SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

THE DESIGN SCHOOL

FOUNDATION IN NATURAL BUILD ENVIRONMENT

NAME: ALWIN NG KUN KET

STUDENT ID NO: 0323596

FILMS SELECTED:

1. ADVENTURE : JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND

2. DISASTER: SAN ANDREAS

WORD COUNT: 821

ENGLISH 2 (ELG 30605)

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT 1: COMPARE – CONTRAST ESSAY

LECTURER: GOPIGHANTAN MYLVAGANAM

SUBMISSION DATE: DECEMBER 4TH 2015

Prewriting

Definition of movie genres (- refers to the method of categorizing films based on similarities in the narrative elements from which films are constructed) and stating the 2 different genres I am researching. Adventure and Disaster. Short description of adventure and disaster genres. Movies are Journey 2 the mysterious island and San Andreas. (e-book)

Description on adventure movie- Journey 2: the mysterious IslandAdventure films are a genre of film. Unlike action films, they often use their action scenes preferably to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way.Stories whose central struggle plays out mainly through encounters with new "worlds." In Journey, the story centrals around…. This movie is labelled as an adventure film as …. Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution

A disaster film is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject and primary plot device. Such disasters include natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes or asteroid collisions, accidents such as shipwrecks or airplane crashes, or calamities like worldwide disease pandemics. The films usually feature some degree of build-up, the disaster itself and sometimes the aftermath, usually from the point of view of specific individual characters or their families. The movie chosen for this genre is San Andreas. SA depicts an earthquake which… In the movie, The screening focuses on the survivor… Exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution

Contrast of movie details-plot sypnosisa) ExpositionDepicts families from diff backgrounds, Journey: Son and Father who always argue, SA: Great relationship between Father and daughter.b) Rising actionJourney: Finds a map to the mysterious island. Plans a trip there, met up with side characters Vanessa and Dwyane. (knows what is going to happen)SA: Stated that San Francisco’s earthquake is misdued. Time of shake not pre-realeased, prediction of earthquake causes the death of scientist. c) climaxJourney: Reaches the island, met many dangers, finds out island is sinking, have to escape in the legendary nautiliusSA: Quake hits SF, quakes get stronger everyhit ending with a 9.6, d) falling action resolutionJourney: Dad wants to help daughter through college, ends up getting stuck but saved by daughterSA: tsunami hits SF traps blake apparently had drowned but saved by dade) resolutionJourney: Appears on mag for discovery, gets new girlfriend, gets funding for college by NautiliusSA: Daughter saved from disaster, Family stares at the sunset-main characters-charactersConclusion of differences and genre ideas.

Compare And Contrast Essay: Differences between Adventure Genre film and Disaster Genre film

What are movie genres? Movie genre is a term used to categorize the many different types of movies that we have in abundance. Movie Genres comes in many different categories such as Action, Thriller, Horror and many more where each is used to categorize a movie based on their narrative element properties. In this essay, I will be contrasting the differences between an adventure genre film and a disaster genre film. I had chosen two movies to research on with the first being, “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” as my pick for the adventure genre film and “San Andreas” as my film of choice for my disaster genre.

The genres of the two films are slightly different. Adventure films unlike disaster films, often use their scenes to display and explore exotic locations in an energetic way. ˜Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” also known as “Journey” is an Adventure Family genre, which is made apparent in the first 10 minutes of the film. It begins with Sean, a young teenager trying to crack a secret code from his grandpa whom was thought to be lost at sea. The code which was eventually cracked by him and his stepfather Hank, a former marine who had retired, provides a clue to the mysterious island. This adds an exciting and suspenseful feeling to the film. The opening image could be seen to have a slow and mysterious build-up. This scene is followed by both father and son setting out to find the mysterious island. This convention creates an adventure genre, as it is clearly shown that the story’s central struggle plays out mainly through encounters with new "worlds."

On the other hand, disaster films mainly focuses on impending or ongoing disaster as its primary and subject plot device. Such disasters include natural disasters such as earthquakes as shown in “San Andreas”. The beginning of ˜San Andreas” is somewhat different, as it has a more action based approach. It begins with Ray, a fireman from the Los Angeles fire department successfully rescuing a girl who had fell off a canyon. There is minimal speech for the opening scene, highlighting the background noises, which include helicopter rotors and the victim screaming for help. This gives the impression that Ray is an expert on life-rescue missions. Apart from this, the next build-up scene unlike Journey, is quite predictable, as it shows a group of scientist calculating predictions of an incoming earthquake. I think that this will make the audience be aware of the incoming disaster, therefore allowing the main earthquake scene to smoothly make an impact. From the opening scenes, one could already tell that the genre of the film is clearly a disaster genre.

From the point of view of both movie plot synopsis, we could see the many differences between both movie genres throughout the entire movie. In the exposition, Journey depicts a rough family relationship between stepfather and son relationship while San Andreas portrays a loving relationship between father and Daughter. Throughout the timeline of rising action to the climax, Journey states its fictional build-up of locating the location of the mysterious island through a secret encoding and the combination of maps from three different story books while San Andreas’ build-up focuses on more factual data such as advanced earthquake prediction machines and geographical calculations. The climax itself of both movies which clearly depicts the genre of both movies shows Hank and Sean finally reaching and exploring the Mysterious Island in Journey and a massive earthquake with a 9.6 magnitude striking the heart of San Francisco in San Andreas.

Beside the plot, the characters from both movies also displays many differences in terms of personalities. The protagonist from Journey, Sean Anderson, played by Josh Hutcherson portrays a rebellious teenager who hates his stepfather. He doesn’t show a lot of resemblance to the main protagonist from San Andreas, Blake played by Alexandra Daddario who is portrayed in the movie as a teenage girl who loves her father Ray very much. Other than that, Sean is also not as good as Blake in terms of individual survivability. This statement can be proved as Sean depends a lot on his stepfather Hank to navigate the dangers and survive throughout the mysterious island while Blake is able to guide two of her friends through the disaster wrecked city of San Francisco alone. The Antagonists from both movies, Hank, Sean’s stepfather and Ray, Blake’s Father, both played by Dwayne Johnson also shows contrast in personalities. Hank from Journey is great with women and plays a very attractive and humorous character while Hank on the other hand is portrayed to be a more serious and patient character.

In conclusion, I have compared the two different type of movie genres, adventure and disaster, based on their narrative elements, plot synopsis and character personalities. From this experience, I have learn to distinguish two similar genres and understand the striking appeals of each genre.

References

Adventure Films, (n.d) Retrieved 27 November, 2015 from http://www.filmsite.org/adventurefilms.html

Film Genres, e-Study Guide for: Media in Your Life : Introduction to Mass Communication by Jean Folkerts, Jean Folkrets (2012) ISBN 9780205523658, Retrieved 27, November 2015, Google Books

S.James, (2009) Disaster movies, Retrieved 27, November from http://www.bookrags.com/research/disaster-movies-sjpc-01/#gsc.tab=0