collective genre research

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Genre: Fantasy

Sub-‐Genre: Mystery/adventure/thriller/romance

Classification: 12A

Recognisable Conventions: Magic, mythical creatures, wizards and witches, quest

Genre Suitable for Coursework? (Positives): Creative storylines

Genre Suitable for Coursework? (Negatives): Would cost a lot to produce, would need a large cast, would need a lot of high-‐tech equipment, a lot of unusual props, would constantly need to have special effects and use of CGI, would be difficult to find appropriate locations for this genre

The Conjuring

Genre: Horror

Sub-‐Genre: Mystery

Classification: 15

Recognisable Conventions: Gore, tension, scary, shock the audience, demons

Genre Suitable for Coursework? (Positives): Could be easy to find costumes

Genre Suitable for Coursework? (Negatives): Would need to spend a lot of money on props, the use of CGI would be high, would cost a lot to produce, would have to be filmed at a specific type of location

Titanic

Genre: Romance

Sub-‐Genre: Historical/drama

Classification: 12

Recognisable Conventions: Love story, a couple, near happy ending

Genre Suitable for Coursework? (Positives): Easy to produce a storyline, wouldn’t have to worry too much about costumes or props, could film it at pretty much any location

Genre Suitable for Coursework? (Negatives): (If as extravagant as Titanic) it would cost a lot to produce, major set would need to be produced, and a lot of high-‐tech equipment would be needed

Star Wars

Genre: Science Fiction

Sub-‐Genre: Fantasy/adventure/action

Classification: U

Recognisable Conventions: Robots, aliens, spaceships

Genre Suitable for Coursework? (Positives): -‐-‐

Genre Suitable for Coursework? (Negatives): Would need big sets and costume, would be extremely expensive to produce, need a lot of sound effects

The Purge

Genre: Thriller

Sub-‐Genre: Horror/Science Fiction

Classification: 15

Recognisable Conventions: Crime, tension, violence

Genre Suitable for Coursework? (Positives): Could be easy to find costumes

Genre Suitable for Coursework? (Negatives): Would need a lot of special effects, would cost a lot to produce, need a lot of props, difficult to find filming locations

The Hunger Games

Genre: Action

Sub-‐Genre: Science Fiction/Adventure

Classification: 12A

Recognisable Conventions: Adventure/task they have to overcome, hero, tension, set in the future, violence, running, fighting

Genre Suitable for Coursework? (Positives): It would be easy to build the tension.

Genre Suitable for Coursework? (Negatives): Would need a large cast, would have to do a lot of action shots, would cost a lot to make for all the props, would have to use CGI and it would be difficult to find an appropriate location to use. It would cost a lot of money to make.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Genre: Adventure

Sub-‐Genre: Fantasy/Action

Classification: 12A

Recognisable Conventions: Fighting, quest, hero, orchestral music, pirates, good guy/bad guy

Genre Suitable for Coursework? (Positives): Characters would be easy to portray (easy stereotypes), easy to find and add appropriate music, wouldn’t necessarily need a large cast

Genre Suitable for Coursework? (Negatives): Expensive costumes and props, would have to use CGI, difficult to find appropriate locations

Shaun of the Dead

Genre: Comedy

Sub-‐Genre: Action/Parody/Science Fiction/Adventure/Horror

Classification: 15

Recognisable Conventions: Parody, funny, uplifting music, people in brightly coloured clothes, bright places, over the top expressions

Genre Suitable for Coursework? (Positives): Easy to find locations to use, easy to make stereotypical characters, be cheap to produce, easy costumes

Genre Suitable for Coursework? (Negatives): Actually producing a funny script, (with a parody) difficult doing the make-‐up

Inception

Genre: Mystery

Sub-‐Genre: Fantasy/Science Fiction/Thriller/Adventure/Action

Classification: 12A

Recognisable Conventions: Non-‐realistic, unrealistic, dream-‐like states

Genre Suitable for Coursework? (Positives): Costumes would be easy to find and produce (in most cases)

Genre Suitable for Coursework? (Negatives): Writing an appropriate script, having to use CGI, would cost a lot to produce

Film Title Genre Sub-‐Genre Classification Recognisable Conventions

Genre Suitable For

Coursework? POSITIVES

Genre Suitable For

Coursework? NEGATIVES

Shrek

Animation, Comedy, Family and Adventure Film

Comedy Animation

“Contains very mild bad language and mild comic violence” Rated U.

