Research: Different Genres

Studying different genres and getting to know of their significance is the next step in our research for the Short-film.

It is obvious that the genre of a film can be identified only when it's story line, which is the key element for any movie, is finalised-but the genre itself is a very important part of any film as audiences' preferences can be recognised and taken into knowledge. What differentiates one genre from another are the codes and conventions of it. E.g. difference between horror and thriller is that horror films usually have more of supernatural and macabre element- macabre, after studying, I understood are the emphasized details and symbols of death. Sometimes, however, the two genres are also used side by side.

Following aspects of different genres are supposed to be indentified:

• Style and forms
• Paradigms(key elements)
• Iconography
• Structure 
• Theme

The Horror genre deals with showing audiences' inner fears, such as fear of ghosts and demons, zombies, nightmares-basically fear of the unknown.

Not being so fond of horror film, I have not really seen much, but the ones i have watched include The Exorcist, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Final Destination and Insidious. Now what common among these films was the existence of a ghost or a demon. In both film i.e The exorcist and The exorcism of Emily Rose, the protagonist is possessed by a demon and hence is doing unusual, violent activities. 

The first image is taken from The Exorcism of Emily rose while the other two are from The Exorcist. The common element visible between pictures of the two films is the effect created on protagonist's face to show that they have been possessed. Apart from that, a very noticeable element of horror films is that very low lighting is used usually throughout the film and the background scores are also similar- that are able to keep the viewer frightened, yet attentive and close to the screen. 

Coming down to the next genre, Thriller aims to keep the audiences attentive, anticipated, on the edge of their seats, and of course  thrilled. Thriller and action tend to go side by side. Common elements seen in action/thriller films are again, a bit of violence sometimes, use of guns and other various weapons, thrilling background scores and lighting is also usually low key- such that it is able to highlight the protagonist. 

Films related to this genre that I have watched include Mission Impossible, The Italian Job 

Inception, Kill Bill, Taken, Pulp Fiction and many other which I cannot think of right now. In thriller/action films, the protagonist has support and people who can help him during the mission but at the end, they face the scariest, most thrilling dangers themselves. The element of being a hero is always present in such films i.e. there is always a hero while others are just in the background.

Romance is a very widely spread genre a common subcategory of it is Romantic comedy. Romantic films have a lot in common, and most of the times the story line is predictable, just the way it is portrayed is different. Like, usually in romantic films the couple will be faced with a problem that will end up separating them, and then the story will revolve around how they try to get back. Some of the romantic/ romantic comedy films that I have watched include A walk to Remember, The Vow, The lucky one, Dear John, Crazy, Stupid Love, The Ugly truth and many more. Common elements seen these films are the use of lighting, props, colours and also the obvious, the stroyline, as mentioned earlier as well. Colours pleasing to the eye are used usually throughout the film, flat, very soft light is also used a lot.

First picture is taken from a scene of Dear John, second from The Lucky one and third from The Vow. It is evident through the images how colours are played with and the lighting that is used. Very soft lighting is used which is used throughout the films. Another element I noticed between film The lucky one and Dear John are the locations. Country side locations are used and costumes are also very similar. This element is not only seen in these films but in many others as The Last Song, which is Drama and Romance both, has used country side as its location.