We created a survey, using Survey Monkey, to find out different factors of audience and what they would want out of a movie. This research is intended to show how effective showing our trailer in a cinema would be and also the age and gender groups this applies to. Typically trailers are shown within cinema along side a film of a similar genre or director. This means that the audience watching the film will also find the films shown in the trailers appealing.
Due to the use of more illegal downloading and streaming, people do not visit the cinema as much and therefore we would more likely promote our trailer through social media such as adverts before youtube videos.
This chart shows the ways in which
audiences of different ages interact or watch the exhibition of films. It is
split into age groups between 16 and over 55.
It shows the difference in the way different age groups interact with
media, there is a definite change in some of the different forms of consumption
as the chart progresses with age.
Teenagers are represented with
about 25% of them consuming with films using online software such as
downloading, streaming or piracy. This slowly decreases along with age until it
only represents a few % of the 55+ age group. This shows that teenagers have
more accessibility to download film, there may be many contributing factors to
this. Teenagers have a lack of money and therefore would be less likely to
spend this money on purchasing films, they also have less time (due to fulltime
education) to go out and watch or record films. Teenagers also have a wider
access and knowledge of the internet and so can easily access streamed movies. This means that trailers alongside films in cinema are no longer as effective and so if a film is aimed at a teenage audience it is more likely to now be advertised using social media such as adverts before YouTube videos or on sites such as Facebook.
This said however a large chunk of
the teenagers (around 20%) in fact go to the cinema, this may be for
socialisation purposes, to hang out with friends as it is a fairly cheep
(around £8 a ticket) form of entertainment. The amount of people who go to the
cinema does not change drastically over the progression of age. This may be
because it is still accepted as an easy form of entertainment for all different
ages of people.
Something else which stays fairly
even throughout the different ages of people is the number of people who
receive DVD’s. This may be down to it being an easy gift to give to people for
their birthdays or Christmas presents for all age groups. Renting and buying
DVD also stays fairly similar which shows that these are fairly regular ways of
viewing film throughout different age groups.
Around 50% of 55+ year olds view films through recorded TV, subscription TV or live TV. This may be to do with the fact that people retire soon after this age and so the majority of their day they have not a lot to do and so end up watching the films that are on day time TV. It is also assumed that they are not as familiar with the internet which is why a very low percentage of these people watch films via online sources. This is important as our target audience interact with media through the internet, this means that our product will have to be accessible on these mediums, as it is very easy to just switch to another film while online compared to watching a movie in a cinema the trailer is specifically important in the success of the film as it shows off the best parts of the film and makes the audience want to watch the whole film.
This chart shows why people tend to
watch films. 76% of people said they watch films for pleasure and similarly 76%
said they watched it for relaxation. This shows that films serve as a purpose
to entertain but also make an audience relaxed. This means that overly
complicated plots are not widely popular as they cannot make the audience relax
whereas a simple movie will allow them to do so. This is something directors
will have to take into account when creating their movie as the more effective
a film is at doing these things increases its overall effectiveness.
Focusing these groups down on
gender and age showed that more females watch films for relaxation and men for
pleasure. This may show that women have more stressful life styles as
stereotypically they have to care for children as well as possibly work whereas
men watch movies for pleasure to entertain them when they might otherwise be
bored.
Throughout age groups the most
popular overall was watching films for pleasure however the age group 55+
watched films for relaxation slightly more than for pleasure. This may also be
down to lifestyle as older people get tired out more easily and therefore need
time to unwind, whereas other age groups of people who are mostly all in
education or work watch movies as a source of entertainment and pleasure.
The next most popular reason why
people watched films was escapism, escaping from everyday life with around 62%
of people agreeing with this. This is also a very good factor of movies to
allow the audience to escape from their reality and enter a world where they no
longer need to worry about their own problems. This is another technique used
by many directors to create an effective film.
It is also proven effective as over half of the people questioned in
this survey said they agreed with this.
