Inspiration, Research, and Thoughts

My ideal plot would consist of six main characters, all young men who are in the order, so I wanted to find other films that have of a group relationships. I looked into the British film, The Riot Club (Lone Scherfig, 2014). In the film, there are ten college students in an elite society though it focuses on one character and his role in the group dynamic. I want to take on a similar technique, choosing one of the six boys to be the main character and explore his development more than the others.

After watching The Riot Club trailer, I was especially interested in the audio techniques. The trailer begins by establishing context and characters, which is aided by textual graphics. Synchronous background music is used to establish tone, shifting from lighthearted to intense. I want to use a similar method to convey my intended purpose and allows grab potential consumers. The synchronous music is purely instrumental, so it doesn't take away from the action of the trailer. I have tried to look for some musical inspiration like I did last year, though I haven't heard anything special yet. Though, I met with my teacher, Mrs. Stoklosa, who recommended I look into Gregorian chants, and I intend to do so.

With the main character, I plan to take inspiration from Dr. Lyons; I want the main character's struggle to be with his sexuality and how that effects his relationship with religion. I also recently decided that I want the main character's self-discovery to be main the focus; I believe it can be more powerful if it is character-driven, coming of age film. Catholicism will play a role in the film but the religion itself won't be the main focus. I want to stay true to my original intention of choosing this idea: to simply tell the story of these people because it is not a story that is usually explored. For this reason, I want to try and convey the most genuine dialogue and relationships.

In terms of marketing, I'm not sure if I want to make the main character's sexuality the key point. If I did, I could target the LGBT community and Generation Z, which will clearly define my target audience and I am already familiar with conventions of these groups. Though, I could go a route similar to Barry Jenkins' Moonlight (2016) and be more subtle about the main storyline in the trailers. The Moonlight trailer hints at the main character, Chiron's, relationship with his friend Kevin. The extent of that relationship isn't clear in the trailer, it is just a facet of Chiron's life. I also liked how all of the audio was dialogue from the film, there was no non-diegetic voice-overs. I think it would be interesting to take a similar route for one of my trailers: allowing the visuals and audio to speak louder than any voice-over could. This will also leave some aspects up in the air, leaving consumers intrigued and thus creating a stronger marketing campaign.