Genre - Audience and institution

Why is genre a relevant concept for audiences?

Genre is a relevant concept for audiences as audiences may enjoy a certain kind of film, then want to watch another that has a similar effect on them, so genre is useful because it allows audiences to select a film based on its conventions and the feeling it exerts upon the audience. For example if someone really enjoyed the film "Prisoners" and enjoyed the chase, and liked working out the clues and solving the crime alongside the police protagonists which generally gave them a feeling of involvement then they could simply find out which genre the film falls into and could therefore select a similar film that could give them the same sense of satisfaction. 

How does Genre affect the film production companies and the distribution companies?

Genre affects the film production companies in two ways: They allow the film production companies to specifically identify their target audience based on the genre/sub-genre, and they also allow the film production companies to have a guideline as to what their film is trying to achieve and what they are trying to create whilst in the pre production, production and post production process. For example if the company was trying to create a erotic-thriller then they would constantly have an idea about what conventions would need to be added to the shooting, and scripting, it wouldn't make much sense to have a load of guns, drugs and explosions in an erotic thriller as it would confuse the audience and would most likely shy away from their tastes considering that they are watching an erotic thriller...not an action thriller. This brings me on to the point of identifying the target audience. The production company will most likely have researched which genre is doing the best out of the three or four genres/sub-genres that the film could potentially fall under, and they can then identify which one they would aim to create and therefore which target audience they are aiming the film at. 
The film may be advertised in a certain way to attract the target audience and to assert itself in the chosen genre/sub-genre. This can be done through a number of different editing techniques and the choice of shots that are used which show certain conventions.

Sub-Genres of Thriller

What is a sub-genre?

A Sub-Genre is a genre within a genre, a sub genre is a genre that is not widely recognised as a genre within a known genre. e.g. Psychological Thriller.

What makes a thriller a thriller?

A thriller involves elements of suspense, tension and excitement. Without these elements a film would definitely not be a thriller. Thrillers stimulate the viewer’s moods, heightening levels of surprise, anxiety and terror often. Thrillers tend to be psychological, threatening, mysterious and sometimes involve larger-scale villainy such as espionage, terrorism and conspiracy. Although the thriller genre is extremely, varied, within the thriller genre there are several sub-genres, within these there will be a great deal of similarity.

Conventions of a thriller:

kidnapping, hostage, supernatural elements, serial killers, forrest, desolate areas, conspiracy, murder, etc.

Sub-genres of Thrillers:

Conspiracy Thriller

In this sub-genre the protagonist must confront a large, powerful organisation whose threat only he sees. Usually he must do so alone.

- Bourne Ultimatum

- Salt

- Green zone

- The davinci code

Crime Thriller

This subgenre focuses on crime, and is usually from the criminal’s point of view. Physical action and eluding the police take the place of gathering evidence and trying to discover the criminal.

- Pulp Fiction

- Resevoir Dogs

- Seven

       

Disaster Thriller

In this subgenre a (usually) natural disaster is taking place, and the antagonist is either trying to stop the disaster, the extent of the disaster, or just save themselves before time runs out and the disaster has run its course.

- 2012

- impossible

Forensic Thriller

In this subgenre the protagonist(s) are forensic scientists whose involvement in an unsolved crime threatens their lives.

- Silence of the lambs

- Hannibal

Legal Thriller

This subgenre takes place in and around the courtroom. Usually the protagonist is a lawyer who has found their case threatening death for either them or their client.

- The usual suspects

 

Medical Thriller

This subgenre involves something usually used for medical purposes becoming a deadly weapon. Often it is a virus that is leaking out to the public. The protagonist or antagonist or both are doctors.

- World War Z

Political Thriller

In this subgenre political relations or the whole government is at stake, and the protagonist is employed by the government to stop the decline. The protagonist may have been low-level before having attracted attention.

Psychological Thriller

In this subgenre a lot of the conflict is mental, rather than physical. The protagonist has become involved in a dangerous situation which literally threatens their sanity. They must use mental prowess to overcome their opponent, whether the battle is inside their own head or it a battle of wits.

- Prisoners

Religious Thriller

This subgenre uses the history and myths of religion. Usually a religious artifact or historical secret is discovered, and different people and groups vie for control.