Fairytale, Prince, Princess and Fairy God Mother. “Goodie and Baddie”.

Easy to create a storyline.

Thriller shouldn’t be funny else they won’t make the audience feel scared or thrilled. Too expensive to produce an animation.

Dear John

Romance Film, Film Adaptation, Drama and War Film.

Chick Flick “Contains infrequent moderate sex and violence” Rated a 12.

Relationships, love and a problem why the couple can’t be together.


Locations could be hard to find for wars, finding props, can’t show extreme violence or relationships.

Mean Girls

Comedy and Teen Film.

Teen Comedy. “Contains moderate language, sex and drugs references” Rated a 12.

Cheerleaders, school outcast, bullies and relationships.

Easier for teenagers to film and create, cheap costume, easy to find location (school).

Might not be very funny in the end (subjective).

The Notebook

Drama and Romance.

Romantic Drama. “Contains moderate sex” Rated a 12

Relationships, aimed at a female audience. “Boy meets girl” and day to day life.


Twilight

Fantasy and Romance Film.

Fantasy Romance.

Rated a 12. Vampires, Wolves, love and relationships.

Vampires and Wolves as characters.

Special effects are expensive, make up is technical and costume.

The Ring

Thriller, Horror and Mystery.

Mystery Thriller. Rated a PG 13? Scary character or creature and victims.

Scary character or creature and victims. Thriller, Horror and Mystery. Wide range of storylines, interesting for the audience, cheap costume (normal clothes), small cast. Can exploit stereotypes.

Specific locations, props could be hard to find, make up costs, special effects.

Grease

LGBT, Romance Film, Musical Comedy, Comedy and Teen Film Musical.

Musical Romance Comedy.

“Contains frequent mild sex references and mild language” Rated a PG.

“Boy meets girl”, relationship, love, gangs or groups of friends and songs.

Fun to film, easy to create a storyline.

Finding actors that can sing/dance on set, large cast needed.

Harry Potter

Fantasy, Mystery, Thriller and Magical Realism.

Fantasy Thriller? “Contains mild scary scenes, violence and language” Rated

Wizards, Witches, magic wands, spell, magic,

Magic, creatures, evil characters. Thriller and Fantasy.

Special effects are too expensive. Locations could

a PG. friendship, creatures.

Interesting storyline.

be hard to access.

Kick Ass

Crime Fiction and Action Film.

Crime Fiction Action?

“Contains strong language, once very strong, & strong bloody comic violence” Rated a 15.

Hero, victim, fighting, violence, good guy and bad guy.

Victim. Action Film, easy to find locations, fun to film, fun to watch, you can put a lot into a short clip.

Hard to create a successful storyline, expensive to make, hard to build successful sets, can’t perform stunts.

Gary Pritchard


Genre Suitable For Coursework? POSITIVES

Genre Suitable For Coursework? NEGATIVES

White Chicks

Comedy Romance 15 A dumb character, trips/slips/accidents, sometimes awkward moments, someone with a good sense of humour, a naturally funny character.

It isn’t too difficult to make something funny

The right location would be difficult to find

Sinister Horror Mystery 15 Blood, a murderer, a shock/surprise, tension/on edge, eerie background music.

Can easily use effects and props to make a person/scene scary

Actors make up wouldn’t be easy to do

Fast 5 Action Thriller 12 A high intensity moment, fights, goodies and baddies, high tech, futuristic, cat and mouse chase, big outbreaks.

Contrasting characters (good and bad guys) are easy to create dialogue for (easy to create an argument)

Location and props are difficult to get

Cast Away Adventure Drama 12 Believable but unrealistic, a difficult task/mission to face.

Easy to get actors and lighting would be mainly bright so that would be easy too

Making it believable could be difficult if it’s unrealistic

Sweeney Todd (2008)

Musical Crime 18 Music, singing, dancing.

Could be fairly cheap to film

Good quality actors that are willing could be difficult to find

Snatch Thriller Comedy 15 A fight/argument, makes the audience feel involved, a lot of close ups, tense music.

Cheap to film and location isn’t difficult to find

A fight would be difficult to film

Forrest Gump

Drama Comedy 12A True story, real life situations, a happy ending, audience can relate.

Costumes are easy to get for the actors

Could be difficult relating to the audience

The Fault In Our Stars

Romance Young adult fiction

12A Love, a relationship, a problem in the relationship, usually a tragic event.

