CR

 The Old friend was inspired by past friendships and drama genre films, we are trying to portray a toxic friendship between two teens that are trying to rekindle. Representing the struggles of toxic friendships, and relationships that are harmful, damaging, and draining. They can be just as harmful as toxic romantic relationships and may leave you feeling anxious, depressed, or just generally unhappy. Toxic friendships often involve one person who is controlling, manipulative, or emotionally abusive, and may involve a power dynamic where one person is dominant over the other. In teenage years these friendships are most likely to happen to lead to regret for their actions in the long run. 

My film aims to address the harm that these relationships can do to both participants. On one hand, one friend felt extremely sad, hurt, and left out of this friendship. While on the other hand, the other friend felt guilty about treating their friend badly. Overall, toxic friendships are a microcosm of broader social issues and dynamics. They can help us to understand how power, control, and social exclusion operate in our society, and can provide insights into how we can create more supportive, respectful, and inclusive social environments. 

My film creates a sense of branding through the marketing process. I wanted to see who this film could reach? Who could benefit from the theme lesson of this film? I needed to know what made our film unique to the audience, to tailor to them. By having knowledge of all these aspects of our audience, I could make a marketable brand towards these audience types.  

This includes my postcard that features social media information, and the design of the postcard is presented in a way to captivate these audiences. Including the QR code to my website, which features everything that is needed to know about the film from reviews to streaming. Also, my social media pages have the username of the film and posts that engage the audience with what is to come of our film. Ultimately, the goal of branding is to create a positive and memorable reputation for the film!  

Since my product is a drama genre film it caters to an audience of all ages through its emotional content and complex characters. These films often tell stories that are grounded in realistic situations, exploring themes such as love, loss, family dynamics, and personal struggles. To engage the audience, drama films typically use a variety of techniques such as strong character development. Drama films often have well-developed characters with realistic and relatable emotions, motives, and backstories. The audience can become invested in the characters' lives and empathize with their struggles. You can see the characters and how they overcome their problems in ways other media cannot in our film.

Well-written dialogue can make the audience feel as though they are part of the conversation, and help to reveal the characters' motivations, thoughts, and feelings. This was conveyed through Natalie, a character in the film, ignoring and interrupting the other character Charlie in the film. Music and sound effects can help to create a mood and atmosphere that enhances the emotional impact of the film. 

In the film, I engaged the audience by adding background music with matching lyrics to the actions and feelings of the film. This was to help the audience with conveying the emotions of the film. In addition, my films use cinematography and lighting to create a specific mood and to visually represent the characters' emotional states. For example, in the beginning scene, the lighting is bright on a sunny day but toward the end when Natalie is walking alone the lighting is darker to convey her sadness and guilt. The themes explored in drama films are often universal and relatable, such as toxic friendship, as many have dealt with this type of relationship or at least know someone who has.  

My film uses drama conventions usually used by drama genre films. Drama films typically use a variety of conventions to create a sense of emotional tension, conflict, and resolution. These conventions can include elements such as plot structure, character development, dialogue, cinematography, music, and setting. For my film plot structure, the beginning establishes the character's backstories of coming back to town, the middle starts conflict between the two characters, and ends with one character's reflection. Throughout the film one character that has the biggest character development is Natalie, going from ignoring her friend being toxic to feeling the guilt of her actions, to convey this we used dialogue with her therapist to reveal her regret of treating her friend so harshly wishing she could go back. In drama establishing shot, medium shot and over the shoulder shot are commonly used. Similarly, the film includes all these shots throughout the film during dialogues and actions. The setting of our film being an old neighborhood shows the character going back.  

Research helps to create a sense of authenticity and realism in the story and characters. Research can be used to create well-rounded and believable characters, with details such as their background, personality, and experiences being informed by real-life examples or studies. This helped with the creation of Natalie as a character, being able to take personality from research done about signs of a toxic friend. And seeing how toxic characters are portrayed in drama films and tv shows, we decided to portray this character in this way too, including lack of empathy for the other character until the very end.  

Overall, drama genre films aim to engage the audience by telling compelling stories about relatable characters dealing with real-life issues. Research can help to create a sense of depth and authenticity in a drama film, making the story and characters more relatable and engaging for audiences. The conventions mentioned work together to create a powerful emotional experience for the audience, drawing them into the world of the film and allowing them to empathize with the characters and their struggles. By connecting with the audience on an emotional level, these films can create a powerful and memorable viewing experience.