Genre considerations

As I have to decide what genre my film will be soon I have to think about what is actually needed in each genre. Every genre has classic conventions and signifiers that identify the genre straight away. Some signifiers cross over into other genres but each has things found in the films that people automatically link to a genre. It is due to some of these conventions that only big budget institutes can make them. For example a convention of an action film is car chases. It is very expensive to film an effective car chase on a small budget, this means that generally action films can only be made by large institutes with the budget to do so.

Below are a few lists of the conventions of popular genres that I need to consider.
Horror-

• Death- People expect there to be deaths in horror films as death is something people are universally scared of and it gives a clear idea of who the villian and victims are in the situation.
• Knives- The danger that a knife connotes makes it fit well in a horror film. Everyone knows that a knife is dangourous and can cause harm.
• Red- The colour red connotes blood and death, if an audience see's the colour red they will automatically know that the film will contain blood, pain and possibly death.
• Masks- These hide someones identity. When an audience doesn't know who or what they are scared of it can scare them even more.
• Female victim, male hero- Having the female victim and the male hero fits stereotypical gender roles. Horror films are generally aimed at the male market so having the young male as the hero instills a sense of social identification.

This clip of the famous shower scene from Alfred Hitchcocks Psycho shows many of the generic horror conventions. some would say that this fil is a thriller but for the time it had a horror feel to it. This scene shows a definite female victim and although the male isn't the hero he is definitely the more dominant and powerful character, this is one of the horror conventions. Also the knife is the main focus in a lot of this scene and as the man is holding it it gives him more power. The knife then produces the classic red horror colour and although the film is in black and white it is obvious to the audience that is blood. There isn't a mask in it so to speak but the male antagonist is masked in the shadows so this could be another use of the mask convention.
Thriller-

• Low key lighting- The use of low key natural lighting is something that creates alot of suspense which is something that is always a part of thriller films.
• A single protagonist- The use of just one protagonist makes people feel more empathy towards the character.
• Running- Running is a big convention of thriller movies. The visual signifier of someone running connotes danger and fear of something.
• Computers/technology- Often technology helps the progatonist solve the mystery or beat the antagonist, audiences likes this in a thriller because technology is familiar and makes the audience empathise and relate to the story.

This is a clip from the thriller film Knowing. The film stars Nicholas cage which in itsef gives an indication of thriller films as he is a big name thriller actor. This clip does show generic conventions of thriller films aswell though. All the way through this clip there is low key lighting. Even when there is fire that is alot brighter than the general lighting showing that the fire is the cause of the panic and it sets the mood. When people see the plane crashing they all run in a panic which is a thriller convention. Although the protagonist talks to someone on the phone when the event happens and everyone is panicing he runs into the danger alone indicating he is an isolated character.

Comedy-

• Under dogs- In modern comedy films a lot of the time the main character is an underdog, although in the end they turn out to be the hero.
• Stereotypes- Usually in a comedy film there will be a geek, jock popular group and outcast. This is especially common in comedy films set in high schools.
• High key lighting- This gives a light hearted bright feel to the film which gives the impression of comedy.
• Major key music- this type of music automatically puts people in a happy optimistic mood due to the chord sequences, in high school films there is usually pop songs included to fit the age stereotypes.

This clip from the film Mean Girls highlights some of the generic conventions we see in high school comedy films. This scene is based around the different stereotypes found in a high school and how they are segregated, this kind of thing is what leads to most comic moments in high school comedies as the groups compete against each other. The lighting throughout is very high key which gives it the light bright feeling making the awkward images on screen and the voice over even more comical. The pop song further contextualises the scene.