Portfolio Project - Finding a Genre

The Challange

For my media portfolio project, I wanted to do something more on the horror and thriller side. However, there was a challenging part of the project that is I was restricted from doing anything kidnapping or stalking. What that means is that I have two topics to choose from, monster/fantastical which involves creating a creature. This would be problematic as creating a creature would involve a lot of makeup design and effects that I do not have the resources for. The second option is to create something dramatic like a murder scene which is hard to incorporate without stalker elements. Thus, I am thinking of changing my approach to something dramatic or romantic. I would like to tackle topics of teenage life in suburbia because that is something I am very familiar with. An inspiration I took was from Waves where the main character is determined to be a great wrestler but his life takes a turn for the worst. 

Ideas

Something that I've been paying a lot of detail to is college applications, relationships, and mental health. I would like to incorporate these within my intro because these topics are easier to convey from the teenage perspective. While there are a lot of directions this could go I would like to take a dramatic Jordan Peele approach with a lot of emphasis on the real and true hardships of being a teen. A few things I am unsure about are the kind of student I want them to be; athletic, academic, or artistic. I do know that I want to portray a hard-working student and exaggerate how difficult it is to become perfect at your craft. Another thing I want to incorporate is a vast sense of audio and the use of diegetic sound. 

After consulting my teacher there was something I wanted to avoid and that's making it too montag-y. It can easily give too much information at once that could lead to a harder job making a compelling film because there is no "give". During a ted talk video we watched in class from  Andrew Stanton about making a story he says "give them 2+2, not 4". Something I would like to avoid is giving too much too early which would "give them 4" and not achieve the message of the film which is perfection. The sense of trying to not be the best, but the only. The important thing about the story is that it remains truly authentic. I want a lot of emotion to be incorporated and to stress the inability to balance everything while also managing mental health.