Stereotypes of the social realist genre

I have to decided to investigate some of the stereotypes of the social realist and drama genres. Doing this, I will be able to see how to make my film relate to audiences and be as realistic as possible, and also how to break the established stereotypes and make my film be unique.

Some of the key stereotypes of the social realist genre are:

• To have high tension sequences, where the protagonist's life is in danger.
• To feature many dark and dingy locations.
• Low lighting.
• To be located in an urban area.
• To focus on real issues within today's society.
• To feature graphic scenes of death or violence.
• To feature modern music.

'Flight' will conform to some of the expected stereotypes outlined above. It will be located in an urban area for most of the film, although the middle sequence is to be full of beautiful nature shots. There will be binary opposites between an urban setting and a nature setting, meaning that the film will break the stereotype some-what, and is more likely to be remembered by audiences. The short film will conform to the stereotype by featuring many dark locations. As cinematographer, I have decided to have a lot of dark settings to portray the tone of the film more clearly to audiences. Doing this will also comply with what is expected from a short drama film, and will make the overall genre stand out. 'Flight' will also focus on real issues within today's society - drug use in youth. It is a key factor which, I feel, isn't being focused on enough within the media, so it is important to portray this through the genre of the production. However, the film will not have any scene of death, violence, or high tension, due to the fact that we want youths and teenagers to see the film, as the narrative focuses around them. This will mean the film having a '15' certificate, so we have to comply with the guidelines these age groupings hold. 'Flight' will also not feature modern music, as we hope to either create our own sound using the facilities available to us on our editing software, or use classical music for the dance sequence.

Overall, I want 'Flight' to both break the stereotype - mainly through use of location and sound - and conform to it - by having a dark tone which resides with the audience. Blending the stereotypes will make the film unique and appealing, and will also make it seem socially realistic.