- Angels and Demons 

Spy Thriller

It’s hard to call this a genre mash-up when spy novels almost have to be thrillers. At any rate, this subgenre focuses on the high adventures of field agents. It is usually set against the backdrop of some war.

Erotic Thriller

Thriller involving a plotline orientated around a love-lust, two characters that have a sexual relationship seek to oppose a greater power or something similar to this.

Supernatural Thriller

In this subgenre otherworldy elements are introduced, usually as an antagonistic force, but just as in the romantic thriller, the plot line and feel or distinctly that of thrillers. Some characters may have psychic abilities and other supernatural novel elements may be present.

CRIME THRILLER SIMILARITIES.

I have chosen crime-thriller as my sub genre to analyse three posters in regards to similarities. These three follow police officers as the protagonists, this can be clearly seen on each poster as their faces are the centre of attention. As a crime thriller the indication to the audience is that there will be a form of violence, and most of the time the narrative will either revolve around the protagonist police officers fighting a certain opposing force (e.g. gang, bank robber crew, drug cartel etc.) or it will follow and empathise with the criminal, tension is either created by the police coming close to catching the criminals and exposing them, or the criminals performing some kind of elaborate act. We only see one antagonist in one of the three posters, and that's because we sympathise with him throughout the film. Two of the posters share the same convention we associate with crime thrillers, and this is weapons. In the bad boys poster one of the officers is pointing his gun at the camera (the audience) and the other pointing his toward the ground. This instantly tells us it is a crime thriller as we are the targets of the gun wielder, we know that the film will be tense and immersive. A similarity between the bad boys poster and the end of watch poster would be that all three police officer with weapons are wielding weapons that you would associate with gangs, Michael Pena holds a golden AK-47 in the end of watch poster which would suggest that there is some form of gang activity in the film due to the gangster-esq style of the weapon. 
The point break poster shows a large wave with the caption "pure adrenaline edition" which instantly exhilarates the audience as the large wave suggests that there will be some form of danger, likewise in the end of watch poster Michael Pena is holding his weapon in a way that would suggest he is gearing up for a fight, this creates a sense of excitement amongst the audience and we are drawn to it.


The thriller sub-genre that appeals to me the most is the psychological thriller as it is the sub-genre that my thriller opening sequence would most likely be placed in due to the style of seeing the world through the killers eyes and sympathising with him, seeing his mental struggle and dilemas, in my protagonists case the opponent he wishes to overthrow in order to keep a sense of peace is himself. His doubts of himself and his morales and we question why he really kills throughout the film, does he kill to protect his family or does he kill for his own pleasure? Another genre that would appeal to me and would be most relatable to my opening sequence would be crime-thriller, as we are seeing the world from the criminal's perspective, there may be elements of police officers unfurling the mystery f the deaths and making the connection and inevitably coming closer and closer to discovering the truth about our killer which would be a good source of tension throughout the film. 

Genre difference, repetition and similarity.

Unlike genres such as western or sci-fi, the thriller genre is very diverse, of course certain conventions follow through most thrillers. We primarily associate tension and suspense with the thriller genre, we are kept on the edges of our seats throughout thrillers, that's what makes them exciting to watch and different from other genres of film.

Here are two films that fall into the thriller genre:



Although these films are in the same genre, they are extremely different from one another. The first major difference between the two is that one was set in the real world and was based on actual events. Lone Survivor is a military film heavily orientated around confrontation and the physical and mental struggle the soldiers went through, there is endless shots of death and heavy blood. The story follows a very linear narrative following a group of soldiers fighting until death to leave a lone survivor who is rescued by the u.s army. The film starts with a flash forward of  This is a totally different plot and narrative to Inception where all the action is placed inside dreams, tension is created through the characters and what they get up to in the plot rather than creating tension through realistic events such as the Taliban coming breathtakingly close to the hiding spot of the protagonist






 Being a military film, the characters tended to be in either military uniform or rags and turbans this contrasts the costume used in inception which typically consisted of suits as shown in the poster. However although these films have a large amount of differences, they share the same fundamentals. As a thriller they both create a great deal of tension, there are many occasions in the film where we are left with our hearts pounding. For example when we don't know whether Cobb will spend his eternity in "Limbo" or if he will return to the real world in inception, or when the four soldiers throw themselves of a 40ft cliff to save themselves from the advancing Taliban forces.