Easy to think of an ideal situation

A willing couple could be difficult to find

Gary Pritchard

Film title Genre Sub-‐Genre Classification Recognisable Conventions

Genre suitable for coursework? POSITIVES

Genre suitable for coursework? NEGATIVES

Kickass 2 Action Comedy/ Romance

15 Batons, Swords, Katanas Guns

Comedy is easy to do. Romance is easy to set up. Props are relatively easy to get a hold of

Action is expensive for scenes and setting and stunt men/woman are required for big action scenes.

Insidious 2 Horror Paranormal 15 Ghosts Paranormal Children’s toys Orchestral strings

Some key props like children toys are easy to access

Storyline has to be clear other wise audience lost and expensive to sort scenes/setting

Anchor-‐man Comedy Family 15 Awkward moments Comedy Humour

Comedy is easy to set up (expenses) easy to get an audience

Humour has to be as wide variety as possible or audience lost to subjective humour.

The notebook Romantic Family 12 Love Flowers Romantic music /Dialogue

Romance is easy to set up through a storyline/setting is cheap and easy to make

Hard to portray the love aspect within a school environment.

Rambo Action Adventure 18 Gore Blood Guns Explosions Chases

Action adventure is really entertaining to watch.

Action is expensive for scenes and setting and stunt men/woman are required for big action scenes.

Hunger games Adventure

Action 12A Bow and Arrow Tight skin wear Dangerous scenes

Action adventure is really entertaining to watch.

Scene/setting is very expensive to set up.

Twilight Fantasy Action/Adventure Romance

12 Vampires/Werewolves Trees Ageless Romance

Entertaining and interests a wide audience

Fantasy is hard to make through basic technology and equipment (expensive)

Toy story Family Animation 12A Cartoons Toys

All round watching people may see this film and attracts a wide audience /easy to set a target audience

Don’t have the software to make animation.

War horse War Action 12 Horses War Old times

Fun/entertaining to watch the film, easy storylines.

Setting and scene/costumes are expensive in an old times film as everything must be made to suit the film


Genre Suitable For

Coursework? POSITIVES

Genre Suitable For

Coursework? NEGATIVES

The Other Guys

Comedy

Action

PG-‐13

Humour, funny references in dialogue

Film is set in New York,

suitable setting for a thriller.

Not suitable for coursework as has to be a thriller, not a comedy

Star Wars Episode III:

Return of the Sith

Sci-‐fi

Action

12A

Futuristic

costumes used, robots, props such as

lightsaber used

Tension and excitement are used, showing aspects of a thriller

Opening two minutes of Star Wars consists mainly of rolling text, not showing enough film.

Fast & Furious 6

Action

Thriller

12A

Fast-‐paced races,

characters returning,

characters dying, suspense

Mystery and suspense throughout, which creates excitement

Props used

would be difficult to use in

coursework

Harry Potter and the Philosophers

Stone

Adventure

Family

PG

Mystery used e.g. magic, storyline that could appeal

to all ages

Film is seen as exciting, which is

useful in a thriller.

Props would also be difficult to use

in my coursework.

Elf

Family

Fantasy

PG

Showing Santa and Elves to show fantasy aspect, humour for all ages

Shows films can be made based on seasonal times.

Fantasy wouldn’t be a suitable sub-‐genre to use in coursework. High

cast total

Toy Story

Animation

Family

PG

No violence in film, everything family-‐friendly and all animated

N/A

Animated film would be difficult

to do in coursework, high

cost

Kidulthood

Drama

Action

15

Violent scenes, dramatic storyline,

stereotypical characters

People anticipate what will happen next, this is good as it creates suspense

Violent scenes may be hard to film, high cast total, props may be expensive

The Amazing Spider Man

Action

Fantasy

12A

Superpowers, fast-‐paced

storyline, helpful, close relative dies early on

Good use of camera shots throughout the

film

Very expensive film to make

Insidious

Horror

Drama

15

Child gets possessed,

haunted house, storyline makes audience jump

Music, setting, props are all appropriate for this horror movie.

Special effects used could have

high cost, costumes would also cost a lot

Film Title Genre Sub-‐Genre Conventions Pros for Coursework Cons for Coursework Tangled Comedy Fantasy • Exaggerated happiness in

characters • Bright lighting at all times • Light-‐hearted music

throughout • Simple plot, not detailed

nor complex

• Simple plot so no need for a clever introduction linking the story.

• Lighting is consistently bright so no need for light management for the most part.

• Opening 2 minutes of comedy films don't have much to them.

• Can be hard to pull off effective comedy.

