Coming Of Age - Indian Films

WAKE UP SID: This is one of the most recent and most popular examples of a coming of age film in the Indian film industry. This film was shot in the year 2009 and was directed by Ayan Mukerji. The film is about a college student, Sid, who has been spoilt because of his father's wealth and mother's pampering. His depicted laziness leads to him failing his exams and eventually, being kicked out of the house by his father. Over the course of the film, Sid goes through the process of learning to live responsibly and on his own, with the help of a new friend. The overall mood of this film is very ‘happy go lucky’ where the character is fun and easy for the audience to relate with.

UDAAN: The title of the movie means ‘to take flight’. This movie is based on a teenager, Rohan who studies in a boarding school. In the opening itself, we see Rohan getting expelled from his boarding school and being forced to go back home and live with father, which whom he has a difficult relationship. The story revolves around this father-son relationship, and how Rohan learns to deal with it and eventually, break free. The treatment of the story and the film is more serious, provoking intense emotions. 

Both these films focus on the stories of young boys who faces hardship and are put in situations that makes them helpless. While both are based on a conflict in father-son relationships, the progression of both the these films is very different, along with the treatment, giving both films a distinctly different feel. Wake-Up Sid is more popcorn-entertainment, with a dose of humor, fun and some romance too. Udaan, on the other hand, is more sombre, dark and gritty.

The setting of both these films is also different. Udaan is set in a small town in central India. This is reflected strongly in the dialogue, both in terms of language and context. Wake Up Sid, on the other hand, has a much more urban and metropolitan setting. The film is clearly set in Mumbai, and the city and its culture figure prominently in the film.

These films are thus, perfect case studies of how films can belong to the same genre and be based roughly along similar story lines, but still be such different products.

Coming Of Age Films - Examples

In recent times, Boyhood (2014) is one the best examples to understand the coming of age genre. It traces the journey and life of a boy from age six through eighteen. Since this movie has been shot over a period of eleven years, the concepts of growth and life are brought out quite realistically as we can see the actual growth of the actors over the course of production. Interestingly, director Richard Linklater, during the making of this film, incorporated real life experiences of the actors as they grew through the production period. Linklater developed the script and screenplay of the film through the production, developing the next sequence according to the previous year's footage and incorporating the changes in the actors themselves in order to be be true to the requirement and essence of the film.

 

Historical coming-of-age films have become especially popular in the post-war period. Johnny Tremain (1957) tells the story of a Revolutionary War-era silversmith's apprentice. Most of these stories are set no more than 20 years prior to date when they were first produced.

The reason I chose these two examples was that they both belong to a different time period. Therefore, the style and method of shooting these both films are very different as well. Johnny Tremain is a 1957 movie where the setting of the story which is during the war era is giving direction to the characters growth. On the other hand, 'Boy Hood 'which has been evolving around the character himself, has been shot more through the perspective of the boy allowing his growth throughout the movie to define the setting and the progression. Overall both these movies have been classic examples of two different kind of movies falling under the same genre. 

Choosing the genre of the film

In film theory genre refers to the method based on similarities in the narrative elements from which films are constructed. Most theories of film genre are borrowed from literary genre criticism. Besides the basic distinction in genre between fiction and documentary (from which hybrid forms emerged ,founding a new genre), film genres can be categorised in several ways. Some of the more common genres that one finds are Romance, Comedy, Tragedy, Action, Thriller, Horror etc. However, more often than not, most films are a culmination and hybridisation of various genres. 

In genre studies, coming of age is that which concentrates upon the journey of the protagonist from a young child/ adolescent to an adult. It focuses upon the natural growth of the character and most specifically characterised by internal evolution. Coming of age stories tend to emphasis upon dialogue of amongst the characters over action which are often set in the past. The subjects of coming-of-age stories are typically teenagers who are going through a typical adolescent phase. This particular genre mainly talks about an extremely personal exploration of one's growth and  the way it deals with subjects that are part of every human's transitional journey through space and age. Themes of sexual exploration and development of political opinions are often taken up as subjects for these movie's as are ideas of philosophical enlightenment and awakening. Therefore, I chose to base my story upon the genre 'coming of age'.

