CCR Creation Part 1 - Portfolio Project #22

Today I during class I decided to knock out two of the questions I needed to do for the Creative Critical Reflection. I kinda want to do these posts to gather my thoughts and have something to look back on when I am actually creating my CCR and its script sometime later this week. This will probably be one of three parts (blogs) regarding the CCR's questions. 

1. How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

Crime films spanning their wide variety of sub genres use plenty of different conventions to portray crime at its most realistic sense. 

According to Simmons, crime films tend to use a variety of low angled and high angled shots to make people appear either smaller or larger to express dominance or vulnerability. Establishing shots are also used to show off the location and environment of where this scene will occur. In No Country For Old Men, for example, the opening begins with various establishing shots of the desolate desert area, accurately establishing the setting. 

My film does this as well by establishing the setting of an eerie, desolate, suburban neighborhood through a variety of establishing shots. 

In terms of editing, crime films use either quick, fast paced cuts when depicting high levels of tension or longer, slower edits when showing off slower scenes like that of the crime taking place.

Similarly, my film opening uses slower cuts within the burglary scenes to represent the crime in action at that exact moment.

In terms of representation, my film opening strives to accurately depict the average burglar, criminal-type character. Costume design and location were pretty central regarding this. The character was dressed in all black like a burglar would. The setting and location was made to be in an average suburban neighborhood presumably in the middle of the night to evoke the feeling of a desolate suburban area, where a burglar could take advantage of. The character himself, Johnny Rainer, is a man because, according to alarms.org (https://www.alarms.org/burglary-statistics/), most real-life burglary cases are committed by males.

2. How does your product use or challenge conventions and how does it represent social groups or issues?

The crime genre appeals to a wide yet specific kind of audience. According to Powell, although crime films and crime thrillers are watched by both males and females, they generally appeal more to younger adult men aged 17 and up who show interest to suspense and darker tones, especially scenes with extreme tension and stress. The setting of a crime film can appeal to the target audience’s need to connect to the film and its characters.

My film uses eerie tones throughout in order to fit the “darker theme” of its genre. From the establishing shots to the burglary scene, my opening continuously uses dark lighting to establish that eerie and suspenseful feeling that attracts the crime genre’s general audience. The plot itself being set up in such a typical, everyday environment like a neighborhood, containing characters who have gone through such a realistic situation connects the target audience to the film and actively engages them to continue watching the movie.

Now, obviously, I’m no Quentin Tarantino or Christopher Nolan, backed up by some big distributing company with all these people and stuff, so I’m kinda limited in terms of distributing my film. Luckily, in this modern age of the internet, there plenty of free methods and resources that I can use to get my film out there to its audiences. Because my target audience is relatively young, I’d likely make use of various free streaming services like YouTube and Vimeo to put my film out in the internet. Local film festivals would also be a good and viable way to get my film out toward a local audience and attract that younger audience that tend to enjoy films within the crime genre.