The lowest % of people was people
watching films because they were passionate for them with only 40% of people
agreeing with this. In comparison only 18% of people over 55 agreed with this
statement, this may be because they have less connection with modern films, for
example, some people may be passionate for comic book films as they have grown
up reading the comics, people over a certain age loose interest in these
things.
53% of people between 16 and 24
watch movies because they are passionate for them, this may be down to again
the idea that they have grown up with such stories and therefore want to watch
the movies. This is something we will have to take into consideration with our
young audience.
This means that for our trailer we will have to be creating a product that mostly evokes pleasure in the audience. Something they find interesting and entertaining as it will also be used for them to relax and unwind from school or stress from school. We will also be throwing in elements of escapism to really help the audience to escape from school and from the stresses of everyday life. This is especially important for our audience who will be going through exams and therefore need this element of escapism and relaxation. Using a story which is already well known may also evoke passion from the audience as they want to watch the movie adaptation of a timeless story which they will have heard about.
This
chart shows the % of people who enjoy watching certain genres of films. As you
can see the most popular film genre given by the people who were interviewed was comedy with
64% of people saying they enjoyed this genre. Although this I the highest, 64%
is still not that high and so shows the massive variation people have in their
favourite genre of films and what they enjoy watching. This is why film
producers narrow down their audience to make it something which appeals for the
people who mostly enjoy this genre. Although a teenage male may like a comedy,
an older lady may not which is why the survey was then concentrated into
different social groups.
This chart shows the concentrated
genres of people who consider different film genres their favourites. The
survey was broken down into males younger than 35, males older than 25, females
younger than 25, females older than 25. Whether they were parents or not as
their social class. Comedy still appears to be the favourite genre of all
different groups of people which means if you were to pick comedy as your genre
of film you would have a difficult time picking a specific audience group to
focus on.
For our genre of fantasy it was
preferred by women who were not parents of a middle class background, this mean
this is the group we will have to focus down on during our own research.
Although this survey states that it is women over 35 who prefer this genre
other surveys we have look at told us that it was younger women who preferred
this genre and therefore we are going to have to look into this a lot more
through focus groups and researching individual people.
As our movie will be dark fantasy
and therefore contain elements associated with horror films we are going to be
looking at horror film audience as well. According to this survey they are most
popular with younger women, this is equally spread out depending on if they
have children or not and they are again mostly middle class. This means we will
be definitely focusing down on this audience as a focus point.
HOW WE WILL USE THIS RESEARCH
This research supports our planning as we now understand fully what our audience would want to see within a successful trailer. It gives us a real incite into what we are dealing with when it comes to audience, how to attract them and interest them enough to make them want to watch the full movie and what they will look for content wise within the movie and therefore what elements of this we should present within our trailer.
The first trailer I have chosen to analyse for part of my research is the film 'Alice in Wonderland' Directed by Tim Burton, Produced by The Walk Disney Studio and released on the 5th of March 2010. I have specifically chosen this trailer as it is a fantasy movie which has been turned into a dark fantasy by the director. Tim Burton is a extremely well known director of surreal thriller movies and this combined with the classic fantasy element of 'Alice in Wonderland' creates a very interesting and unique movie.
The non diegetic soundtrack starts just before the production companies logo appears. The music is upbeat and appears to be written in the style of a classic piece of music played at an old fashioned ball. This shows that although this is a fantasy film, usually without a specific date, it is set in the past. The ball type music also suggests that it is based around a character of, what would be a long time ago, upper class as they would be the only ones attending such an event. This soundtrack music is played over an animated movie logo for the Walt Disney Studios, this animated logo contains fireworks and as they go off they are accompanied with diegetic firework explosion sounds.
The logo then fades to black and there is a cut to the image of what appears to be a grey manor house. There are lots of people walking around outside of it, these people are all clothed in light pastel colours. There doesn't seem to be any type of vibrant colour. This could connote that although the place is safe and calm, expressed by the light bright colours, it lacks excitement which would be shown through bright exciting colours. I have pointed this out because later in the trailer, when she is actually in wonderland, the colours are vibrant which connotes excitement and adventure.