Feedback

When I pitched my second idea to the classI received various pieces of feedback from my media teacher and the students, the feedback primarily consisted of approval for the segment of my idea with the P.O.V shot looking up at the killer dragging you through a forrest at night, I think this was due to the visceral impact that shot would. However with complements came criticism, I was told that that particular shot would be difficult to film in a professional way, and that it would most likely come out differently to how I envisioned. Also I was told that my idea swayed slightly toward the horror genre rather than the thriller genre. This was an issue to me as at first I had little clue as to how I could change my idea in order to make it a thriller.

I have taken on board the criticisms and also the praise and my group and I have worked on a new idea consisting of a montage of various P.O.V shots, we effectively built on the aspect of my idea that we all liked and thought was effective.

Thriller Ideas

 1. Plot: An office worker hates his job, his fiancé has been killed in a car accident the previous month with a baby on the way. He now struggles with alcoholism and financial difficulties. He struggles through each day until he just can’t take the stress any longer. A stranger stops him from killing himself and tells him that the death of his fiancé was no accident. The film follows him as he seeks vengeance against the killers of his fiancé and he gradually unravels the truth behind the murder. who is he? and what has he become?

Opening Sequence: In the opening sequence we see him live a day in his depressing life, starting from waking up in his dump of an apartment, then to the workplace and to conclude, him stepping of his office building (but before he steps off there’s a blackout otherwise it would not make sense in the story)

2. Plot: A sadistic killer is stalking the local woodland village. Praying on the vulnerable, abducting them then terrorising them and brainwashing them until they kill for hi. He becomes a “Fagin” as his loving murderous slaves do his bidding and slaughter the innocent people of the village. The film climaxes with all of the murderers donning masks and setting fire to the village. The camera zooms out as the disturbing yet cinematic sight of burning houses amongst the forrest comes into view.

Opening Sequence: In the opening sequence we see the serial killer dragging a victim through the moonlit forrest by his feet, (i have a very detailed technical idea for this) the scene cuts to a warehouse where the killer has strung his victim up like pig meat. Instead of slaughtering the victim he throws him into a room full of the devoted murdering townsfolk. The sequence ends with a group of the murderers putting on their masks and walking towards a loud teenage house party.

3. Plot: A low level criminal is the ring leader of his gang, they terrorise the city, mugging people, fighting other gangs and holding up convenience stores. But the fun’s over. The ring leader gets arrested and spends his prison days trying to stay alive as rival gang inmates hunt him. Several failed break out attempts and beatings later he is unleashed on the streets once again, twice as tough and out to get the men that made his life a misery.

Opening Sequence: In the opening sequence we see a montage of the ring leader and his gang committing multiple crimes e.g. smashing up shops, stealing cars, fighting other gangs and robbing shops. The late teens run from the police but the ring leader runs down a dead end, “STOP, POLICE!” is heard and there’s a cut to the ring leader being profiled in prison holding his identification card in front of the height scale as flash photographs are being taken.

4. plot: A group of teenagers are playing hide and seek in a forrest, their game is unexpectedly interrupted by an un natural presence. The film includes high octane hunt for the missing children and an investigation to discover what was in that forrest with them that night. This is presented through a series of interviews and different perspectives, a murder mystery kind of thing with multiple suspects..but who did it?

Opening Sequence:
In the opening sequence we see the group of teens playing in the woods at night, they are slightly drunk and thought it would be fun to come out at night. One of the teens finds himself alone he hears noises amongst the bushes, the tone changes as we assume he’s in danger, however it turns out to be his friend. But then we see through the eyes of the mysterious presence, watching the group. “Who’s that?” - black out.

5. Plot: man who's had enough of his office job becomes sick and tired of slaving away everyday. There’s clearly some form of psychological trauma there, he can’t take it anymore and a colleague tips him over the edge. Out of spontaneous rage he kills him in the cold back alleys, to then regret it, and collapse into a breakdown. He then realises that actually he has a sort of lust for killing. However as his psychological problems and quality of life improve, he starts to realise what a monster he’s become, and throws himself of the roof of his office block.

