shyamalan-split-movie-dissociative-identity-disorder/index.html

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/jan/12/cinema-dissociative-personality-disorder-split-james-mcavoy