Exploring Genre Conventions

Genre Analysis

 Genre Anlysis

Cars

The opening scene for Cars has many conventions to show the audience its an Motor sport action adventure film. It does this through the narrative, iconography (props, costumes etc), characters (star system), and the locations.  

Narrative 

The opening scene starts with a voice-over and mini clips with different parts of a car put in them. The audience are then shown a dark screen but with little light and glimpses of a car. All the way through the first 30 seconds of the opening scene the audiences are shown little peaks of a car, which is telling us that this film could have something to do with action adventure and cars. The car then starts to move and roll into a shot of bright light. This is when the audiences finds out this is a car adventure film, as we end up in an f1 like face track. This is when the audiences is introduced to protagonist as well as the main character. After this the race starts and we continue to watch the race all the way through the opening scene, but there are also titles being shown to us as well. 

Iconography - props 

In this opening scene we are not shown any types of weapons being used, but we never know if there is any in the rest of the film. Similar to Need For Speed, we could say that the cars themselves are the weapons when racing as they are competing against each other to win the race.

Iconography - costumes  

In typical motor sport action adventure films there are people wearing either race gear or casual clothing. But this film is very different. This is because the cars are the characters in this film so they will have to clothing. But you could say that the cars are the costumes and that we know its a car film from the cars anyway. 

Characters 

In the opening scene the audience are already introduced to who we thing is the main character of the film as well as him being a protagonist. We are then introduced the a few of the stock characters, this is shown in close ups of a few cars going round a track, so we intestinal think these character must be quite important. The audience are not introduced to any antagonist during the first scene of the film, but we still know there could be one. This is because we have audience pleasure where we watch the genre of film we like because we can sort of predict what is going to happen. The audience are also already getting to know the story line, so if the film is about races then there will be some rilvary between the characters so that they can win the race. 

Locations

In typical car action adventure films, the locations are either a race track, or somewhere with clue its going to be a car film for example a garage. This film is very good at its location, as the opening scene is shot on a F1 like race track which would intentionally make the audience think the film is going to be about cars and racing. 

Genre Analysis

Genre Analysis

Need For Speed

The opening scene for Need For Speed has many conventions to show the audience its an Motorsports action adventure film. It does this through the narrative, iconography (props, costumes etc), characters (star system), and the locations. 

Narrative 

The opening scene starts zooming into a house/gas station, which looks like it is located in the middle of nowhere. The audience are then introduced to the inside of a home, this is when we start to get the clues that this could be a motor sport action adventure film, this is because we are shown a with a section of close ups picture of cars and car races. The audience are then shown so car trophy's and medals. At this point there is also a voice-over telling us about his past and future car races and shows. The last picture you see is two men one older and one younger, this could be a clue to whom the main character may be. The audience is then shown a mechanics garage with two men working on a car, another man walks in playing the video that turns out to be the voice over. So far this isn't a classic action adventure film but has got the cars in the film within the first few minutes of the film starting. 

Iconography - Props

In motor-sport films there is generally some kind of weapon in them but during this scene there is no sign of any weapon. But the audience still knows this is a car action adventure film, this is because there is clips of fast cars in the opening scene and a clue that chases are going to be involved in the film. 

Iconography - costumes 

Generally in motor-sport action films the consumes are either a race gear or messy shorts or t shirts or mechanics gear. So in the opening scene to the film the audience is already shown two of these iconography that link to this type of film. Most of the men in this opening scene are shown either wearing shorts and a t shirt or mechanics overalls. 

Characters

Straight away the audience is shown the protagonist of the film which indicates that this is an action adventure film and you are just meeting the antagonist later in the film. You are also shown the stock characters in the opening scene which are shown to the audience as his friends and co workers which is also an classic way to one show its an action adventure film and two to show its an motor-sport action adventure film.  

This film has also used the star system which means, the actors in the films are know for that genre of film. So in this film Michael Keaton is well known for car films as he has already started in Herbie and action adventure films like Batman. 

Locations 

The locations in this film are probably one of the key clues for the audience to show this is an 'car' action adventure film. For example the first shot is an outside of a garage, and looks like in the middle of no where which could be a good place for racing cars. The audience is then also shown the two men working on a car in a workshop, so all these places give little and big clues that this is an car action adventure film.

Genre Analysis

Genre Analysis 

Rush

The opening scene for Rush has many conventions to show the audience its an motor-sport action adventure film. It does this through the narrative, iconography (props, costumes etc), character (star system) and the locations.  

Narrative

The opening scene starts with a shot of the clouds and a extreme close up of someone's eyes. The audience then get the first clue that this is an action adventure car film. There are a sequence of shots of race cars on a track. During these shot the audience are shown two men,which we are lead to believe there is a rivalry between them. The audience also get the idea that these two characters will one be the main two characters of the film and that they are both very different. One driver is fully focused on his car and the race he is about to do where as the other is more happy with the attention he gets from the attractive girls. During this there is a voice over done by one of the two drivers describing racing and why people put there lives at risk to do it. The drivers then have to decide to use slicks tyre's or wet weather tyre's. The two rivalry drivers do the same as each-other, after this the race begins.

