Research Into A Drama Opening Sequence

 Looking into the opening sequence of the Drama 'The fault in our Stars'

'The fault in our stars is the 2014 American coming of age Drama which is also seen to be a romantic comedy which is directed by Josh Boone. The film stars Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort.

From the opening sequence alone we get a glimpse into the narrative. It is clear to be about a girl suffering from terminal cancer and the things which come with it; that being mental illnesses like depression. She is convinced to go to a therapy group as the doctor believes this will help her after her mum exclaimed to the doctor she's certain she's suffering from depression.  From what we are given from just the first few minutes of this movie it connotes an idea to us about what the rest of the film will be about and allows the viewer to decide whether this is the sort of movie they would enjoy from just watching the first 3 minutes. I expect that the rest of the film will follow this individuals journey; that being the good and bad, maybe even her recovery. She may learn to enjoy the life she has left and cherish every last moment.Moreover its implied the film could also contain her falling in love due to the title of the film.

Moreover, stereotypically its led to believe the targeted audience would be Woman. Due to it being a Romantic, drama. Of course it will appeal to a wider range of people but if we are adhering to the stereotype woman may enjoy more due to it appearing to be a more vulnerable, emotion full film, whilst also containing glimpse of romance and comedy. 

This opening scene makes it clear that the genre is in fact a Drama, as well in some glances comedic. The tone in this very scene is both slightly upsetting and touching, but also slightly humorous. There is a great use of the key Drama genre conventions. An example being the character doing a voice over throughout the majority of the scene, this both helped to give the viewer key information as well as setting the mood and atmosphere to be slightly down hearted, however it does not stay like this due to bringing in comedy to allow the scene to seem less despairing.  A line in which i believe truly set the tone of the film and allowed us to in-vision how the character was feeling during the voiceover was when she vocalised the diegetic dialogue - ' depression is not a side effect of cancer, its a side effect of dying. Which is whats happening to me.' Personally i believe this line alone gave a strong insight into whats to come that being the time before she dies and maybe her overcoming her fear and hatred towards death, or on a happier note maybe her becoming stronger and conquering the cancer. There is also use of the convention of using music to underscore the drama. This is towards the begging, there is a subtle, quiet non diegetic soundtrack which undermines her isolation and loneliness from the world. This is also underlined when her eye focus changes from her book at the cafe, to the couple at the till. Highlighting she wants to fall in love, live a normal life. She does not want to live every day questioning if its her last! 

Furthermore, It is made clear from this extract that the girl suffering from terminal cancer is in fact the main character, we know this due to her being in nearly the entirety of the screen time and the scene being designed in a way which focuses on her story. There is a-lot of closeups which focus on her facial expressions alone as well as her being the only character carrying out a voiceover. The  non diegetic voiceover acts as an inner monologue and enables us to get to know her better as a character and explore her emotions and feelings further. The second character whom is briefly introduced to us is the guy who runs the therapy group, Patrick.They use both voiceover and a montage in order to introduce this character creatively. By the girl exclaiming Patrick in a slightly humorous way appears effectively and impressively,

 as although being a sensitive topic the scene still manages to creep a laugh out the viewer. Consequently by  these several seconds,  we already know a handful of information about Patrick; that being he 'had ball cancer and nearly died but he didn't die, so is know homeless, divorced and living on his parents couch. He now follows Jesus and trys to show people that maybe someday 'they can be just as lucky as him'. This is ironic and appears funny due to his life actually seeming a little miserable and weird

I believe this scene is hugely successful due to it not only giving the viewers an insight to the film as a whole, but also emotionally engaging them in away that they will feel connected making them feel they must watch on. I think it is important and was well structured that they added parts of comedy in, as in addition to appearing to a broader audience it also helps enable tears to be held back to later parts in the
film.