2. Film Genres
• Action
• Adventure
• Crime and Gangsta
• Comedy
• Drama
• Epics/Historical
• Horror
• Science Fiction
• War
• Westerns
• Disaster
• Chick Flicks
• Guy Films
• Road Films
• Sports
• Thriller/Suspense
3. Codes and Conventions Of Crime
• Typical codes and conventions of a crime/drama film would be:
- A chase (usually car).
- A lot of involvement with props that can be harmful such as knifes or guns.
- The villain (protagonist) would usually have some unidentified problems that will be revealed at the very end of the film.
- The hero (protagonist) who saves everyone will have a partner (usually very intelligent or very dopey).
- Characters will usually include someone vulnerable and gangs.
- Crimes will usually be murder/dramas will usually be to do with family of the protagonist.
- Conflicts due to difference in policing.
- Someone’s private life becoming public.
- Betrayal.
• Crime films make the audience interact with the film as they are left guessing throughout on who is the criminal? Why did ithappen?
What kind of weapon did he/she commit the crime with? Was it even a weapon? Crime films focus on the lives of criminals. Thestylistic
approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-
villains. Criminal acts are always glorified in these films.
• In the majority of crime films, there will be a main killer who either works on there own, or they could also work with somebody who is
an anomaly in the background in which the audience don’t know much about. In a crime film, there is normally a particular manor in
which the killer kills people. They may have a certain trademark like a cereal killer.
Examples of Crime films:
• Tower Heist
• Man on a Ledge
• Safe
• The Dark Night Rises
• The Killer Inside Me
• Law Abiding Citizen
• Max Payne
• The Bank Job
4. Codes and Conventions Of Disaster
• natural disasters (earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tropical storms, etc.)
• accidents (skyscraper fires, plane crashes, ocean liners capsized or struck by icebergs, viruses unleashed)
• planetary-related (asteroids or meteors off-course)
• criminally-instigated (bombs planted in planes, terrorist conspiracies)
• alien invasions and rampaging creatures (often mutant)
• nuclear-related crises
• millennial-related (the end of the world, or end of the century tales)
• about failed technology or technology-gone awry (computers running amok)
• Most disaster films have large-scale special effects, huge casts of stars faced with the crisis, a persevering hero or heroine (i.e., Charlton
Heston, Steve McQueen, etc.) called upon to lead the struggle against the threat, and many plot-lines affecting multiple characters. In
many cases, the 'evil' or 'selfish' individuals are the first to succumb to the conflagration. As in any sub-genre, the move to capitalize on
the 'disaster film' trend has led to many sub-par disaster films, with weak and unsubtle, formulaic plots, improbable circumstances and
bad science, poor character development, and laughable acting from third-rate stars portraying cliched characters.
• In a typical Disaster film, a hero is normally the main character who tries to prevent the disaster or saves what is left of the situation.
The villains would normally be a group of terrorists or if nature, the lead up towards the disaster. With this genre of film, the structure
would normally start with either the planning or first affects of the disaster, an example would be shady character loading suspicious
goods onto a transport vehicle. Often in these films the hero would become sceptical of those villains or signs of unusual behaviour and
would normally more onto investigating and stopping the disaster from occurring.
Examples of disaster films:
• The Day After Tomorrow
• Armageddon
• 2012
• Predators
• Battleship
5. Codes and Conventions Of Horror
• Weapons
• Dark and eerie settings
• Females are traditionally used as victims, female usually dies first
• Sexual transgressors – women/men dying just after having sex
• One final girl left out to survive
• The killer is stereotypically a man or a child of any gender
• The killer is seen to be invincible by being assaulted tried to be killed but always survive. This effects the audience
as they believe more and more that the killer is invincible
• Sound adds suspense, creates tension and used to try scare the audience more
• The sights that you are most likely to see in every horror film are; blood, guts, graphic killings, shadows, dark
lighting, and weapons. Without all of these, audiences will be unaware of the genre as it these things that define
Horror
• Contrapuntal Sound - this is where the sound doesn’t match the action that is happening on screen. Eerie Music -
in most cases, music is used to create tension and fear. When eerie music is used, the audience can feel the build
up of something bad that is about to happen. Lightening, rain, wind or other types of weather - sounds like these
create realism. Stabs - this is a sudden burst of music/ sound that is used to make the audience jump out of their
skin. It will also accompany a dramatic even. Silence - silence is deadly. It is scarier to hear nothing at all, then to
hear some form of sound because when the sound does happen, it has more emphasis and it is unexpected and
more frightening than ever.
• Costume; Masks- this makes the killer look like they have no identity and makes the audience wonder who is
behind the mask. Dark Clothes - usually worn by a killer which makes them look mysterious, troubled, evil and
dangerous. Also, Hooded Costumes - remind audiences of the grim reaper, who brings death to all he meets.
Boiler Suit - as a boiler suit is a labourer’s work outfit this makes the killer look like they have got a job to do (to
terrorise/ kill the victims). Often ripped or covered in blood to make the ‘job’ look like it will be a sinister one.
