Action Genre

Action films aim to build tension and keep the audience engaged by fast paced, adrenaline rush scenes. The typical conventions of action films include explosions, destruction and fight scenes. Props also play a huge part in being able to identify these kind of films; weapons will generally be used such as knives and/or guns and cars, futuristic vehicles and motorcycles are common as well.

The narrative to action films tend to be a 'cat and mouse' chase, a race against time or a mission trying to be completed. Action films tend to involve the death, sometimes of characters close to the protagonist, and are usually set in big, modern cities.

Examples of action films:

• Die Hard (1988)
• The Bourne Identity (2002)
• Casino Royale (2006)
• The Dark Knight (2008)
• The Hunger Games (2012)
• The Maze Runner (2014)

Sci-fi genre

Sci-fi films generally explore a narrative relating to the development and/or application of new technology, new scientific principles such as time travel or new political systems (dystopian/utopian societies). They are usually set in outer space, other worlds or alternative versions of earth or can often be set in an alternative time such as the past but contradicts historical records. The narrative will also usually contain a story of conflict between good and evil.

This genre can commonly be identified by the use of props that resembles potentially futuristic equipment as well as setting and costume which presents a scientific advancement.

Examples of sci-fi films:

• Alien (1979)
• Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
• The Matrix (1999)
• District 9 (2009)
• Inception (2010)
• Interstellar (2014)

Romance Genre

Romance films tend to be a sub genre of drama films therefore will often include typical, urban settings such as a school, beach etc. and aims to get the audience emotionally involved by using possibly tragic or sad story lines. A typical romance genre would explore themes of status, relationships, sexuality and gender and are commonly targeted at a female audience.

The typical story line of a romance film would be a love story or love triangles and the main idea incorporated falling in love, dates, gifts, marriage. Romance is often interlaced with the drama genre or comedy (RomComs) also known as 'chick flicks'. The narrative will usually feature the main characters falling in love, parting then reuniting.

Examples of romance:

• Grease (1978)
• Love Actually (2003)
• The Notebook (2004)
• The Lucky One (2012)
• The Great Gatsby (2013)
• The Fault in our Stars (2014)

From looking at this genre, I noticed that romance usually tends to be combined with other genres such as comedy or drama in particular and attracts a female audience rather than male. 

Drama Genre

The drama genre typically portrays real life situations with realistic characters and settings. Its aim is to keep the audience emotionally involved and the tension ongoing therefore is structured with climaxes and anti-climaxes and the main story revolving around the conflict (inner/outer struggles, hardships, pain and difficulty) to achieve this.

Dramas will often include intense social interaction and the audience should expect to see a compelling and gritty story line. However drama can also be interlaced with other genres such as romance, comedy or action therefore doesn't have to be completely drama. The story should explore relationships, emotions and tension, include relatable characters and an external or internal conflict.

Storylines (sub genres) could include: social dramas, mental illness, alcoholism, youth rebellion, civil rights, war drama, sports drama and religious drama. Typical camerawork used would include close-ups of characters to show facial expressions. long shots to show a setting and high/low angles to explore the power balance between characters.

Examples of Drama Films:

The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Titanic (1997)

Fight Club (1999)

The Help (2011)

Gone Girl (2014)

The Theory of Everything (2014)                                                

From looking at a wide range of drama films, I was able to observe that they tend to interweave other genre elements. Titanic for example can also be classed as a romance and The Shawshank Redemption is also referred to as a thriller. This may come in useful when deciding on a genre because it allows us to incorporate other genre conventions to make an interesting and original hybrid genre. 

Conventions of drama:

• Typical, realistic setting
• Regular, every day costumes
• Natural lighting
• Cinematography tends to keep the realistic element - not many dynamic shots are used 
• Slow pans draw out tension 
• Continuous editing
• Fast paced editing can reflect panic or anxiety whereas slower paced editing is used for the opposite effect

Group Plan

As I am working with Samantha this year, we decided to split the research and planning questions between us therefore we could discuss our ideas and use two different perspectives for planning our trailer. For the practical element of the coursework, we are going to film and edit together as we feel this would make our final product better because we can try different ways of putting the shots together. We then decided Samantha would do the magazine cover as she has previously done this at GCSE so knows the layout of a magazine cover and I would do the poster because I did art so can be creative with it.

A2 Group Planning

Who will I be working with?

This year I will be working with Samantha because we found we had similar ideas for a trailer. Although I was working on my own last year we were both the actors in each others film openings for AS so know we can work together well.

What problems (if any) might this grouping cause?

As we are doing different subjects which include a heavy amount of coursework it may be difficult at times to match our schedules particularly when we are both needed for part of the project such as filming.

How might these be overcome?

As long as we plan in advance and organise our time well then it should be easy to overcome this. We will plan filming days to make sure we are both available and split the work equally to meet our different skills so we aren't repeating work.

Reflecting on AS Coursework

What were the strengths of my AS coursework?

• I think that one of my strengths during AS was the research and planning stage. I think I did fairly thorough research into the genre I was looking at and researched similar films in this genre to help me plan my story line as well as to consider my target audience.
• I think the final product worked quite well and followed the general conventions of an opening title sequence and the sound I used linked well with the genre to help portray elements of the narrative whilst still obtaining some mystery.

What could I have done better?

• If I were to redo my AS coursework I would plan the filming better so I was able to get the shots I needed without having to re film another day.
• I also would have done more audience research so I was able to identify my target audience more clearly and involve them more by asking people for more improvements I could have made to the opening sequence.

Targets for A2 coursework:

• One of my targets for my A2 coursework would be to plan the filming of my trailer better by having a clear image of what I want the final product to look like
• I will also try to organise my time better to create more detailed blog posts so I can get a better range of knowledge of my chosen genre and target audience and incorporate more audience participation within the making of the film trailer to ensure it would appeal to them
• Be more creative with the editing aspects of the trailer to make it more original and spark more interest to keep the audience intrigued