From Buddy Films to Teen Slashers

1. From Buddy Films to Teen Slashers Genre in Movies

2. Genre • Set of interrelated stories and their associated images • Uses conventions – stories, characters, situations • Enables viewers familiar with genre to anticipate developments and outcomes • Enables filmmakers to achieve highly concentrated meanings within genre

3. Westerns Drama Comedy Film Noir Action/Adventure Documentaries Sci-Fi/Fantasy Gangster/Crime Musical Mystery/Horror Romance Animation Movie Genres

4. Westerns • Oldest screen genre • By 1910, over 20% of movies were Westerns • Dropped off in the 1970’s, never to return to prominence • Exceptions – Silverado, Tombstone, Unforgiven

5. Conventions of Westerns • Defined by: • Period – from Civil War to WW1 • Setting – west of MS – allows use of migration, Indian wars, railroads, cattle drives, gold rush – landscape is a character • Theme – conflict between civilization and the wilderness • explain why violence is necessary • culture of honor vs. culture of law • no social order beyond peers, family • reputation is a two-edged sword

6. Conventions of Westerns • Opening scene – riding into town from wilderness • Character – only have clothes on your back, your gun, and your horse • Violence vs. Law • Violent skills of protagonist tested in a public arena (saloon) • Conclusion – gunfight, riding back out of town

7. Drama • Largest film genre • Many subsets • Epics • Historical dramas • Romantic • Biopics – biographical films

8. Drama - Conventions • Serious, plot-driven stories • Realistic characters, settings, situations Focus is on character development/ interaction • How does a character change through the course of the movie? • What causes this? • How does the director show this?

9. Comedy • Light-hearted plots • Designed to amuse, provoke laughter by exaggerating situations, relationships, characters • Subsets • Slapstick • Satire - portray persons or social institutions as ridiculous or corrupt • Parody – critique from within • Romantic comedies • “Black” comedies

10. Comedy • Elements • Surprise • Incongruity • Conflict • Repetitiveness • Opposite expectations

11. Comedy - Conventions • Use of Irony • Situational – character expects one thing, gets another • Dramatic – audience knows more than character • Exaggeration • Situations • Characters • Action • Language

12. Comedy - Conventions • Rule of Threes • maximum humor can be attained by creating a structure • a joke is set up • the setup is reinforced • The punchline breaks the pattern • How do you get to my place? Go down to the corner, turn left, and get lost. • I know three French words: Bonjour, merci, and surrender.

13. Film Noir • Means “Black Film” • More of a mood, style • Often black and white • Creates mood of melencholy, bleakness, moral corruption, evil, guilt • Evolved in the 1940’s through 1960’s

14. Film Noir - Conventions • Cynical, loner hero – the anti-hero • Hard-boiled detective • Femme Fatale • Locations • Seedy, big cities • The underworld – class of people we normally do not see/interact with • Themes of fate, hopelessness, desperation

15. Action/Adventure • High-energy, big budget • Escapism • Exciting stories, locations • Subsets • Serialized films (James Bond) • Epics • Blaxploitation films

16. Action/Adventure - Conventions • 2 Dimensional characters • Good guys, bad guys • Unrealistic situations, proving abilities of hero • Locations, situations are usually exotic, original, or outside of viewer’s experiences

17. Musicals • A product of sound films – came to fruition with the development of sound • Emphasize full-scale scores or song and dance routines • Combinations of music, dance, song, or choreography • Will often be combined with another genre • Musical comedy • Dramatic musical • Romantic musical • Musical Western

18. Musicals - Conventions • Often center on the courtship rituals • Song/dance expressed desire for each other • Dialogue scenes shot in realistic style – song sequences are far from realistic • Bifurcated style • Belong to a less cynical age – optimism and innocence • Antirealism – story is least important of the elements – just connects the songs

19. Gangster • Developed around the sinister actions of criminals • Rise and fall of a career criminal • Often with immigrant origins • Most famous – Little Caesar with Edward G. Robinson

20. Gangster - Conventions • A perversion of the American Dream – Horatio Algers • A sustained critique of society • What is wrong with a society if it produces people like this? • Death of the protagonist must be spectacular • The American Nightmare

21. Horror • 1930’s – the Golden Age • Dracula, Frankenstein, Mummy, Wolfman, etc. • Began as a storytelling convention; has developed into shock theater • Targets a specific audience, but utilizes universal fears • Represents a confusion/violation of social categories • Normal/abnormal, human/animal, living/dead

22. Horror - Conventions • Basic narrative situation – “normalcy” is threatened • Often a romantic couple or a parent/child • Best monsters are human and inhuman • Modern horror is more unsettling • Monster doesn’t die, and endings are not always happy

23. Fantasy/Science Fiction • Visionary movies – what might the future hold, what alternatives might have been • Often deal with the potential of technology to destroy humans • Quasi-scientific – best movies seem realistic (Minority Report)

24. Fantasy/Science Fiction - Conventions • Settings are fantastic – futuristic, other dimensions, strange environments • Complete with heroes, impossible quests, great villains, futuristic technology, extraordinary monsters • Transcends the bounds of human possibility and physical laws • Element of magic, myth, wonder, and the extraordinary

25. Romance - Conventions • Affairs of the heart • May overlap with dramas, comedies, westerns, etc. • Center on passion, emotion, and the romantic involvement of the main characters • Journey of love from courtship to marriage • The love story is the main plot focus

26. Documentaries • Cinema Verite • used to show “true” stories • 1922 – Nanook of the North – first full length documentary

27. Documentaries - Conventions • Archival Footage and Photographs • Talking Heads – apparent “experts” and eyewitnesses • Jiggly Camera – use of handhelds allowed for intimacy with action • Voiceover Narration – often an authoritative narrator • Real People and Re-enactments – not actors

28. Animated Films • Individual drawings, paintings, or illustrations are photographed frame by frame • Stop-frame cinematography • Earliest films were created by hand-drawn images • A technique, not a genre • Often appeal to children, but not strictly for children

29. Animated Films • Sinking of the Lusitania - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN-KdPBhyjc • Steamboat Willie – first Disney film – cartoon with sound – first one with post-produced synchronized soundtrack. The birth of Mickey Mouse • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEEaT_UQnVM • Pixar – computer animated movies • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHI0--lbRBM – for the birds • lamp - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuMAsRTf-iQ&feature=related