Why so dramatic?

 My partner and I have chosen our genre for our opening scene! After communicating with each other about what would be the best, we decided to work with the genre Drama. I believe we will be able to create a well developed scene, since teenagers are able relate to movies that incorporate dramatic aspects. We are determined to design an opening scene revolving around a coming-of-age theme. 

The genre Drama consists of multiple sub genres including but not limited to historical, romantic, and psychological. My partner and I believe that coming-of-age content would be a great way for us to explore our creative skills. I spent time to research popular coming-of-age drama movies, focusing directly on their opening scenes and how they are portrayed. 

Mean Girls (2004) is a popular coming-of-age film that includes a copious number of characteristics that teenagers can personally relate to. The opening scene of this movie contains the establishment of the main character and her social setting. This movie displays a young teenage girl in a new high school trying to navigate her way through making new friends, excelling in her academics and complicated love interests. She struggles with fitting in and ends up falling into the wrong crowd. This opening scene does an excellent job at showcasing her thoughts and opinions as she enters her new school for the first time. By focusing on the way she interacts with her classmates and teacher, viewers are able to make observations and judgements about her character, and how she will grow throughout the film. 

Easy A (2010) is another film that contains the similar coming-of-age attributes that I noticed in other movies during my research. This opening scene comprises of an upbeat yet serious tone. The main protagonist is clearly seen as the narrator of the movie, which can be inferred by the voice-over within the first few minutes. We can see the main character is a teenage girl in high school, who is sarcastic and clever due to her speaking style. The high school she attends exhibits various types of students and the groups they belong to. This is also where we see the main character's best friend who is portrayed as her trusted individual. This unique opening allows the main character to set the scene of her traumatic high school story which she is about to tell. This ultimately grabs the viewers attention, leaving them wanting more.

The Edge of Seventeen (2016). This opening setting is fast paced and comical. The language utilized by the character is exaggerated, making it seem ridiculous and worth laughing. It is quite similar to the other films regarding the voice over narration of the main character. The protagonist of this film is a shy and unpopular adolescent girl in need of relationship advice from her closest teacher. We can see the character abruptly rushing through the halls finding her way to her favorite teachers room, where she frantically rants about an issue that just occurred. The color choices in the main characters clothing shows how this teenager decides to present herself. This scene develops the start of the film and contains foreshadowing events which we later see unfold.