Iconography - props
Normally in any classic or motor-sport action adventure film there is some kind of weapons, either being guns or knifes. However, in this film they could be using the cars as their weapons.

Iconography - costumes 
In this film, they follow the classic motor sport costumes. This is either being race gear or casual outfits and straight in this opening scene you are shown the two main characters in this race gear with their stock characters in the casual gear.

Characters (Star System) 
Straight away the audience are shown the two main characters of the film but not yet who is the antagonist and who is the protagonist. But we do know there is a rivalry between them. The audience is also shown some stock characters so one of the drivers girl friends and the other co-worker. The film also uses the star system which is where actor and actresses are used for certain film genres. In this film you have two characters Chris Hemsworth and Daniel Gonzalez are mostly known for some action adventure films which could be the reasons why people want to watch the films as they have seen these actors in this genre of film before so know he or she should be good again.

Locations
Normally motor sport action adventure films are the first key clues for the audiences to see what the genre of film is. Most motor-sport action adventure films are set either on a well known race track or well known city. This film fits exactly into this as the first scene starts on a world know race track.

Sub-Genres

Sub-Genre

Sub-genres are different types of one genres that follow the conventional elements but have subtle changes. An example of this is action adventure. 

Action adventure sub-genres are listed bellow:-

• Action comedies
• Action thrillers 
• Sci-fi 
• Spy movies
• Swashbuckler
• Super-hero
• Disaster 
• War
• Fantasy
• Buddy 

Generally action adventure sub-genres will have some kind of chase in them (these either being cars, horse, ships or even spaceship chases) this is why we 'the audience' recognise the genres so easily. 

Sub-Genres are known for being the same but different and this is shown by the iconography in these films. For example you have Motorsport action adventure films, us (the audience) knows this is an action adventure film but also a Motorsport film. Normally a classic action adventure film will have the narrative of a hero on a mission to save someone or something, which includes some fights and chases. However in an Motorsport film there will still be the mission and definitely the car chases but there will be a bigger rivalry between the protagonist and antagonist. The iconography props and characters will generally be the same in a classic action adventure and a Motorsport film. There will be one protagonist and one antagonist, the stock characters would be a love interest character, a side kick and friends. The iconography that would be the difference in these two same but different genres of film would be the locations, as the classic actions adventure film would be set in a recognisable big city where as a Motorsport action adventure would generally be set by or on an recognisable race track or motorway. The costumes would also be a little different as in classic they are normally wearing rough and rugged clothing so jeans and a top where as the Motorsport would be race gear or even a smart suit like James Bond. 

Exploring Genre Conventions

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Genre

Genre 

Genres are the different types of films we have and normally people have favorite genres of film depending in what types of film they like. There are eight different types of films and are listed below:

• Comedy
• Romance 
• Adventure 
• Horror
• Sci-fi
• Thriller 
• Animation
•  Documentaries 
• Action
• Western
• War 

Some film producers also mix these categories of films to make different films, for example you have Rom-com, action adventure, costume drama, science fiction/ fantasy, hospital, teen, soap opera, comedy and crime. These are called sub-genres.

Genres are useful to audiences as they need to be able to recognise the type of film before watching it. This is because audiences already know what type of film they like and like to be able to know what is going to happen, so the basic plot. There is also audience pleasure were we like to be able to recognise the film story, we also like the anticipation, expectation and prediction in film genres and knowing whats basically going to happen. For example in romantic films we know two people are going to meet and fall in love but in un- suitable circumstances so cant be together but by the end live happily ever after.

Genres are useful for institutions because when they come to creating a new film, they can aim their film at the right target audience and already have a plot on wheat they story can follow. The institutions will also know if their is a big or small target market for their specific genre of film and if it is a popular genre if film. They are also useful for institutions as they are a short-hand of how to encode marketing materials so that the audiences can identify the film easily.

Genres have a fixed set of elements, known as the Repertoire of elements, these consist of narratives, characters and iconography. This means all genres have to have these fixed elements in them. The narrative means how the story begins and ends so for example in a romantic story two people find each other and fall in love and by the end have concord all bad and live happily even after. The characters in most genres have to have a protagonist and antagonist which are normally the main two characters. Then you also have to have the stock characters, these are the minor characters that you would associate with the genre. Iconography means a set location for a certain type of genre. For example a Sci-fi film would be set in space, this makes it easier for the audience to recognise the genre of the film.  Also with iconography you have the props and costumes associated with it, and again the audience should be able to recognise the gender of the film by these props and costumes. For example a western film would be recognised by the actors wearing the cowboy hots. Audiences could also work out the genre of the film by the main characters, this is called the star system. For example Johnny Depp is known for action adventure films and Hugh Grant and Keira Knightly as romantic actors.