Film Genre Comparisons

We were shown a couple of different film openings each of which were a different genre to the five options we were given. We were shown these because they showed very different opening sequences that are unique to their genre. The films were 'Ratcatcher' and 'Killer of Sheep'.

Ratcatcher:- Lynne Ramsay (1999)
-Genre: Social Realism combined with Surrealism (Poetic Realism)
-Typical Conventions involve:-There's no music, just a sound effect (drone) to emphasis the idea of surrealism in the sequence.

-Use of a lower social class for the characters, this is unusual for films and makes the characters seem more valid to real life.

-The opening shot isn't really an establishing shot although you can argue that it is...i say it isn't because it isn't a proper establishment as it doesn't give a proper introduction and appears to simply be a kid in a curtain.


Killer Of Sheep:- Charles Burnett (1977)
-Genre: Social Realism
- Typical Conventions: -The convention followed is very close to documentaries, the camera is held in the same way as someone recording a documentary (no particular style of camera movements, gives the impression the camera is there with the character)This is also brought to attention as you can see the people in the film clearly looking at the camera.
-The natural soundtrack helps enforce the realism of the sequence as there isn't any sounds that the people in the sequence can't hear.


Comparison to our Project:
Ratcatcher:-
There is a lot of differences between ratcatcher's genre and the genre of our project. For example the film is very slow at first whereas ours is faster paced,Ratcatcher is also very surreal ( the child spinning in the curtain gives the impression of pulling the viewer in) whereas our project is trying to be very realistic if quite comical.

Killer of Sheep:-
One main similarity between this film and our sequence is the interaction between the actors and the camera (bumping into characters, actors looking at the camera). One difference is the way the camera follows the character, in KoS the camera is very obvious in the way it follows the people in the film whereas in a crime caper the camera tends to keep a constant distance from the character when it follows them.