Representation of Gender- Grid notes

These are my notes from watching the clip from Doctor Who, which OCR has used to show how gender is being presented. This clip I felt was particularly effective in displaying the different genders, through the use of camera angles, sound, editing and Mise en scene. A very clear example of the way the clip showed how the man has more power is when he was shot from a low angle, to make him feel more powerful and big, whilst the girl was shot from a high angle to make her appear small and weak.  This was the first time we looked at an element of society and had to analyse a video clip, but I feel the task went well as I understood what was asked of us exactly.

Representation of Age- Grid notes

These are my notes from the 5 minute clip we watched in class from 'Monarch of the Glen', which was used to represent age. On every representation type, we need to take into account how the specific society element has been presented due to camera angles, sound, editing and the Mise en scene. The image shows my notes for the representation of age in the clip. I feel that this clip represented age well, as the conventions of young people was clear and fairly easy to pick out, along with older people and adults. This came down to things such as style of clothing, what they said, and how they reacted to situations, as shown on my grid of notes.

Group Discussion- Our initial and final idea(s) for our project

This is the discussion we had to talk about all of the current ideas we have thought of, and also to finalise our idea that we will carry forward and film for our project video. We talked about each idea, what was good with it, what was bad about it, and ultimately if we can make this in real life. We found out that our Heist idea was too unrealistic and would be very difficult to produce. Then we spoke about the crime film we thought of. But we said that us as teenagers, wouldn't make convincing criminals and also we would film it in black and white; however on screen this would not look right as gangsters are primarily associated with adults and older men, such as The Godfather. Then we spoke about our idea of the terrorist film. This is our final idea; because we believe we can actually film the things required for this idea and that is is realistic, and achievable. We have all got a good image of what we want to film, and how we will edit it to achieve our desired look.

Title sequences

A film can open in different ways. One way a film can open is using a title sequence. This will include a series of clips from the film, which have text overlaying the clips to showcase the people involved in the film. This is less common within Thriller films. They are more commonly opened with engaging shots and mise-en-scene to draw the viewers in, and make then intrigued as to what they are seeing.

The film Seven is a great example of title sequences that use a series of clips along with titles showcasing the credits.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEq-4fua3lM

As you can see from the clip, director David Fincher has used a montage of seemingly disturbing images and content, along with well edited titles that are shaky and unstable. The use of these disturbing images and effective text gets the audience in an uncomfortable, chilling mindset. The tone of the title sequence furthermore establishes the tone for the whole film; the audience recognise these disturbing images and then can only assume the rest of the film will showcase similar things as such. This is primarily due to the intensity of the raw images; we can only expect the rest of the film to have the same elements as in the title sequence.


 




The other way films can open is by using engaging shots and settings, using establishing shots to give information to the viewer. There is no text in this opening; just engaging shots and footage of the characters involved in the film. An example of this is from 'The Dark Knight' and the opening scene is very effective and really does draw the audience in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OYBEquZ_j0

As you can see from the clip, the opening to the film features a wide shot of a zoom in towards a building. The music playing behind this clip, and the whole scene, is very effective and provides tension and unease for the clip. The sound is escalating throughout the clip, which adds to the tension. There are a range of shots, including fast paced shots and editing, to give an overall fast paced opening that truly engages the audience. No text is needed in this sense, just an opening bank robbery scene that sets the tone for the film and to tell the viewers to be expecting a lot of crime elements in this film. The image from the opening is particularly effective as the prop of a clown mask the person is holding. This is a symbolical sign for fear, and just by the use of this mask the audience can expect to see something bad happen in the scene to come. Also the way the person is standing on his own at the street; it connotes that he's an outsider ready to do something bad.

The Mark scheme

We have been given a mark scheme for our coursework project. The mark scheme has all of the information and guidelines in it, so we know what we should be doing. There are specific guidelines for each sector of our coursework, such as the actual video and audio, the research and planning, and the evaluation.