Film Opening - Analysis

(Fight Club- 1999 film directed by David Fincher)

http://www.artofthetitle.com/title/fight-club/

This is one of my favourite movie's opening scene which takes us through a teeth grinding, nerve tickling projection of the idea of fear and the physical and biological manifestation of it. It starts with the viewer is taken on an outward journey inside the protagonists’ brain, travelling through various murals of the cerebral regions and finally coming out through the skin pores on the protagonists’ forehead, a band of sweat felicitously flowing through micro- organismic trails of skin. The ending brings the viewer out in of the protagonists' brain to the part which make is all so real in an unbelievable way, there is a gun is being pointed into the protagonists mouth.

This entire opening has clearly been created by using visual effects in order to take the audience into the imaginary and yet realistic human brain. David Fincher has created a fast paced momentum by combining effects upon the audience, such as the visual element that shows electrical impulses that travel through various terrains of the nervous systems as a roller coaster movement type fashion as well as keeping a background score which is mash up of heavy rock and punk influence.  Moments of climaxing elevation are noticed as brain movements become faster in sync with the horrifyingly mercurial quality of the sound.The text itself can be seen to strongly suggest themes of identity. The cast and crews identity is displayed to the spectator in the form of titles, however the appearance and movement of these titles can be seen to connote strong ideas of not only identity, but more specifically, the concealed and fractured identities

The most interesting element however, is the thematic relationship that the opening credits establish with the plot of the movie; the idea of cause and effect, the chemical and biological process that cause and project emotion, provide very tangible essence of what the movie is all about. The triviality of Fight club and the emotion behind the fights, is taken away. It is now a more visceral idea that provides a deeper shade to the film. 

Titling Conventions - Example

Tim Burton's Batman of 1989 is one of the earliest movies I remember watching. It is the movie I associated Batman with most strongly, till Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. It has a conventional opening, without much of the modern effects that are used in the title sequences in superhero movies today. At the same time, it sets the tone for the film quite decisively. With teasing visuals that reveal just a little glimpse, it creates a suspense for the audience and an eagerness to figure out what exactly the visuals could be leading to. The titling has been done in a most contrasting tone and font, compared to the shades of blue in the background. Overall, the conventional style that one would take from this example would be the use of fonts and colour which stand out as well as blend in with the context of the movie, and the idea of revealing just enough to spark the audience's curiosity.

  

Theory - Film Opening

In oder to make my own film opening sequence, I chose to start with understanding the relevance of a film opening through its historical context and a considering a few examples of good film openings. This way I would be able to find the style that I most identify with, and the method in which I would proceed making the film opening.  

About Film Titles

Purpose:

In early days of the motion picture, film titles mainly consisted the name and logo of the movie studio and the presentation of the main characters along with the actor’s names. This was generally observed on title cards. The more major studios at the time had their own title art and logo used as the background of their screen credits in order to make it look exclusive. In the decades since, film titles have evolved into an art form of their own. 

From the 1940s onwards, the more progressive studios began to change their approach in presenting their screen credits, and reimagined the purpose of the film opening. Apart from solely presenting the credits, a film opening was also seen as a tool to grab the audience's attention and set the tone for the rest of the movie. The major studios looked to produce a higher quality of artwork for these sequences. With increased emphasis being placed on the opening, a greater share of resources also began to be allocated to the credits. Now a movie has a main title designer who is responsible for the titles displayed on screen. This work has been classified as motion graphics, title design, title sequences and animated credits. For a more creative approach, the title sequences are presented through animated visuals which are kinetic, and that appear while the credits are introduced on screen.

These are a few examples of film titles which I found to have a strong symbolic representation of the movie:

(Uses contrasting colours emphasising on ‘me’ with image of an airplane suggesting that it has to do with travelling.)

(Brave: Bold use of font with a pattern and design suggesting the time and era or the story.)

(Edgy fonts suggesting a violent mood with a monochromatic choices of colours.)

(A simple use of font with a part of the earth shown in the background seen from the outer space, suggesting the setting of the movie which would be outer space.)