In film theory, genre refers to the method based on similarities in the narrative elements from which films are constructed. Different film genres include: Different film genres include Action and Adventure, Animation, Comedy, Drama, Family, Horror, Musical, Romance , Thriller, War films and Western. The three genres I am considering are Drama, Horror and Thriller.
Conventions of the Drama genre
A drama exhibits real life situations using realistic characters, setting and stories. No animation would be found in a genre or any form of spiritual or un natural occurances. The purpose of a drama is to move the audience emotionally by portraying a characters journey. A drama usually involves plenty of social interaction and events. The heart of Drama is the journey involving the beggining of the story the conflict in between and the ending. The audience should be able to relate to the genre. A drama includes climaxes and anti climaxes to keep the audience involved and attached. A drama can and is usually mixed with another genre e.g Comedy, Romance, Thriller e.t.c
Drama films include:
The Lovely Bones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xmqxw3yAkE
The Great Gatsby: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqOAga28IT0
Scarface: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnlIROVbWfM
The Breakfast Club: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkX8J-FKndE
Drama films that break Convention:
Titanic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYbCJV-GNDw Titanic broke drama conventions as all did not end happily and had a rather tragic ending.
Studios that produce Drama films include Warner Bro's, Columbia Pictures and Summit Entertainment.
Conventions
Dramatic Scenes
Conflict Between Characters
Cliff Hangers
Emotional Theme
Climax and Anti Climax
Hero/Villain
Gladiator (2000) is said to be an epic drama film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQRzYGEV0jQ
Conventions of a Horror
Horror is a film genre seeking to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's primal fears. Horror films often feature scenes that startle the viewer; the macabre and the supernatural are frequent themes. Thus they may overlap with the fantasy, supernatural, and thriller genres.
The Blair Witch Project is the perfect example of a great teaser trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZu1cTg-xUM
The trailer from 1999 begins with text telling you how the story began then footage of the Blair Witch Project but reveals nothing. This makes a great horror teaser trailer because you can see it's a horror from the dark setting and shaky camera movement and the heavy tense music also allows you to realise it is a horror without any sense of the actual story or the characters coming across.
Horror films include:
The Exorcist https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUS5EXVrObA
Texas Chainsaw Massacre https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz1ROgnACJ8
Conventions
Small or Isolated places
Dark History
Victim
Villain
Good/Bad
Remember to be clear about the difference between codes and conventions when you are planning as this will help you think more critically about which ones you want to follow/subvert and how you will do this.
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