Here are some of the guidelines given for the video section: 

There is evidence of proficiency in the creative use of many of the following technical skills: 

• holding a shot steady, where appropriate; 

• framing a shot, including and excluding elements as appropriate; 

• using a variety of shot distances as appropriate; 

• shooting material appropriate to the task set; 

• selecting mise-en-scène including colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting; 

• editing so that meaning is apparent to the viewer; 

• using varied shot transitions and other effects selectively and appropriately for the task set; 

• using sound with images and editing appropriately for the task set; 

• using titles appropriately. 

As you can see here, these are the level 3 requirements for the video. We will need to be able to hold a shot steady, using equipment such as tripods. This will make the video automatically look more professional as there is no shaky footage unless intended. We will also need to look our for our framing; deciding carefully what to include in the shot and what not to include in the shot. Also we are marked on our variety of shot distances; to make sure we don't only use close up shots for example, we need a wider array of shot types. Our mise-en-scène also needs to be considered, taking the colour, figure, lighting, objects and setting into account. We can't just film in any setting or area without justifying why; it needs to fit our specific genre. Editing will also be taken into account, meaning needs to be conveyed to the viewer. This means that we can't edit our video so that it doesn't make sense and seems erratic, it needs to be edited in a way that it makes sense and the viewer can understand and comprehend what's happening.We will also need to use varied shot transitions to engage the audience, and when it comes down tot titles, this will also need to be done. 

Here are some of the guidelines for the audio section:

There is evidence of proficiency in the creative use of many of the following technical skills: 

• recording voice(s) clearly in studio/confined setting; 
• recording voice(s) clearly in location/outdoor interviews/presentations; 
• accurately using language and register; 
• integrating recorded material, as appropriate; 
• editing and mixing sounds appropriately; 
• editing to create continuity and meaning; 
• integrating jingles, music, location sounds and sound effects, where appropriate. 

Audio is also very important in our video. We will need to produce and record professional audio to make our video more respectable; if we used in-audio sound on the camera the audio will be a lower quality and sound unprofessional. We will also need to take into account where we record the audio, such as indoors or outdoors. The language we say for our audio needs to be respectable; it's not good if we talk slang when it does not fit the film. The way we edit and mix the sound will have to be in time with the footage, also will have to match the correct footage, we will definitely loose marks if we have video that doesn't match the audio. 'intergrating jingles, music, location sounds and sound effects, where appropriate'. This will test us on our ability to mix different types of sound to achieve an effect. Using sound effects is important as they can either work or not work. So we must make sure any external sounds are appropriate and fit in with the video.

Here are the guidelines for the research and planning section:

• There is excellent research into similar products and a potential target audience. 
• There is excellent organisation of actors, locations, costumes or props. 
• There is excellent work on shotlists, layouts, drafting, scripting or storyboarding. 
• Time management is excellent. 
• There is excellent use of digital technology or ICT in the presentation. 

The main thing with the research is to research into similar products and content, and then to utilise this research with our own planning and ideas. We will have to take into account the audience and their expectations of the Thriller genre, we will gain this knowledge using our research such as surveys. It will not be good if we make a 2 minute Thriller opening that doesn't include typical conventions and styles of thriller films, things which we can easily determine using our research.

What is a Thriller film?

As our coursework is to create a two minute opening to a thriller film, it's probably best to actually know what a thriller is.

Thriller films can be defined as films that create suspense, tension, excitement as the primary elements. These attributes work together to really draw the audience in, and make them glued to the screen with amazement; the tension doesn't allow them to turn their attention elsewhere. Thriller films particularly play with the audience's mood; such as making them feel anticipation, uncertainty, terror, anxiety and so on.

The main certain conventions of the thriller genre is things like quick camera cuts, tense and/or eerie music, complex characters, low levels of lighting, plot twists and an overall gritty, or unsettling tone. Thrillers can be seperated into sub-genres such as: crime thrillers, action thrillers, psychological thrillers, political thrillers and so on. These are all your typical thriller films but with a different overall direction; the substance of each sub-genre is different.

A prime example of a thriller film is Shutter Island. This films includes all of the conventions I have mentioned above,along with a clever plot twist. Thriller films also are made to challenge the viewers intellectually; and not spoon feeding them all the information. This film also just does that; it challenges as to how well they're paying attention and doesn't spoon feed them with information. As well as lots of eerie and tense music in the film, the tone of the film is very unsettling and impacts the audiences mood to make them feel anxious.

