For our summer brief I have been set the task of watching three movies, one that is currently in the cinema or recently released on DVD, one from the 90's and the third is to be a pre-90's film. These films can be any of our choice. I am going to write about Grease (1978), She's All That (1999) and The DUFF (2015). With each film I am going to take note of the general plot, the genres, motifs I notice and also concentrate on a particular character and follow them and their journey throughout the movie.
Genre's:
Basic definition: Category/type of film.
Film genres came about in the 70's when movies were being made quicker and people noticed similarity between the most successful and popular storylines, these similar storylines were made into genres and thats how they knew what type of plots and themes and characters the audience enjoyed most. Films can belong to a number of genres, not necessarily just one and there are loads of different genres existing, broken down into sub genres too.
Examples of genres:
- Action - Exciting, fast paced, higher budget, stunts, special effects, bad guys and the heroes/heroines, fights, battles, missions etc. The audience can completely escape real life with these movies. E.g. The Dark Knight
- Comedies - Light hearted storylines written to amuse and make the audience laugh and feel good. (Romantic comedies, black comedies, slapstick etc.)
- Dramas - Serious storylines with realistic and believable situations and characters. More involvement with the characters and their lives rather than concentrating on special effects, stunts, action and comedy vibes.
- Crime/Gangster - Based around dangerous, ruthless criminals/gang members/mobsters who operate outside the law. These films feature violence, robbery, fear, torture, murder etc.
- Horror - Designed to frighten, horrify and make our inner most deepest fears take place and happen to the characters in the film. There are many different types of horrors, e.g Slasher, serial killers, zombies, vampires etc.
- Musical - Concentrating heavily on music and dance to help tell the story. Musicals are often combined with comedy, one of the largest sub genres.
- Sci-fi - Include creatures like aliens and robots in different worlds and places that could be years and years in the future or on another planet altogether. Humans aren't always the dominant species and the plots often play with the idea that technology could destroy humans alltogether. These are combined with action and horror.
- Historical - Historical dramas, war films, medieval battle periods, kings and queens etc. Elaborate costumes, sets, props and backdrops to make it as realistic as possible. Often based around a historically accurate or made up event, legends, heroes, religious themes and often is a ruler present.
- War - Combined with the historical, action, drama, black comedy, epic and romance genres. These films show the horror and disruption caused by war. They include stories of military operations, training etc.
- Westerns - Early day America. Include the classic old American plots and characters, e.g. Cowboys and Indians, horses, guns, large, dry open and dusty settings.
Stock characters:
Stock characters are recurring characters that feature in specific genres.
Motifs:
Basic definition: A repeated idea, pattern, image throughout the film. The point of motifs is to help reveal and make the themes explored during the film clear.
To help notice motifs you need to start paying attention to anything that seems to recur over and over throughout the film, this could be something like a colour palette, a phrase, a piece of music etc. Once you have noticed a pattern and you have indentified it as a motif you can go on to think about why this has been used and what they want you to think/feel and know about why this is there. What does it mean?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aS7EHDwIzPc
http://www.filmsite.org/genres.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RRnHgYpSBk&list=PL_tdNe4QkPjEWIyJzGBwtnZcwP9FACT5h&index=19
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