Opening sequence:  Man gets out of bed and prepares himself for the day. we see how poor his living conditions are. As he prepares himself we see likenesses to murder (similar to dexter). 

OR: he walks to work he sees sirens and police cars drive past. A policeman in front of him points his gun at him and tells him to stop, but he’s talking to a man over his shoulder, our protagonist falls to his knees and puts his hands behind his head, shaking.

OR: Shots from inside the office he works at, how monotonous his everyday work is, how the people surrounding him are nasty and vindictive, and then perhaps one guy in particular stands out as a “bully” character, the scene moves to a bus stop maybe and the other guy pushes the protagonist around for a few seconds before he cant take it anymore and slams him down a flight of stairs (but we don't see that, we just see the shove)

Originally my group chose my second idea to pursue as the opening sequence due to it's visual elements, for example the p.o.v dragging through a wood.

MY GROUP'S IDEAS.

Idea A- 

 1) A film about a young girl and her love for her father. He has been taken and she goes to find him. Throughout her search we see flashbacks of her life and how it is a well off family but her mother was killed when she was young and how her father has trained her up to be an incredible fighter/ assassin. She finds her father however is too late he has been killed, she gets her revenge however it is left on a cliff hanger about a mission to find her baby sister.

 2) It starts with showing a room full of maps, newspaper clippings, letters and pictures from CCTV and a picture of a man. We then see a fairly young girl age ten, well groomed looking through this information. We then see her fill up a bag with survival kit (matches, money, food , water and maps.) She takes a couple of the documents which are pinned to the walls down places them in her bag. Finally grabs a gun and heads out of the room.

Idea B- Stolen 

 1) This is a film about how dolls are alive, and not murderers but are always there lurking in the shadows. These dolls control the happenings of the people they surround. It is about a family who’s daughter starts to slowly change and how when bad things happen to her those who do the bad things are punished. It ends with the family burning the doll.

 2) We see a girl playing with a porcelain doll. She gets ready for bed and puts the doll away, in a shut cupboard. Then we see her go to sleep and wake up the next morning with this doll staring right into her face. This whole sequence is shot from the dolls point of view though. We still can see the doll through the mirror at the beginning.

Idea C- 

 1) A thrilling film on how a woman gets mixed up in an undercover operation in the American military to find an undercover spy fighting in the war.

 2) Typical British rainy day, we see a dog walker walking her dog on a pebbly beach. Whilst the dog is playing around in the sand it comes back with a bottle with a message in it. The message says: 278, Collogosmia, Afghanistan. It also includes a plane ticket to Afghanistan.

Idea D- 

 1)This film is about the abuse both physically and mentally a woman commits on her husband. It shows it from a neighbours point of view, we hear it and see the repercussions (but looking sympathetically to her, she has bruises) but not the actual fighting. We therefore think it’s the man that is the abuser. It shows her plan to get him sent to jail for the supposed abuse and then consequently steal all his money.

 2) The opening sequence is in the neighbours house where we hear banging and crashing, we then hear shouting. It ends on the neighbour ringing the door bell but getting no answer.

Genre

What is a Genre?

Genre is a way to categorise media texts using conventions. e.g. Thriller.

Genre is used to specify the category that a media text falls into, if there was no genre then audiences would not know whether they want to watch a film or not, genre allows us as an audience to find films in the same category, if we liked an action film and we wanted to find another one we simply look up the genre. From there actors, directors and writers will be exposed to us, we can then decide what film we want to buy. Genre is useful for both the audience and the institutions.

What is a Hybrid-Genre?

A hybrid-genre is two recognised genres combined to make a new genre. e.g. Action Thriller.

Conventions? A genre convention is anything you associate with a specific genre. e.g a machine gun in an action film, or a rose in a romance.

Examples of different Genres:


ACTION: Action films are heavily Action orientated, meaning there's plenty of guns, explosions and usually big muscly men with serious, foreign voices. The expendables would be a prime example, I don't think i've ever seen so many explosions crammed into 90 minutes before, and though some critics may deem the expendables a comedy film, it is probably the best example of an action film.