Group research- Audio discussion-

As you can hear from our discussion, we have been talking about our research we have done and put it together to further utilise the data and make sense of it all.

I spoke about how I did some secondary research, by this I researched other peoples blogs about the Thriller genre, and the conventions that surround it. I understood how other people view the genre and how they understand it, this furthermore helped me to understand what exactly we need to do for our task. After, I talked about how I examined the mark scheme. There was a set of questions within the mark scheme that I began to look at and to understand. I answered the questions I could, some of the others required our product to be completed.

Aayush talked about his survey. His survey gave us a good insight on what the audience expect for Thriller films. We discovered that they like in terms of characters, people that reflect upon other peoples and themes in today's world. We are now thinking to try and apply this idea into our two minute thriller opening. We also found at that the audience like and expect to see fast camera cuts in Thriller films, so we will definitely be looking to apply this to our opening.

Benoit talked about how he examined the openings of some Thriller films such as 'Seven'. He talked about the things he saw and how the director chooses to execute the opening. Such as with Seven, there was a montage of graphic extreme images to make the audience feel uncomfortable, and to hint at the overall direction of the film. He has done the same task to other Thriller films for our research.

Jamie has been looking at the specific conventions in Thriller films, such as the camera angles and sound. He found out the main purpose of of Thriller films is to create suspense, and one way to do this is to use slow eerie music, along with slow paced shots. He also thought the main convention of Thriller films is the thing that creates the suspense

Coursework- Addressing the Evaluation questions

In our mark scheme, the coursework evaluation requires us to answer the following questions:

• In what ways does your media product use, develop or challenge forms and conventions of real media products?

• How does your media product represent particular social groups?

• What kind of media institution might distribute your media product and why?

• Who would be the audience for your media product?

• How did you attract/address your audience?






Firstly, I believe our product uses conventions of real media Thriller film products because of the following. Our opening will include tension. Most thriller films will feature some kind of tension within their opening scenes, and we too will be doing this for our product. Also, our opening two minute scene will have similar colours and contrasts for our footage, darker colours so the tone is less positive, this is a common convention for thriller films, they all have darker colour pallets. Also we will be using similar camera angles in our product like the ones in mainstream thriller films. 

A media institution that may distribute our media product would be a film production company, that mainly involves independent thriller films. 

The audience of our media product is older, more maturer audiences. We think that teenagers aged 15 and above will enjoy this feature, and adults too. More older audiences can appreciate thriller films more as they're more likely to accept the tone, understand the character developments, the script and so on. Audiences who like action films should like this two minute thriller opening. 

We will be attracting and addressing our target audience through the use of our conventions within our two minute product. We will make our product alluring by including conventions used to produce a good thriller such as: quick camera cuts, suspense, interesting narrative, twists, hidden meaning and reflecting people within society. We believe these conventions can lure in out target audience effectively. 

Secondary research- Thrillers

Recently I have been researching on the internet to try and find some secondary research for our project. I have found some research from this source: http://www.slideshare.net/dyamfool/thriller-genre-research

On an uploaded Slideshare the user said how thriller films are more popular amongst people under the age of 25, and more commonly more popular with the females. This can be reinforcing the results that Aayush attained from his survey, as 60% of the people who completed the survey were female. Whereas 40% were male. Furthermore the people who completed the survey were mostly either 24+ or 15-19. This supports the claim stated by the user, and we think this supports our primary research.

The picture above shows how the user is talking about the typical codes and conventions of thriller films. People in Aayush's survey also stated they expected to see quick cuts, fast pace, tenser music, and dark lighting. These conventions are needed within a thriller because it keeps the tone uncomfortable, and mysterious. For example eerie music and quick cuts are in a film like Seven, here is a Youtube clip to show this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3INW_XHHV0

As you can see from the clip, the film includes very fast paced eerie music, and quick cuts from the camera to present the idea of dread. These are some of the main characteristics of thrillers and which is why Seven is such a defining thriller film.