There is then the first shot of the main character, she is walking through an arch into the mess of people. We know this is Alice as she fits the description of the previous 'Alice in Wonderland' cartoon movie. She has blonde hair, pale skin and is wearing a pale blue dress. She has an air of innocence, which is emphasised as blonde hair often connotes a character who is naive and innocent. She doesn't look partially happy which suggests she doesn't want to be at this particular party. There is then a sound bridge of a man saying her name "Alice" which assures the audience that this is Alice.
It then fades to the next clip which is of the man telling her to meet him under a gazebo. The music by this point is quite faint compared to the diegetic dialogue. This makes sure that the dialogue can be clearly heard. This character we are introduced to is dressed in a suit and a ridiculous looking tie, his body language makes it clear that he is looking down his nose at Alice. This suggests that perhaps he is of slightly higher social status. The camera then flicks back to her and she looks at him with quite a disgusted look.
We are then given a medium long shot of them under the gazebo. The man gets down on one knee, which evidently means he is going to propose to her. She is standing with her hands by her side which suggests that she doesn't know or want what is happening to happen. We are then given a close up of his face as he proposes, and then smiles at her. The camera then focuses on Alice as she avoids looking at the man and instead looks to the side trying to come up with an excuse. By this point the non diegetic music stops abruptly, reflecting her shocked mood.
We then have a shot of what she is looking at and it is all the people who were at the party standing in a big huddle watching the proposal. This makes it clear that this is a forced marriage and that these people are expecting her to marry him. There is a faint frog croak in the background, this is often used to show awkward silences within movies and is of no exception here highlighting a slight element of comedy within the film.
She then moves away from the man and we are shown a close up of her speaking to everyone saying 'I need a moment" - As this happens a new piece of non diegetic music starts up, this one is more mysterious sounding and is therefore a conventional piece of music from the genre of fantasy movies. As she runs off of the gazebo all the heads of the people watching follow her. As she runs into an arch formed by a bush the video fades to black.
We are then given as long shot of her running through the wood towards an old, large twisted looking tree. She is framed rather well between the trees which makes her stand out in the frame. Woods are a close connotation of fantasy movies as many films which are of this genre are often set in the woods as they add an element of mystery and unknowing to a film. Many fantasy films are based in earth-like worlds and therefore a wood is something which can be found on earth but supplies dark spooky settings without having to totally create somewhere.
The camera then goes to a low angle shot, almost a worms view shot, of down a hole un a tree root looking up as Alice looks down the whole framing her in the holes entrance. This shows the idea that something is down the hole, and as most of the audience watching will already know the story of 'Alice in Wonderland' acts as an element of foreboding that she is going to fall into the hole. She then crouches down to look into the hole closer, and the music reaches a slight peak and she slips and falls straight into the hole.
There is then a point of view shot of Alice falling looking back up through the hole, her hands reaching forward as if trying to grab onto something to save her from the fall. This type of shot makes the audience feel instantly involved in the action and brings supplies a relationship with the audience as they place themselves in the characters position. We are then given another shot of her falling down, we see around her as she falls, the hold no longer seems normal as within the walls are loads of lights and various other objects such as chairs.
This then fades out to black and fades back in with a close up of her face as she opens a door and we have a shot of her looking at whatever is on the other side of the door. With a peak of the music we are shown what she is looking at which is a castle. The castle shot is of a red and white palace positioned in the shadows, the light looking through the clouds is directed to highlight the castle and make it stand out.
There then starts a non diegetic voice over, we aren't sure at first who's voice it is. It is explaining about Wonderland. This voice over is accompanied with several short clips which are totally unrelated which are separated by cuts to black and back into video. These show some of the main characters such as, tweedle dumb and tweedle dee, the Queen of Hearts, the Chester cat and finally the mad hatter as the voice over says "you have to be mad as a hatter, which luckily I am". This shot shows him looking excitedly at what we are lead to believe is Alice. This is confirmed by him saying "Alice, it's you".