WESTERN: Western's are often criticised for being too similar and repetitive due to the exact same location being used most of the time, being dustbowl years California. Such conventions as Horses, Stetson hats, revolvers and moonshine would show up in westerns, the plot line usually follows an outlaw rebelling against the system however there are westerns known for following the sheriff of a small desert town  opposing a strong rebel force. 

ROMANCE: Romance films are eye watering (either eye wateringly cringey or eye watering beautiful...this perspective difference often depends on your gender) ballads of love often between unexpected candidates, or maybe a spontaneous fling on holiday...just a guess. Roses, sex and perfect people would be the main conventions in a romance film.




COMEDY: Comedy films are accessible to anyone of any age and are introduced to us at a young age, the narrative is often exaggerative and unusual, and follows the outcasts of society in their quest for success, its almost morbid watching the weak fail and then laugh about it, but that's comedy. It may also be humorous to include actors that are typically the strong members of society, or simply to use actors that are generally used in comedy films e.g. Will Ferrell. There are few conventions that come up in comedy's other than the satirical, sarcastic humor that is evident from the outset.

The Preliminary Task (continued)

Editing my prelim task. During the editing process of my preliminary task i learned a lot about editing using Adobe premiere pro cc. For example I learned how to cut between the different shots quickly and easily, and how to make the cuts look fluid and clean by using the match on action cut. This is where you cut to the next shot on a movement e.g a character picking up a mug at a wide shot then cutting to a close up of the mug as the hand moves down to pick it up. The eye is distracted by the movement so the cut is far less noticeable. I also learned how to insert sound effects into the video, for example in my video we use the sound effect of a gun shot, i was able to insert this precisely using the arrow keys to slow down the speed of the clip to accurately place the gun shot when the the trigger is pulled. This was useful and effective. I was taught different useful techniques by Matt and Paul who work in the film studio and editing suite. They taught me how to put all the useful shots into another folder to make the process of selecting the shots to be put into video easier. They taught me two very important rules that applied to editing my video which were to save after every action in case the computer crashed, saving after every action means that i wouldn't lose any progress in the event of a crash. The other important rule was to not delete any shots after they've been used because if something went wrong and you had to re-do the scene then you would not have any of the good shots that you want to use.

To the right is a video clip from the T.V show "Friends", the clip is a good demonstration of the match on action cut.







Some examples of how I edited shots in my prelim task are as follows:

 

An example of how I used a cut on action in the prelim task. I entered the room and as i was walking towards the other character I cut to a close up of my face. This was probably the most effective cut that i used when editing the video. The cut looked good because the transition was fluid and smooth. To capture the right moment to cut I slowed down the shots of me walking through the door and the close up of my face so that i could find a point where I was doing the same thing e.g when my facial expression was the same and when i was in the same position in room.

Later on the video, in the section where we created our own sequence I particularly liked how we edited these shots of freddie.
I used a close up of Freddie to show his emotion, then I cut to an extreme close up of his eyes to further stress his fear and sadness, before cutting to an extreme close up of his finger on the trigger of a gun which is angled upwards against his throat.

 Next time I use the editing software I will focus on improving the speed at which I work at, as I produced my final product slowly because i was to cautious with my actions, also i will put all of the shots that I will be using into a separate file before I start to cut them together because i lost a lot of time scrolling through all of the different shots trying to find the right one.

 To the left is the preliminary task that I filmed and edited.

            Task overview

I found the task simple and easy to shoot, my group cooperated well and our communication skills were good when working out problems such as which shot would be best for whatever moment, we would debate as a group and come to a decision that we were all happy with, this process would not take long which gave us plenty of time to be creative after we finished the initial task. The main lesson I have learned through the process of the preliminary task is that I should always make sure that I have the shots before finishing the shoot, in the editing part of the task i found myself struggling to find good enough shots for the scene. I can take forward many skills to my production group when filming the thriller opening sequence, most of which I have learned from the prelim task and have developed them further. These skills include: The ability to see where a cut would look good in the editing process and  the ability to create interesting shots with the camera in the filming process which creates a different and individual dynamic to the final product. It will take time to develop and perfect my skills as an editor/camera operator/director, i will aim to improve these skills through practical operation of the Sony NX-5 semi-professional video recorder in the studio, and by editing footage filmed on that camera in the editing suite, I have adobe Premiere available to me at home so I will familiarise myself with the settings and the layout over time.