Gender presentation in the media

Recently in Miss Brown's media classes we have been discussing how gender is shown in TV, film, and the media overall. As an assignment, we had to get into pairs and pick a TV drama and analyse how the different genders are being presented, and then present our ideas to the class. Me and Aayush chose to do a clip from 'Friends', we thought this clip showed gender clearly and was a good clip to use. The clip is linked below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ne54mgfAcs

The first thing said in the clip is by Chandler and he says 'Those were like the best seats ever'. This fairly obviously suggests they just went to a football game, as men love going to see sports live and very much care about where they sit; a stereotype of men.

Both the men's flat and women's flat display iconography to present each gender. The men's flat has simple colours, and more importantly a Foosball table. Men are often associated with liking football and love to play Foosball, therefore. This is a masculine game and men like to play it, which is why it is in the men's apartment. However in the women's apartment, we instantly see more girly colours such as purple. This connotes to feminine colours and which is why it is used in the girls apartment. This contrasts to the more plain colours in the men's flat, and also portrays how men don't care too much about colours in their home, however women love decorating and colours within their home.

The clip in addition presents how women are great and know how to manipulate men, using something sexual such as kissing each other. When they propose this to Joey and Chandler, they look surprised instantly, and then it cuts to a shot of them walking back into their apartment as in they just watched them kiss and then left.Furthermore, this presents how men love to experience acts of sexual nature and how they go with it, through the use of Chandler and Joey's reactions to the offer. Also it shows how women manipulate men very well using their features and sex.

Lastly the facial expressions of the characters can depict how gender is represented also. The men seem to have more angry, shocked faces whereas the women have calmer, more relaxed facial expressions. This shows how men get angry more and more easier than women, and how women will remain calm and try to calm the man down.

The coursework- Introduction

Recently in Media Studies, we have been assigned and began to start our year 12 coursework. In groups of 3's or 4's, our overall task is to create the first 2 minutes of the opening to a Thriller film. We have to research, plan, develop and construct, so that our final piece is as good as it can be and thought and work has been put into it.

A lot of emphasis is being put into the research stage. This is because we need to make sure everything is right; we include the right conventions in our film, we need to make sure it can satisfy audiences for which we have used a survey. The survey was done by a member in our group and asks questions about Thriller films. Some questions touched on what people expect to see in a thriller, what kind of characters, music, how it climaxes etc. We thought the survey was a great thing for us as we have now gained some more insight on how we should approach the thriller opening, and additionally understand what the audience wants to see, and what they expect to see. The survey is linked below:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/QB7H68D

So far for the research stage I have looked into and wrote about the mark scheme. I will be picking out what exactly we need to do to gain the most marks, answer some questions about the mark scheme, and what we need to do for each stage such as plan, film and edit.

We have also been researching into thriller films to see what makes a thriller good, what makes a thriller bad, and what thrillers audiences like the most.

The Horror Cycle

Recently in Media Studies we have been talking about the horror genre and how it seems to have a cycle, as by looking at the horror genre through the years, since the 1930's. As you can see by the picture of my notes, the things in horror films that are made to scare the audiences change as time goes on. During the 1930's it was monsters that were the main attraction, such as Frankenstein, who is a man who has returned from the dead, werewolves, animal monsters etc. When these monsters were first introduced the audiences loved them, and they were entertained by this. But the problem with this was that it all became predictable; people could see what's coming with these types of horror films. Therefore the genre needed to evolve as the audience has become desentitised.

In the 1960's,  Alfred Hitchcock's revolutionary thriller/horror film 'Psycho' was introduced. This is an iconic film and is considered essential cinema. This is due to the fact that the film makes the audiences at the time ask themselves, 'Where are you safe?'. The main character in the film is murdered in her shower. Audiences were shocked to the bone with this, to think even in the comfort of your own bathroom you're not really safe; this was what Hitchcock intended for and what made Psycho so impactful. The shower scene nowadays is iconic for true horror, and a very famous scene in a film. In addition, the reason why this film was such a hit was because Hitchcock went against the audiences expectations. Audiences at the time expected the main character to be in the film at all times, throughout the film. It was only when Hitchcock killed off his main character quite early on in the film this changed the audiences mind, and the fact that the danger and horror of the film came to someones house, their bathroom, this terrified the audiences and even made them scared to have a shower, which seems irrational but at the time this was true.

