I have recently been having some trouble defining exactly what genre of film my story idea would fit into. Originally I thought it would be defined as a Drama, but after explaining my idea to several of my friends and others working with me at Maidstone Television Studios, I have decided to define my film as a "Sci-fi/ Drama".
Science Fiction or "Sci-fi" is generally accepted as a genre of film, television program or book that explores the usage of technology, gadgets, aliens, the future and all things to do with science. (Think Doctor Who, Alien, Terminator, Star Trek etc.) However, my story doesn't exactly contain too much technology and most certainly has nothing to do with aliens or time-travel or anything that your typical science fiction flick would deal with.
So how did I come to the conclusion that my film would fit into the sci-fi genre?
The Two Types of Sci-fi
After doing some investigation into the sci-fi genre online, I discovered that there are actually two different sub-genres of sci-fi stories.
Hard Sci-Fi- A genre of sci-fi that is very heavy on the accurate use of technology and scientific theories.
Soft Sci-Fi- A genre of sci-fi that isn't so heavy on the accuracy of the technology within the story, and is mainly focussed on social science and the interaction and relationships between humans.
With this in mind, I believe that my film could be defined as a soft Sci-fi film, as although it will contain some fantastical qualities, such as the fictional disease and vaccination that causes the families child to "steal" cells from other living beings, the interaction between the family and society, and the moral choices the family have to make between saving the world, or saving their child will play a key part in the telling of the story.
The Drama Side
I also defined my film as a "Drama", and more specifically, I believe it to be a "melodrama." Melodrama is a sub-genre of drama that is designed in such a way that it will cause heightened emotions in the audience (Eg. Titanic, Sophie's Choice, Marley and Me.) This genre also focuses on a more serious tone of story-telling, as opposed to a humorous one. I cannot think of any moments in my film which would be considered intentionally humorous, and as such, I feel that defining it as a Drama (or Melodrama) is the perfect way to do so.
No comments:
Post a Comment