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fn this chopterwe will coveft

I genre

r definingenre

r defininghedisasterovie

You renowstartlnguton Section

wherewe are olng o ook t:

r f i lm anguage:owa mainstream

Hollywoodenre ses othmicro

andmacro lementso create

meaningnd chievetsaims

r f i lmorganisat ions:ouwil lexplore

themodern ollYwoodystem

andhow t managesroduction,

distr ibut ionndexhibit ion

r audience:hatsanaudience?ho

isanaudience?owandwhY owe

consumehe ilms edo?

In hispartof hecourseouwill ocus nonespecific ollywoodenre thedisaster

movie.hiswill nvolvewo mainhemes,ilm anguage nd ilm business.ouwlll

use he ools ouhave cqulredn he ilm anguageartof hecourseo explore

theboundariesf hisgenre nd o increaseourunderstandingf he ilmshat allwithin hem. ouwillalsoook t hedisaster ovie sa product ndat howandwhy

Hollvwoodontinueso revisithegenrenpurelyinancialerms'

Whot s o disostermovie?

Act1:o beginning...Tohelpuscomeupwitha definitionf hedisaster ovie,et'sevisittheefinitionf a

genreA genre an edefinedsa ype rgrouplngf i lms ith imilarharacter lst i

themes r eatureshat eadilydentifu ilmasbeing member f hat9roup.

5owhatmightbe hedefiningharacteristicfagenre alled'theisaster ovie'?

That'siqht thedisaster!fcoursehis sonlypartof heanswer'

1Earthquake1974)

theaftermath

Film business: he

commercialspect f

making ilms Production,distr ibutionndexhibit ion

meaningn i lms

t"*q,****--_.*.

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: : Cescribehei:::am American

,',atchilms

often

lr tnto ub-groups: ni larcharacterist ics)

filmscreatedE -; ' 'mise the mpact

3i9screen ndeffects

keepa noteofany ideas nd houghts ou have

reading,archingr istening.speciallyf heyareabout hat ouwould oorhowyouwould hanqe

ingyouhave een.hese aybeuseful henVouto createhingsoryourself.

whatdo wemean ya'disaster'?t sa requentlysedword. omepeople all unningoutofcredi t n heirmobi le hone disaster .hi le hismight e rue na personallevel, othHollywood nd heaudience re hinkingn argererms.he erm isaster,referso hebig, r hemassive,hekindof eventhataffectssall usually ithnegatrveonsequencesthe rama).disastersaneventhatmakessal l eel mal l .

nomatter howeareTobe n hepresence

of hese ventss o feeloverwhelmed,ftenphysical lyndalmost lways ental ly

Thisswhere ol lywoodomesn!Theresalong radi t ionfwhathas een escr ibedsthecinema f spectacle,hereheaudienceisattractedo thecinemao experienceheseeventsromasafe istancebutnotsosafehatwedon't eel nvolved).

AO2 Explore,espond o and reflecton a rangeof filmsand topics;: whatdoesheworddlsaster'mean?ave ouever xperiencedne? wap tories

with our lassmates.

Asa groupor a classry o agree n a definitionor he worddisasteriMakea record f yourresultso compare t to whatyou earn ater n.

AO3 Demonstrate lanning, esearch ndpresentationatskitts

' , : List smany eal isasterss ou an hink f . ompi le c lassis t .. : Howmany ave eenmadentodisasteri lms?

Whichof he others l fany)wouldyou make ntoa disaster ovie?

what is t about hese ventshat nterestseople?oushould tartby alking boutwhether ndwhy hey nterestou

=

Act2: the middle...we aresti l lon the trailof a definition f the disastermovie.what havewe qot so ar?Probablyomethingike.

A disastermovie sany movie with a disastern it - wherea disastersany big, bad eventthat hasa large-scale ffect.