The 1970's thrived on 'slasher' films. People wanted some more fun, gruesome horror films such as Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  This grossed the audience out with all the blood in the films, but ultimately the audiences enjoyed these films.

Another iconic film came out in the 1980's 'A nightmare on Elm street'. This film was about people, in their dreams, getting violently hurt and murdered by a man with razor sharp claws for hands named Freddie Kruger. The tag line for the film was' If Sally doesn't wake up screaming, she won't wake up at all.' This made people terrified, and therefore sleeping became very uncomfortable for them, with the likes of the film in their mind. This then turned into a well known franchise across the world.

In the 1990's and onwards, horror was dominated by teen horrors. Films such as Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Friday the 13th etc were very popular. This had a targeted audience of young teenagers, to try and get them to spend their money and see these films, which succeeded. These films were very popular and are still popular nowadays, they are enjoyable as well as entertaining and bloody.

Narrative

In films and TV, the way in which the story is told and how the events are put together and presented to the audience is called the 'narrative'. This is different from the story line, which is just what exactly happens in the film. This means that when analysing a narrative, you analyse the construction of the story, and how it has been put together, rather than the actual story itself. Also the story should be taken into account in basic terms, such as the theme of the story such as love, war, fate etc.

When it comes to analysing a narrative, certain things need to be taken into account. Firstly technical codes. This involves all the aspects of the narrative construction that use technical decision making, such as camera angles and movement, lighting, editing, sounds shot framing and so on. These features can help give meaning such as shooting from a low angle shot to make it look like the subject is more powerful. Another thing is verbal codes. This involves the use of language- written and spoken- and signs contained in graphics for example. The best considered narratives show rather than tell, leaving the audience to draw their own interpretations and conclusion is better for them. Symbolic codes come under the same feature, such as a person in a film wearing an expensive suit and tie, can suggest they are a rich character who has importance.

A Russian theorist called Tzvetan Tdorov suggested that all narratives follow a three part structure. They start with an equilibrium, where the film so far is all balanced, everything is at peace. Followed by something to disrupt this balance, the dis-equilibrium, and then finally it will reach a resolution to become the new equilibrium. This simple idea can be applied to all narratives. Such as in an action film, everything is balanced until the villain(s) come along and ruin the balance, then its up to the protagonist to resolve the issue and make everything okay again. Such as Spider man films with the green goblin.

The Male Gaze- Theory by Laura Mulvey

Laura Mulvey was a theorist who introduced the theory known to be called 'The Male Gaze'. This is when in films, TV and media in general, audiences are given the view of women characters through the perspective of heterosexual males. Furthermore, the camera will focus on the curves of the female body, and shows how the men react to these events. This feature can be interpreted as relegating women to the status of an object. Viewers that are female have to witness the narrative second hand, through the eyes of a male, this makes people think that this is all sexist towards women. In addition this shows men's dominance over women, and how men are in control. Here are some images from films where this theory is put to use:



Another idea of this theory is all about visual pleasure. Women are focused on in the films to reveal their beauty and features, to satisfy the audience and narrative in a sexual way. The audience see the women as an object and see her sexuality, but the audience like this and expect it. A good example of this is in perfume/aftershave adverts. These types of adverts on TV will always feature a woman provocatively dresses attracted to the man with the perfume, and this is what the viewers experience and believe. The woman's features will be easily seen and will be focused on. This encourages people to buy the products when they see this kind of material. The poster for Dior's j'adore perfume for women is a prime example of this; women want to be like this woman below and so they buy the perfume to satisfy themselves.

'Terror in the night'

Recently in Media Studies, we were assigned to get into groups of 3 or 4 and to produce a 10 shot storyboard titled 'Terror in the night'. The groups were dependent on certain skills we said we would prefer to do such as technical, planning, leadership and so on. Once we had thought of an idea for the short, we had to transfer this idea onto a storyboard with 10 shots. We had to draw the images onto the shots and include additional information, such as the shot type was very important, the duration, the effects/transitions and camera motion and so on.

