as media-
RECOVERY
Sub Genre
Many coming of age films have a sub genre of 'human interest' for example fitting in at school or characters overcoming issues. This is shown in '21 Jump Street' when Schmidt is bullied and has very low self esteem which he will later conquer. However, our opening does have a element of human interest but it is presented in a thriller and tense way unlike most coming of age films. We chose to did this to develop the narrative faster and show the disrupted equilibrium early on to show the extent of the issue. In our case it is the mental illness of our protagonist who has escaped his safe place. Other films which have abnormal sub genres are Spiderman and kickass which focus on school life as well as action.
Clothing
A standout way of presenting a certain social group in coming of age films were by using stereotypical clothing of the age group and class. For example different characters traits were shown by there clothing, if they were wearing a college jacket in the American films they were often the popular characters, in contrast the 'nerdy' characters wore unfashionable clothing. We did not use clothing in this way so little about our characters social group was revealed, engaging the audience to watch on and find out. The apron used did however show he is ill and maybe in danger which cannot be said in most coming of age films.
Sound
Coming of age films have a subtlety about how sound is used. Often just a low key sound track is used, with little non-diogetic or sound effects used alongside. This is to keep the film realistic. We have used a soundtrack throughout but have decided to slightly challenge the convention by adding some sound effects to add tempo to the narrative and to engage the young audience. At times, there are many layers of sounds to show the anxiety of the protagonist and help immerse the demographic. However, following Katz and Bulmers theory, the use of the film is for realism and not for escapism like thriller genres, so the sound used does not affect the genre of purpose.
The eary shot above implies that the film has a sub genre alongside the 'coming of age' element of the film. The rope suggests mental illness is a problem for our troubled protagonist. The image on the left shows our actor wearing the only piece of clothing in the opening.