Genere & setting can make or break your story

Genere & setting can make or break your story

Hello guys, so today I wanted to take a little bit of a dive into the topic of genre and setting, and their influence on a story. I'll do it by sharing with you a personal story of how I used them to save my own short film. and turn it into the one I am the most proud of.

It was a year ago, I was doing one of my final short films in film school. We were asked to make a short with only a few rules, the duration can be no more than 3 minutes,  it had to be in a long take, meaning no cuts. 

With this in mind, I started plotting. Luckily for me, I had an interesting idea: “what if I made a short where the characters realized they were inside of a movie and had control over the script?” And so, I got to work. The plot was simple.

Plot:

• 2 characters are in a movie.

• They find out. they are in a movie and get control over the screenplay

• They fight over what should be done with this new found power.

• One decides to leave  and the other is trapped forever.

This is an oversimplified version, but you get the idea. The only problem is, I didn't really know the setting yet. And so, I thought it would be interesting to take a hero and his nemesis and make them realize that their whole rivalry had been written. What's more, the villain would realize he didn't have to be the bad guy anymore, he could choose.

This is a perfectly good setting, the problem is that as I wrote the whole screenplay, I saw that the genre and, thus, the setting were driving my story to an unwanted place. But why?

Well, there were a few things. First of all, I had chosen to work in the superhero genre, but because I had 0 euros in my budget, I knew that I was not going to be able to pull off the classic superhero nemesis rivalry. I wanted them to be in his secret lair, I wanted them to fight, and I wanted it to be taken seriously. But I realized that without a budget, it would just look like two guys in their underpants fighting. Suddenly, my genre subversion became a comedy, and I hated it. 

I even tried writing it as a comedy, but all the existential dialogue I wanted and the very real struggle between destiny and choice were nowhere to be found. The actions were the same, but I had lost the heart of my story. And I still have that original screenplay, and what you'd find is that I had one foot in comedy and one in drama. And when you only have 3 minutes to tell a story, you can't try to do everything. I knew I needed to fix it but how?

So, I revised the story, and it was not the problem. The conflict was compelling, the premise was interesting, and it had a satisfying conclusion. That’s when it hit me. The problem was the setting I was putting my characters in. The setting that I had chosen was wrong, and so was the genre. I needed a visually strong genre with a low-cost setting that wouldn't look unprofessional and one that would thematically complement the story.

Things I needed to fix:

• Get a stronger visual aesthetic.

• Find a low-cost setting so it won't look unprofessional.

• Look for a genre that supports the themes.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is when it all clicked. Suddenly, I thought about the Noir detective genre. Not only did it complement the story (finding a screenplay is basically finding out about a mystery), but it also gave me two very interesting characters to break down: the old and bitter detective, and the young and hopeful one. Traits which I used to explore the theme of destiny and choice. Ultimately, it allowed me to set it up in a cheap setting (an office) while still providing me with a great, distinct, and professional look.

In the end, making this change was the best thing I could do. Remember that every aspect of building a story should serve to elevate it, from character to genre and setting. Framing it this way will allow you to bank on your strengths rather than show your weak points and make you question what was the heart of your story and how you can utilize the tools at your disposal to tell it best.

I hope you liked this week's Filmcraft Friday. If you found it entertaining or useful, please subscribe, and you’ll get these newsletters directly to your email. It’s free, and it helps me a lot in being able to keep bringing them to you every week. Thank you for reading! And I'll see you Monday.