To produce an effective film opening I will have to decide on a genre. Therefore it will be appropriate at first to understand what the term genre means and why it is so important.
The word genre is used to describe the expectations of a film by having certain elements applied to a certain situation which makes a suitable, typical narrative. All of these elements build a picture of what a film of that genre would typically have.
Some different genres include horror, romantic, western, thrillers, animation, science fiction and many more.
For example..
The stock elements of a romance film are;
- A narrative where a girl and boy meet and fall in love, have to overcome a hurdle of not being able to be together and end up either happy or sad.
- The protagonists are the happy couple who are usually teenagers or young adults.
- The antagonists are the people or person (e.g a parent) who tries to stop them being together, which moves the narrative onwards.
- The stock characters will generally be friends who are quite stereotypical.
The stock elements of a horror film are;
- A narrative in which an unknown being threatens a person or group of people. People tend to die one after the other.
- The protagonist is the person who survives at the end.
- The antagonist is the unknown being or thing that moves the narrative forward.
- The stock characters are the family or friends of the protagonist.
Genres are very important for audiences as it allows them to look at a film's genre and then subconsciously expect elements from a film. Genre also helps audiences to decide whether they would want to see the film or not as people usually prefer some genres to others.
In addition to this genres are important for institutions as it allows them to categorise their film so they can aim it at a specific target audience who are most likely to enjoy the film. This makes the marketing process more smooth as typical icons and visual motifs can be used to communicate the genre of the film to the audience.
No comments:
Post a Comment