Genre is the style of movie the film is. This is shown by the use of similar conventions to films of a the same catagory (Genre). Over time Genre's will change which is called hybrids, this is where two or more genres come together to create a new type of film which will help to give audience something diffrent to other films. Genre is very important to determine a target audience.
Codes and Conventions
Conventions are the way things are known to be done. Film genre's are given to a film by it's conventions. Most film genre's will include a different version of the following conventions; Mise-en-scene, setting, visual style, themes, ideology, charactes (Strerotypes), narratives, special effects, sound, and ideological messages and meanings. Codes are systems an signs which give meaning to the film. Codes are split into two catagories, technical and symbolic.
Technical Code: The way equipment is used to tell a story in a media text. For example camera work in a film.
Symobolic Code: This shows what is beneath what we see in a film. For example a characters actions can show you how they are feeling.
6 Types of Genres and The Codes and Conventions in Each One:
Comedy:
- Conventions: Setting; A comedy film is always set in a bright location, mostly placs used for social events are used. For example in Trainwreck alot of the film is set in a cafe.
- Conventions: Has typicall boy meets girl storyline, this is usualy accomanied by a happy ending. It also contains alot of emotional feelings. For example The Note Book for all of those reasons.
Horror:
- Conventions: Secluded location; usually in horror films the characters are placed somewhere where there is no one around. For example in Severance they are all in a secluded cabin in a woods. Usually at the scariest moment in the film, the power is cut. For example in The Devil Inside where lights in the house at the end go out before the possed person starts murduring people.
- Conventions: Usualy has high production values and has a series of predictable chains of events. They also usualy include a romantic sub-plot. Most action films are set in big cities. Throughout the film most the camera shots are fast paced to build up excitment in the audience. The main story line always includes a hero and a villain. The victims in action films tend to be women or children. They also tend to end with a massive fight scene. For example in All of the Transformer films.
- Conventions: The characters in adventure films are believable espite the film being fairly unrealistic. Most of the time the main character tends to be a normal person who discovers a hidden power/talent. Alot of the time humor is used in the dialogue to take some of the seiousness out of the situation. For example in the whole of the Indiana Jones film series.
- Convntions: Crime films usually include a mystery that has to be solved, it always ends up getting resolved. There is usually a big divid between the police and the government. The crime in the films usually a murder of some sort. Unlike action and adventure films the victims can vary, not just women and children as it shows a more relentlace villain and shows more seriousness. For example Fargo.
Sci-Fi Film Conventions
Setting: Sci-fi films are mainly set in the distant future or current time in a alternate universe or can sometimes be set in a historical past. The usual place in which Sci-fi films are set would be outer space, a different world or an alterative version of earth. This is used to let the audience see the narrative from a nuetral point of view as they havn't been to this place so they watch it as an outsider looking in. For example Star Wars which is set 'A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away'.
Narrative Elements: This usually includes the delvelopment of new technology such as robots or spaceships. It also includes human development of scienece, so things such as time ravel are possible. Sometimes Sci-fi films can show a new political system for instance a utopian society. There is usually a conflicted between good and evil (whether thats one person or two seperate societies) which ends in a fight or war between the two. For example I Robot which is set in the near future where the main focus of the film is the delvelopment of robots.
Symbolism: They would use alot of futuristic props, costumes and settings which shows the audience how advance the science at the centre of the film is. This is used in the hope to make the veiwers see the images as belivable, they do this by using technology we may be used to and developing them into futuristic gadgets, this gives a scene of fimiliarity to the audience even though none of the technlogy used in these films are real. For instance Star Trek where they use the setting and costumes to show the evolving ways of technology and the way of life.
Film Techniques: Lots of special effects are used to create the space like feel to the audio used in the film. Lots of close-ups of futuristic technology is used to show the audience how advanced this stage in time the film is set in. This is used to make the world in the film seem more realistic to the audience. The special effects help the imagination of the viewers. For example in Avatar where the majority of the film is created using special effects which helps make the made up world seem even more real than the one we live in to the audience.
Horror Film Conventions (Detailed)
Setting: Horror films are usually set in an isolated setting or dark streets and narrow hallways. Anyehere that looks like it would be hard to escape or get help, this gives the audience a scence of isolation. Sometimes the setting can have a 'Dark background' meaning that something has happened there in the past which still lingers, for instance a house where people died or an insane asylum haunted by the ghosts of past patients. The setting in a horror film can also include a lake or an open strech of water which in the dark can be quite unsetteling or somewhere the audience find unfamiliar like an alien planet or an isolated island. For example Severance where the film is set in an isolated woods which looks, to the audience, unescapable which adds to the tension.
Technical Codes: Alot of horror films use high and low angle shots which show fear and weakness, this can be used to intimidate the audience. Some horror films include a shot from the villain or mosters point of view for instance in a chasing scene or a scene where the person is unaware of the villain/moster can see them, for instance in Friday The 13th where whenever the killer approached it's victimes you would never see it's face you'd only see the victim from their prospective. Alot of modern day horror films a recorded handheld to give the allusion that the characters are filming on their camera, for example Paranormal Activity, The Blair Which Project and Grave Encounters. One of the most important things in horror films is the sound. Diegetic sounds such as footsteps give a simple shot of an empty hallway alot more depth.
Narrative Structure: Like most movie genres, horror films include a hero, a man or 'final girl' of the film, who keeps the conventions of the genre. The hero usually has to take on a mission to solve the problem. For instance in Insidious where the dad hs to go to the world of te dead to save his son.
Character Types: Their are many diffeent conventional characters in horror films, these can include; The main character, usully a hero or victim of something. A villain/killer or spirit or monster. A group of teenager who are put across as stupid, who always get killed. Some horror films will include creepy children. Police officers who are represented as either good or bad in the film and other demonic creatures relevant to the actual theme of the film. For instance zombies, werewolf and spirits. There are many examples of films with characters like this but to name a few; paranormal activity where the character is never visable but is clearly shown as a spirit. Also in World War Z which is based on Zombies.
No comments:
Post a Comment