Once this was done, we were then assigned to further develop the storyboard and then make it into a digital animatic. This was done by taking pictures of the shots and editing them together, using music and sound effects to create a visually represented storyboard with sound. This was a really useful task, as it will help us when it comes to creating the trailer for our short Thriller film we will be developing for coursework. The animatic also helped establish a certain tone we were aiming for which is harder to show on just pieces of paper. The animatic we made is shown below:

We were all happy with the animatic and think it represents our storyboard very well, and achieves a good effect of chilling the audience.

Camera shots in a film extract

Recently in Miss Brown's classes, we have been learning about and understanding camera shots and how they can be effective. Some of the shots we have talked about are Aerial shots, tracking shots, Tilt shots, Pan shots and so on. After we looked at examples of these shots in films such as The Fast and The Furious, Pulp Fiction etc. We talked about why the director chose to use these type of shots, and how it affects the audience whilst they are watching the film. The way the camera shoots the scene is significant; it makes for more meaning. Using the same camera positions and movements for large sections of the film will not be effective, and will make the audience feel un-interested. because it is less engaging for them. For example an 'over the shoulder' tracking shot will make the audience feel like they're with the character in the film, and therefore feel much more engaged with the film.

Using this knowledge we were taught, we had to for homework watch a two minute clip from a film of our choice and pick out all of the key camera angles and methods used. This task helped us to apply our knowledge of camera shots to a real film of our choice. I chose to study 'Shutter Island' and picked out some certain shots from the introduction of the film.

The first shot I talked about was an extreme wide shot, aerial shot of Shutter Island. I talked about how this shot acts as an establishing shot which introduces the location, and how it builds tension for the film because the island looks so isolated and mysterious, and how the island is completely surrounded by the sea. Because of these two aspects of the film the audience can't help but feel drawn in to the film.

The second shot I talked about was a pan shot which pans past a large, old mental asylum on the island. The camera is positioned in the vehicle driving past, so when the camera reveals and pans past the asylum, the scale of the building looks massive and also therefore looks significantly intimidating. Furthermore I talked about how this shot builds up a sense of dread as to the building looking so intimidating and sinister.

The last shot I talked about was another pan shot which pans past some barbed wire on the fence system. Similarly, I talked about how this builds up dread for the audience, knowing that the island is full of insane people, a pan shot showing all the barbed wire makes the audience feel scared of what is to come.

I felt this homework task went well and I understood what I was talking about in terms of camera angles and shot types, and how this affects the film.

Semiotics

Recently in Media studies, we have talked about Semiotics and what is meant by this term. Semiotics involves signifiers; and is a way of visually identifying objects due to pre-knowledge of the object before. We have gathered this information from the past due to media, experiences or our own perceptions of things in general. Such as being told from a young age a chair is a chair, therefore for the rest of our life we will always associate a chair as a chair, nothing else. Anyone else who tells us otherwise, we will disagree and tell them they're wrong, based on our knowledge of what this object is.

Signs denote the literal meaning on an object. Such as the object of a chair denotes the real meaning of a chair. Semiotics come in three parts: Icons, Symbols and indexical. The icon works through resemblance. For example, show anybody a picture of the S on a blue shirt and they will instantly think of Superman, without hesitation. This is because from a very young age the media has shown them many things about Superman, such as in films and in comic books; therefore the S is an icon for Superman.  Symbols works from things which are learned; or are arbitrary signs such as words. So the S on a shirt may be iconic for Superman, but what does it symbolise? It symbolises  the alien from another planet, who has super-human powers and can save the world from any type of danger. It also symbolises Clark Kent. All of this knowledge has been gained from a young age furthermore, like from seeing the old Superman films, and moreover reading the comic books to be taught this information. Something that is indexical works through a causal link. This means something like hearing the word Superman, then associating this word with superheroes. This is a casual link and everybody can make these associations of Superman with superheroes. Therefore, the S sign of Superman is polysemic. A polysemic sign is something that accounts for the icon, symbol and index.

