Introduction to AS media
What is
Genre?
Genre is a
French word meaning in media terms as the category a film falls into for
example: adventure, comedy, romance, action, horror, animation, sci-fi and of course thriller. It is important to
know the genre of the film as then you know what target audience the film is trying
to aim at and For example you would expect an action film to be watch by young
males aged between 15 and 30, therefore seeing if that film suits them.
What is a
thriller?
A thriller is
a particular type of film genre that has similar generic conventions to Horror
but is different. Thriller is a genre that creates a chilling feeling amongst
the audience. A sense of suspense and tension is created and the narrative can
be very difficult to follow depending on the sub genre (read on for definition
of sub genre). Generic conventions of a thriller film include:
·
Antagonists
are basically villains that are always after the protagonist who are either the
victim or the hero of the situation for example in Superman Clark Kent is the
protagonist and lex luthor is the antagonist.
·
Iconography
which are props or items used in a film. For example in Halloween Michael Myers
was always wearing a mask.
·
They
use low level lighting to either intensify a scene or to create shadows of
objects or people usually the antagonist or to be used to block the character
so it creates a silhouette
·
Mise
en scene is the setting of the scene and how everything is laid out.
·
Cinematography.
The different camera shots used in films for example an established shot is
where the setting of the area is in the shot like a building.
·
There
is always tension and suspense created in thriller films usually more defined
with dramatic sounds.
What is a sub-genre?
Sub-genres are stems of a classical genre for
example in the genre action thriller, thriller would be the main genre and
action would be the sub-genre.
What are
themes?
Themes are
the story line that is present in the film. For example in the film Seven there
are several themes like murder and religion.
Ex-con
Jensen Ames is forced by the warden of a notorious prison to compete in our
post-industrial world's most popular sport: a car race in which inmates must
brutalize and kill one another on the road to victory. This is a thriller film
but its sub-genre is action. You know this is a thriller film because of the
adrenaline rush it gives you. It is not a typical thriller genre as it’s not so
much meant to scare you. This is described more like a high octane thriller. The
themes you would come across are murder as well as competition and corruption.
The lives of two mob hit men, a boxer, a gangster's wife, and a pair
of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption. This
thriller film has the sub-genre of crime. Its themes include gangster, crime,
violence and redemption. It is said to be a thriller because of the violence
and the crime although again this is not a typical thriller.
Other sub genres included with thriller films are:
Action e.g. Skyfall
Crime e.g. The Dark Knight Rises
Adventure e.g. The Bourne Legacy
Drama e.g. End of Watch
History e.g. Argo
Response from the audience:
Thriller films would usually give you a
chilling feeling amongst the audience. Furthermore it keeps you on the edge of
your seats. Thrillers are meant to make you jump. Some of them are made to
psychologically play with your mind and get you thinking. All of them have some
tension and suspense. The thing about why audiences are into thriller films is because of the thrill factor. They like the expect the unexpected vibe you get from a thriller film.
Conclusion:
This
introduction has helped me in many ways as it has helped me to understand how
the course is going to work. Furthermore I have learnt valuable and key
information on how to tackle each piece of coursework as it comes. I’ve learnt
a bunch of keywords and what they mean like themes and sub-genre and I am now
able to use media terminology in my coursework.
Dwayne, a good post with some detailed explanation to support your work. Your examples are well chosen.
ReplyDeleteTo improve;
- include more sub-genres of the thriller genre
-discuss example of themes that occur in thrillers with film examples to support your work
- in the section about audience response, provide some own critical analysis by stating what you think is the appeal of thrillers
- might be a good idea to include a conventional thriller scene, and analyse it using what you have learned in the lesson, and by looking at the use of micro-elements
some changes have been made here Dwayne, but you need to make all the changes for a detailed, accuarte post.
ReplyDelete-discuss example of themes that occur in thrillers with film examples to support your work
- in the section about audience response, provide some own critical analysis by stating what you think is the appeal of thrillers
- might be a good idea to include a conventional thriller scene, and analyse it using what you have learned in the lesson, and by looking at the use of micro-elements