Genre Research Blog Activity

 My genre is Dystopian Fiction. It's all about these fully screwed-up futures where big corporations or the government run societies live, and people start fighting back to retain at least part of their lives. It's way to explore what would happen if power went too far and how people would react to losing their freedom or identity.

Dystopian fiction usually features stories of rebellion among people against some big, powerful entity that controls everything. Of course, technology is a huge thing, too, depicting things like surveillance and control over one's memory that would change life as we know it. It's intense stuff because it's about identity, freedom, and how far people would go to keep those things. The story shares a similar vibe-when Lyra fights back against NeuraCorp, exposing how these people have been messing with memories, trying to control society.

In The Hunger Games, this super-powerful Capitol controls the districts, pitting them against their will in deadly games. My story has that same sort of powerful, controlling force in NeuraCorp; instead of games, though, it's memories everyone's obsessed with. Lyra's like Katniss in a way tries to push back against the system, but instead of survival games, she's hacking memory vaults. That's similar to the rich Capitol versus poor District 12 in Hunger Games. It just seemed how NeuraCorp has this high-tech, pristine world hiding darker secrets.

Blade Runner 2049 has this dark, high-tech world that's falling apart, and it's controlled by huge corporations like NeuraCorp in my story. There's also, in Blade Runner, this idea of characters questioning who they are, especially with artificial beings. Lyra went through that when she started remembering her past and realized she used to be part of NeuraCorp. Also, both my story and Blade Runner 2049 use these big, empty, and dark environments to give that vibe of isolation, something's wrong here.

Other movies that remind me of my story are Children of Men, where society is breaking down and people are trying to hold onto hope. Divergent also has a person trying to fight against structured roles that society puts people into, kinda like Lyra trying to break free from NeuraCorp's memory control. Minority Report has to do with surveillance and predicting crimes, and I feel that is somewhat similar to the hold NeuraCorp has over people's minds. There's also this hidden reality in The Matrix that people need to wake up to, very much like how Lyra tries to show everyone the truth about NeuraCorp. Then, V for Vendetta and Snowpiercer concern those struggling against oppressive systems, similar to how both Lyra and Zara attempted to get the truth out.

Representation

Modern Family is a great example of how TV shows use representation to show different kinds of families. One strong example is Mitchell and Cameron, a gay couple who are raising their adopted daughter, Lily. The series does more than point out their sexual orientation; it shows them as regular parents dealing with everyday family issues. The show challenges traditional ideas about what a family can be by featuring a same-sex couple. The way scenes are made, especially with close-ups of Mitch and Cam showing their love as parents, makes their relationship feel real and relatable.

Jay and Gloria, another important couple, show how the show represents different cultures and age groups. Jay is an older and more traditional character while Gloria, who is much younger, comes from Colombia. Sometimes the show plays into stereotypes by highlighting Gloria's passionate personality and strong accent for laughs. This is an example of exoticizing, where parts of her culture are exaggerated for humor. However, the show also adds more depth to her character by showing that she is intelligent, caring, and hardworking, which helps break down those initial stereotypes. In contrast, Jay represents the older generation and his character often grows as he learns to appreciate the differences in his family.

The way Modern Family is constructed helps show these differences. Mitch and Cam’s scenes use close-ups to show their love and care for each other, while Jay and Gloria’s scenes sometimes show the craziness of their blended family. The show selects everyday family challenges instead of just highlighting their differences, making these characters more real and relatable.

While the show does rely on some stereotypes, like Cam's flamboyance and Gloria's passion, the characters are complex enough to move beyond these simple labels. The show's representation of different sexualities, cultures, and family structures adds to its modern and inclusive feel. Scenes featuring Mitch and Cam as parents or Jay and Gloria handling their cultural differences highlight how Modern Family effectively showcases the representation of today’s diverse families.

Sound Project

We had learned different sound techniques to make sound effects, foley sounds, sound motifs, and voiceovers before starting the Sound Project. These techniques are useful for setting up the mood and guide the listener where there are no visuals. We also learned how to depict emotions or certain actions by using sound and how layering up different sounds together creates a complete experience. These lessons have focused on how sound can tell a story, which was what we were aiming to do in our project.

The project required us to create a 1-2 minute sound story, using only seven words, with various mixes of different sounds. We were supposed to make at least four sound effects using any random objects for the foley sounds. Also, submission of the final sound file, video on how to create foley sounds, and screenshots of our editing timeline to show how we organized our sound layers were needed. My partner and I chose the casino scene because it involved so many distinct and original sounds that might be fun and interesting to recreate.

An especially creative scene, with a lot of variations, made us brainstorm; hence, we came up with the concept of a casino with a bar. This would let us work with different sounds: ringing slot machines, pouring drinks, and background noise of people talking and moving around. We started gathering sound effects and using objects found around the school to create the foley sounds. For example, some of the slot machine noises were done with coins; a glass was used to make the 'glug' of beverages being dispensed.

The outline we did helped us plan the order of the sounds so that everything flowed well and was as logical as a tale. Using Audacity to layer the sounds, adjust volumes, and ensure everything fits well. The project went well overall, but most definitely had things that we should improve on. Some of the sounds were exaggerated and way too loud, an example would be the swallowing sound, much louder than it actually would have been in real life. This sounded even less real since we used pre-recorded voices instead of recording our own. We really should have done the latter to make this a bit more realistic. Irrespective of these problems, though, we were proud of how it all went and did a good job capturing the sounds of the casino scene.

The outline helped us plan out an outline and place the order of the sounds so everything would run smoothly and make sense as a story. We then used Audacity to layer the sounds, adjust volumes for each one, and make sure everything fits together well. Overall, the project went pretty smoothly, but there were things we could have improved. Some of the sound effects were tremendously exaggerated and a lot louder than they needed to be. For instance, that swallowing sound was way louder than it would have been in real life. The talking sounded phony because we used pre-recorded voices instead of doing them ourselves, which would have made it more realistic. First off, we had a few problems with recording, but in the end, we felt good about the way our project turned out and captured the sounds of a casino scene.

https://youtu.be/8z63HPGSKm4