Using our knowledge of Semiotics and our understanding of it so far, we were assigned to analyse a short clip from the film 'Titanic'. We had to firstly watch the clip and apply our knowledge of Semiotics to it, then we had to write a short essay on it. I thought this task and the essay went fairly well, and I understood the tasks well. We had to talk about how Cameron conveyed meaning through the use of Semiotics and what it symbolised. There were a range of Semiotics used, from the way the characters are clothed, music, lighting, sound, camera movements and so on.This was an interesting task and got me to think about all of the symbols in films that are less likely to be noticed, and the way in which directors wish to convey meaning.

Do generic conventions help or restrict filmmakers?

I believe there are two valid arguments for this, generic conventions can help and also restrict filmmakers. It helps them because give filmmakers a genre for their film, and because of all the standardized conventions for this genre, they will have a solid outline of what kind of things to include in their film. For example, tell filmmakers they need to make an action film, they would automatically know to include guns, action stars like Jason Statham, explosions and slick fight scenes.

However, generic conventions also considerably restrict filmmakers to what they can really do and explore further into their genre for the film. For example, action films can be considered restricted to just having explosions, guns and fighting scenes. It's rare to see action films that branch out from being conventional, and to find action films with sustained love interests for example and drama. In addition, filmmakers are restricted in the genre of horror. Horror films nowadays are all incredibly alike, most of them including some kind of demon or entity, that is haunting people and their families, such as 'The Conjuring,' Therefore, I think that filmmakers doing horror films are restricted, because us as the audience always expect with horror films, demons, jump scares, old abandoned houses or even creepy little children. We can also very much predict horror films because we have seen it all before so many times. You would say' I bet this is what will happen', and then it turns out to happen; we can predict horror stories. They are very formulaic at the moment, and we are waiting for a horror film that is un-ordinary and something we really haven't seen before.

However generic conventions can also help filmmakers. Take a film like 'Skyfall' from 2012, directed by Sam Mendes. This was a great James Bond film. I believe this film is a good example of generic conventions helping filmmakers. Firstly we as the audience have all seen James Bond films before many times, so we have a pretty good idea of what to expect from Skyfall, in terms of generic conventions. We would all expect to see shoot-outs, James Bond and his women, some form of advanced gadgets, and of course slick cars. Therefore, the director of the film also knows this and as a result all of this is included in Skyfall. Generic conventions has helped this film be a success, because the audience loved the film because it met our expectations as a James Bond film.

Re-Genrification and our 'Romeo and Juliet' remake

In the early years of cinema, in 1950's America, people were obsessed with the idea of Science Fiction films. They had been introduced around this time, and people came to love them. They believed them; and became scared of potential UFO's and alien invasions, therefore the audiences wanted more. In fact, anything other than Science fiction would be seen as unnecessary; because Science fiction was the thing at the time, anything else would be unpopular, and irrelevant.

In the 1950's, a new American film was created. It was titled 'Creature from the black lagoon'. However, this film was created as a horror film. Therefore in this time, the filmmakers understood that this film may not be accepted into the film society, because it is not a Sci-fi. As a result, Universal decided the best option would be to market the film as a Sci-fi; not a horror. So they made it seem like the creature, or the monster in the horror film, was actually an alien who was invading the planet. The audience was invested in this as a result, because it fits under the Sci-fi conventions. Even though the film is a horror film, it was necessitated that it needs to be marketed as a Sci-fi film, in order to gain some popularity. The film then became an example of Hybridisation. This was also a successful example of re-genrification as the film did financially well at the box office, despite its real. In addition, film production companies had to consider the audiences and their needs. Universal were centered around horror films, but because these types of films were un-conventional at the time, they had to reconsider and turned to Sci-fi films, because they were so popular at the time. 

In class on Tuesday the 16th, we had to use this idea of re-genrification and apply it to films we know, and would then have to present out ideas. My group decided to choose Baz Luhrmann's 'Romeo and Juliet', starring Leonardo DiCaprio. By standard tradition, this film is a romance, tragedy and love film. However, our group explored it further using our genre understanding so far, and we concluded this film can be seen as a thriller film. 

