Week 2 Assingment - Genre

There are a range of genre’s within the film scetor that I enjoy such as: action, drama, sci-fi and horror. With this being said, I don’t particularly enjoy horrors but when I’m with friends I get pressured to watch them at home and at the cinema. Although I don’t see the point in watching horror’s just to scare yourself, once you start watching one the anticipation and adrenaline you get is incredible. What comforts me about watching a horror is that afterwards my normal everyday life is still the same; however, with the constant development into new technology horror films are becoming more and more realistic. The use of handheld camera’s, canted angles, sound and visual effects make a horror more terrifying. The angles show that something is wrong, anitcipating a ‘scare’ and handheld camera’s force the audience to watch what is happening whilst also making the footage seem more realistic and relatable as most people own a handheld camera, making the audience quetsion whether this could happen to them.

Above are two screenshots of a horror film called ‘The Gallows’ in which I saw at the cinema with my friends. The screenshots convey realism and foreshadow the events to come in the film. This is shown by the use of static shots on top of the narrative, the canted angle signifying something strange about the footage and the fact that the shots are filmed on a handheld camera with the date of 1993, shows a typical horror film involving a flashback to give background information to the film and portraying a sense of realism.

Further to this dispassion for the horror genre, I would have to say that my ultimate favourite genre is action. Action films follow a story or adventure, in which the audience is a part of, this in turn creates a strong connection and engagement from the audience with the film. This type of adventure, in which typically the main character goes on, creates a sense of escapism for the audience and this can be linked to Dyer’s Utopian Theory where the audience are dissatisfied with their own life and use films and this paritcular genre as a way to escape from social tension such as: pressures of urban life and constant working life.

An example of this is in an action sci-fi film called ‘Divergent’, which follows the main character ‘Tris Prior’ and her futuristic world in which society is divided into 5 factions. As she is nearing adulthood she must decide on a permanent faction and she chooses Dauntless. However, in the early days of her initiation she unearths the truth that she is Divergent; unable to fit into just one of the factions. With this grand unveiling Tris starts some type of war threatening the loss of her loved ones.

OPENING SCENE EMBEDED

This opening scene of the film involves the narrative of the main character thus immediately engaging the audience and creating a bond between themselves and the character. The ending scentence made by the narrator “It all works, everyone knows where they belong, except for me” almost initiates and foreshadows the adventure in which the character is going to go on in order to ‘find herself’, linking once again to Dyer’s Utopian Theory of the idea of escapism. This can also be linked to the Uses and Gratification Theory as the audience can identify the main character a role model that reflects similar values creating an aspiration to be someone else. As I have seen this film I can confirm this theory as ‘Tris’ shows many admirable qualities in which myself would like to have such as: resilience and passion to change society. This shows that audience’s want to gain something when watching a film, specifically action, as in education, identification or entertainment.

The Uses and Gratification Theory also speaks of how the audience want a film to create a form of social interaction such as forming a community of people who like the same film and creating a topic of conversation. An example of this is the film ‘Insurgent’ which is linked to ‘Divergent’ in the form of a series. The idea that many action films come with a series, prequel or sequel creates this commmunity and can spark debates within the events of the film. Also, within in the film ‘Insurgent’ Tris the main character appears to die, which sparked much upset with the audience particularly myself, as you have built this bond with one character through 2 films and suddenly she dies, showing how big an impact (action) films can have on the audience.

TRAILER EMBEDED

In conclusion, action films draw me in with the sense of escapism portrayed by the adventure of the main character. Action films also contain scenairo’s which can appear relatable yet elaborated; showcasing another world which makes me question my own capabilities and talents.