• Heavy editing required, easy to get it wrong.

Fast Five: (Fast & Furious 5)

Action Thriller • The generic motive of 'family' and 'money'

• Weapons such as guns and knives

• Massive Destruction, unrealistic levels

• Plenty of cars, planes, trains and other fast paced vehicles

• Fights coupled with intense, fast-‐paced music

• Can get a lot of content in just the opening 2 minutes.

• Scenes with fighting are fairly easy to do and can look very good.

• Difficult to actually pull off on a low budget.

• A lot of editing involved, cuts between shots occurring every second or even less during action scene.

The Break-‐up Romantic Comedy • Mass use of colorology -‐ red/pink to represent love.

• Set in an urban area (school and apartment cliché)

• Sexual innuendoes throughout script.

• Very modern upbeat

• The stereotyped school setting is easy to do as we work from a school.

• Once again, the introduction doesn't tend to have much happening. Just general character overviews.

• Scripting may not be appropriate for

music. the coursework. • People likely to

feel unconformable acting out romantic roles. Difficult to find willing actors.

Paranormal Activity Horror Supernatural • The convention of a supernatural being that can't be real existing.

• 'Normal people' as the main characters

• Orchestral music used several times.

• The idea of being afraid of something when what you should be afraid of has always been with you.

• Practically no character development needed, purely action based.

• Can be very good for an introduction based task as the opening can be very exciting.

• Pretty simple conventions to follow.

• Portraying a supernatural figure could be difficult on a low budget.

• Requires very well thought out editing to build tension correctly, can be difficult to execute.

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Adventure Sci-‐Fi • Sub-‐Romance being thrown in despite not linking to plot.

• Clear binary opposites, characters that hate one another for no apparent reason.

• Lots of dramatic non-‐diegetic sound use

• Dominant positive projection of main protagonist, the concept of 'they can't

• Stereotyped characters are easy to execute effectively.

• Simple scripting as you are just working around the hero/heroine idea. No need for complicated script writing.

• Only having two minutes to do an adventure is practically impossible as you can't show a journey.

• Sci-‐Fi settings are difficult to set up and require a lot of effort and work.

ever do wrong'. The Town Crime Drama • Heavy use of weaponry

• Backstory of main character way before the main crime

• Fast paced action to build suspense

• Realistic and naturalistic settings and props to give authenticity.

• The opening 2 minutes could be a crime itself so potential for lots of action.

• Realistic setting and props are fairly easy to set up as they are supposed to look like real life. Not as much work to do as many other genres.

• Usually requires a lot of characters to make a crime scene seem realistic. Could be difficult getting a lot of actors together at the same time.

• The potential might be there but actually creating an interesting crime scene would be very difficult.

12 Years a Slave Historical Drama • Plotline is heavily based around relationships

• A complex plot line that requires contextual knowledge to understand

• Criticism of dominant ideologies of the time

• Promotion of audience sympathy towards the main protagonist.

• No need to think about new costumes as the historical values are already a thing.

• We could use examples of historical figures to encourage more accurate acting.

• Can be very interesting trying to replicate with historical accuracy.

• Would require a setting which represents the time period, may be very hard to find.

• We may not have to come up with our own costumes but recreating historic ones could be more difficult.

• Would have to do a lot of research to make sure the historic content was correct in our

film. Mamma Mia! Musical Romantic • Over the top emotional

acting. • A strong mix between

very happy, confused, depressed and non-‐topical songs.

• A single dedicated music group/band supplying all of the film's music.

• Dancing which correlates to the emotions of the music.

• Romance thrown in to carry what is generally a pretty weak plot line.

• The character cliché of the really happy women who has a need to burst into song every time they appear on screen.

• It'd offer the opportunity to do something very unique.

• Technically a lot of potential if it was executed correctly.

• Even more difficult than a normal romance to find actors. We would need to find people who were comfortable to sing and act romantically.

• Wouldn't even be able to fit one full song in with just a 2 minute allocation.

• Even if we did get a song in somehow it wouldn't be a film introduction, it'd basically just be a music video.

• Since it's in the first 2 minutes we wouldn't be able to introduce characters and have a song. This would mean we'd have songs without purpose or no songs in a musical.

Saving Private Ryan Epic/Historical War • Acknowledgement of the heartbreak of war.

• Gives the opportunity to present strong

• Another genre where the opening

This heartbreak is almost always presented to the viewer in the most negative way possible.

• The fighting side of war is actually not significant, instead war films tend to concentrate on the physical and mental effects on the people involved.