We came to this conclusion for several reasons. One reason is the iconography with guns and swords; this makes the film seem more tense and also makes the audience think of the more violent scenes to come. We would also not associate guns and swords with love at first glance. Secondly, this film can also link to a Western film, due to the film being set in one small area, and the audience thinks, how far can these characters outrun the danger? In addition, director Baz Luhrmann includes soundtracks with suspense, the tone and also adds an exciting dimension to the film. Furthermore, to convey our idea that Romeo and Juliet can be seen as a thriller, George in our group created a short video trailer of the film as if it was actually a thriller film. To make it seem like a thriller, he used quick editing techniques, quick frames instead of extended shots, and fades to black, and along with a fast paced, tense soundtrack over it. Doing so made the trailer look tense, exciting and like a thriller film. You wouldn't of thought of the film Romeo and Juliet as a romance, tragedy love film by looking at this trailer. This is significant. Large film companies such as Universal and Warner Bros could also do this, doing so would create audiences expectations for the film, which is actually somewhat different to what the film actually is. For example Universal could show audiences our Romeo and Juliet thriller trailer, then the audience would build up expectations of the film to be a thriller, when actually it's a romance and love film. Genre can be misleading and cause the audiences to build up expectations when in fact the film is different. The overall term of genre evolving is 'Compartmentalised'. 

An introduction to AS Media Studies

An introduction to Genre 

So far over the course of 3 media lessons, we have began to talk about and try to understand what is really meant by the term 'Genre'. Genre is, by standard definition, a main theme of a film or piece of media such as Comedy, so then people can associate this film with comedy; then they would create expectations when they would see it in the cinema. Genre is hugely important to Media and the industries, because Genre provides all the knowledge the audience would think they know about the film, then they go to the cinema to see the film and spend their money. If Genre didn't work like this, the audiences wouldn't form expectations of the film as soon as they hear its name and genre, they may not be invested to see it; because they don't know what to expect. But luckily genre will always give people their expectations as they are extremely familiar with it all, however genre isn't quite as simple and one-dimensional as us audiences may think.  

Each genre has its specific conventions that make the genre that type of genre. For example horror films we would associate with dark, abandoned houses, creepy noises, and a lot of the film set at night time. And action films must all involve shooting, explosions, and lots of fun. But is it really this simple, does a film really only have one genre? Realistically the answer is no. Such as in class, we discussed Star Wars and the first genre that came to peoples head's to describe this film trilogy was Sci-Fi. But when we looked a bit deeper, we found lots of genres that apply to this film trilogy. Such as drama, Westerns, action and adventure, space opera etc. However at first, audiences wouldn't probably associate these other genre types with Star Wars, because we are so used to thinking films are limited to a couple of genres, and not have considered further genres hidden in the films. But even so, genre performs a massive part to attract people and audiences to see the films. They just have to hear 'Bruce Willis action film' and they will know what to expect, what to imagine, and know that they will want to see this film. 

Genres also help the filmmakers out massively. Filmmakers can be told they will be making a new Thriller film; with the help of genre, they will have a good idea of what to do. They will conclude that they need a gripping script, unexpected twists in the story-line, a visually stimulating film, and some good actors to bring this thriller to life. They will also know what actors to incorporate, because these actors have previously been in thrillers before, plus the audiences are aware of this. So really, the audiences associate actors with specific genres, because they very familiar with actors and what types of films they're in. Genre is all about being formulaic; each film will have direct relationships to the previous film made, of the same genre. This is due to over time, filmmakers have understood that their film belonging to a type of genre must involve conventions employed by this genre. If they haven't followed the genre conventions, they may think audiences would be thrown off the film; because they are unfamiliar with it, it's not ordinary for the audiences. 

Genre also plays a roll on audience and people themselves. In standard films, the good main characters will always defeat the bad characters; the bad ones will rarely get away with their crimes. This is significant; as this ultimately re-presents life. People who commit murder, steal, and commit crimes are not going to get away with it, and this is reinforced by films and the media itself. If it was the other way around, the media would not be sending a very good message; due to the fact they are sort of telling us that we can commit real life crimes and get away with it, but this is not the case. So the fact that films and media does this is a good thing, and we now expect it due to the years of film that we have seen this characteristic many times.