I t 's start l f you have houghtup a istof d isasterst mighthave ncludedhings ikewar,or evena crimewave. his swherewe start o get morechoosy. hen we tookat

dlsaster ovies e do not nclude l l he hlngs hatmightbe disastrous arbelongsto tne wargenre ndcr ime o the cr imeor hr i l ler enre. owhat kindof d isastersrewe talking bout?Thet lassic 'd isastersf he genre renatural isastersnvolvingi re,wind,water, arth ndplagues,sing reaturesf al ls izes nddescr ipt ions.omet imes

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Alwayseephedifferentersionsf anywork oudo.This

roughwork anbe usedo provehework syours nd o

show owyouhave evelopedt.Most mportantly,f hings

don'tgo heway oudhoped, ecan ook t hese arlierversionsor nspirationrclues s o whatwentwrong.

AO3 Demonstratelanning, esearch nd presentational kills

r List smany isaster ovies s oucan hinkof.Compileclassist.

r What eaturesoyou hink heyshare?r Compileour irst ist f disaster ovieeatures.

they appen'byhemselveslalmosts f

naturesbored, rperhapsedupwith

humankind.ometimeseare o blame,

usuallyhroughhose reat uman arrative

providersarrogancend gnorance.f

course,ivenHollywood'snventivenessndappetiteor deasherewillbe, rom ime o

time, ther hingshatcreep nto he ist.

Act3: on end..,Hopefully,n hinking bout ome f he ilms ouhave een,our

list ets eyond ur irst efinitionf adisaster oviesa movie

witha disastern tiWhetherhedisasteromes t hestart f he

filmorat heend,t willneedo be here. ftenhe iming f his

willbeaffectedy henarrativeespeciallyf t sa real vent) r

by inancialr echnologicalimitations.ven owe need he'big

bangiwhethert saneruption,quake,n mpact ran ceberg.

Ye twithout nother ital ngredient,disaster oviewould

justbea ireworksisplayndprobablytruggleo ill he90

minutesf a eatureilm.Wealso eed eople. hat eally eeps

audiencesnterestedshow hedisasterffectseople. emight

ask urselves,'Howould react?'Whichf hecharacterso we

hopewillsurvive?et's ot orgetheguilty leasure'ofoping

oneof hecast i l lbe'ki l ledff i

So ,fwecombinehedisasternd hecharacters,e mighthave

aworking efinitionf hedisaster ovie enre:

A disaster ovie onsidersheeffect npeople f a large-scale

catastrophe.Thisvent ii l ypicallyeanatural isasterr ts ike

stimulatedy heactionsor nactions)fmankind.

t

I

d

I

2 George ennedyn Aiport'79 l979) everything

vouneedoro disoster ovie!

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Rememberhat his saworking efini t iono

weare lwaysoing o indexceptionsnsome

fi lmshedisasteri l l i tourdefini t ionnd et

the i lmwi l lnot i t hegenre.nothershe i lm

wil l i t hedisasterenre nd et hedisaster

itselfmaynot itourdefinition.art f he unof

genre tudys heargumentbout hichi lmsdo ordo not itagenre.fyoucanhavehese

discussionshen hechancesre ouhave ota

goodunderstandingfthe heory.

We clearly eedmoredetail han a simple efinit ion. definit ion sa good starting

pointand can serve sa guide Whatwe need o do isstudysomeof the movies hat

best it our definit ion nd comeup with somemorespecificeatureshat he films

have n common Wewil ldealwith hese n he nextchapter

AO2 Explore, espond o and reflecton a rangeof filmsand topics

r Whichilms romyouroriginalist it hedefinition? hichilms on't?

r Discusshich ilms itanddon't it - does t matter? an ou mprovehedefinition

and,f so, ow?

In hischapter ou haveextended ourstudyof genreby ocusing pon he

disastermovie.

In order o testyourknowledge nd understandingf whatyouhave overed

so ar,check ou canprovidd efinitionsor the ollowing erms:

film business

the disaster ovie

Hollywood

audience

cinema f spectacle

I

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I

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