• Mostly modern warfare or at least 20th century.

• Usually a criticism of a government or group of authority and sympathy for the soldiers involved.

opinions that can result in powerful scripts and character dialogue.

• Not common but you could potentially start the film with a war action scene which would be exciting and appropriate for the coursework.

2 minutes is usually just used to introduce characters or explain the situation of the war. Not much action or anything of interest.

• War scenes are difficult to create as they require very specific environments and require a lot of people.

• Modern war films have a lot vehicles and guns which would be very difficult for us to replicate.

Film Title Genre Sub-‐Genre Classification Recognisable

Conventions

Genre Suitable For Coursework?

POSITIVES

Genre Suitable For Coursework? NEGATIVES

Hunger games

Adventure Sci-‐fi PG Fight scenes Competition Dramatic non-‐diegetic sound Romantic sub-‐plot, Humorous dialogue

It would captivate the audience’s attention from the start

These are a lot harder to film as they usually include a lot of live action and special effects.

Toy-‐story

Animation Comedy U Humor Villain Heroes always win Colorful

It would be suitable for all audiences

It doesn’t include the coursework requirements; it also takes a lot more time to create.

Matrix

Science fiction Romance 15 Advanced technology Abstract outfits A lot of silver metal objects

It would stand out and be abstract from a typical film

Usually involves a lot of funding

White Chicks

Comedy Romance 15 Colorful Popular actors Bad jokes/punch lines

It is pretty simple to incorporate comedy elements to the coursework

We are making a thriller an may take the serious element out of the film

Mamma-‐Mia

Musical Comedy Romance

PG Vibrant colors Teenagers in love

Being in a school would be easy to cast people as usual roles involve teenagers

Filming would be a long process as it is fast paced a lot different camera shots are used

Taken

Thriller Adventure 15 Low key lighting Slow pace music Tense atmosphere “damsel in distress”

It would fit the coursework requirements with a tense atmosphere and shots used

There are no negatives besides the budget

Insidious

Horror Romance 15 Abandoned settings Dark and dull lighting Car or phone breaks Jump shots

Would create a tense atmosphere and use lighting skills to help produce a good product

A lot of lighting tools would have to be used to create the certain effect

Olympus has fallen

Action Adventure 15 Fight scenes (a lot of them) Good guys always win Good Vs. Bad

A clear storyline would have been displayed in two minutes

The cost of production is very high to produce a high quality action film

Chronicles of Narnia

Fantasy Romance PG Set in the past or imagined time. Main characters on a quest Emotive

It would be interesting to create such an abstract film

There are usually abstract objects used i.e. flying brooms, making it hard make it seem to a extent real.

Film Title Genre Sub-‐Genre Classification Recognizable conventions

Genre suitable for AS? Positives

Genre not suitable for AS? Negatives

Kickass 2 Action Comedy 15 Fighting scenes Baton and Swords Flying

Can be fun for the viewer to watch and for the cast to create.

Comedy can be subjective so hard to make everybody

The notebook Romantic Family 12 Romantic music Romantic dialogue Love Flowers

Can be easy to arrange props such as; Music, Flowers, Letters.

All romance films follow the same type of story line. Might be difficult to make it different to others.

Toy Story Animation Family U Laughter Family Childhood toys

Do not have to spend a lot of time with cast as only voice overs and not acting.

Hard to make a film suitable for all ages. And not making it to childish nor to grown up.

Insidious 2 Horror Thriller 15 Ghosts Paranormal Children’s toys Self-‐playing piano

Do not have to have a large cost, reducing wage costs.

Would be hard to create effects that created tension and scared the viewer.

Cars Animation Comedy U Suitable for all of the family. Laughter


Comedy can be subjective. Not everybody laughs at the same jokes.

The Incredibles Animation Action U Some fighting scenes


Might take a longer time to produce because of the action.

Twilight Fantasy Romance 12 Romantic movie Flowers Vampires and Werewolves Flawless Trees

Fun for film crew to make. No specific costumes.

Hard to create effects such as; Flying, Turn humans to werewolves. And flawless effect.

War horse War Action 12 The recognizable conventions are, Fighting, Era’s costumes and props.

Could find appropriate costumes.

Huge cast and hard to find appropriate location.

Inception Thirller Science fiction

12 Guns, Weapons, Suits, City.

Can be filmed in any location and everyday costumes.

Science fiction would be hard to incorporate due to the props.

collective genre research

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