We are then given a front on mid long shot of him walking over the table towards Alice, his behaviour suggests he is extremely excited to see her. Unlike the characters in the manor scenes, the mise en scene is very different, the table is crooked and assorted broken cups and tea pots are placed on the table instead of organised matching ones. His costume is a dark purple with a bright orange band on his hat and a bright purple sash, he also has a very colourful tie on which consists of many different colours, it is as ridiculous as the man before but instead of making him look silly show that this place is exciting and interesting in comparison to the setting Alice was in before.
The non diegetic music now playing is similar to that of a circus, this connotes that the characters here are like people from a circus, funny and entertaining. The Mad Hatter's make up also is very "clown like" which makes him fit into this idea of circus people. He then crouches down to look at a, unusually small Alice, and says "you're back" - this makes the audience question what this means this means, what is she back for? when was she here before? where is she? A rabbit and a mouse and the Chester cat also seem to recognise Alice, this makes the audience realise that everyone here knows who she is for some reason. Leaving a mystery in the audiences mind, into why and how they know her.
There then comes a title screens showing "From Director Tim Burton". The title is placed on a red background with prints of tea pots and tea cups on. The writing is in gold which makes it stand out against this. Music starts up again, which makes the title stand out more as the music catches the audiences attention.
The title then zooms in and though the top of the B in Burton, the next film clip appears. It is of the Queen of Hears throwing open a door, looking very angry. Her characters appears very abnormal, her head is larger than that of a normal person. The director has possibly done this to physically show she is a big headed and selfish person, which automatically makes her a disliked person. She looks angry as her voice says over the next few clips "Alice has returned to Wonderland". This acts as the introduction to the villain of this film.
The Mad Hatter then explains how the Red Queen has taken over all of wonderland, this is accompanied by some shots of her dark blood red castle and of her shouting "FIND HER". This shows that the Queen of Hearts is troubled by Alice's appearance in wonderland. The music keeps picking up more and getting faster and more intense. These are accompanied by shorts of action such as her being chased through the trees by beasts obviously released on her by the Red Queen and the Mad Hatter telling her that he needs her to help save wonderland. These short shots of action are very common within fantasy movies as they show the action element of the film.
The music then abruptly stops with a small comedic part of the trailer with the queen requesting a big for a her feet, and the mad hatter standing laughing at her. The music then starts back up with another title screen, the same lay out as the first but saying "This Spring".
After this there are more action shorts which are separated with cuts and fades in and out from black. It is clear that fastly paced edits between shots of action are a commonly used to show off some of the best action scenes within any film. This allows the director to show off some of the best bits of the film without spoiling any of the plot as there is no context given to the clips and how the tie into the storyline.
The music then dies down a little again and it shows a shot of Alice, now in a suit of armour and then a sound bridge to a shot of the White Queen saying "we have our champion". This shows to the audience that Alice has decided to help wonderland and fight the Red Queen. This reveals a little about the plot of the film without spoiling too much, an important part of movie trailers is revealing just enough to make the audience want to know more but not revealing too much so that there is no longer any point to see the film.
The music then changed again to something more intense with a swooping shot of the castle with the words "Disney Presents" over the top.
We go back to quickly editing action shots, now of fighting from what appears to be a battle between the two sides. It also shows more of the characters doing things and Alice saying "This is impossible". This connotes that the things which are going on within the movie are different from what Alice experienced in the world she was in before. It also connotes that lots of things will be happening that are interesting and exciting. There is then another word credit. This one is different, it has a green background with small hats decorating it, it contains the name "Johnny Depp" who is the actor playing the mad hatter (which possibly suggests the use of the hat design).
Johnny Depp is a very well known Hollywood actor. This means that he has a lot of fans which would watch a movie purely because he is in the film. Many films use big star actors, directors or companies to promote a film and this is no exception. As well as using Johnny Depp to promote the film, the director Tim Burton is also very well known for making successful films and the production company Disney. Disney is an extremely well known media conglomerate and thus has a reputation for creating high quality, family friendly, movies. It not only attracts an audience who have watched other Disney movies and wish to watch this one but it also makes it clear who the target audience of the movie is, a family audience. There are a few more clips placed very fast paced one after the other and then a shot of the Title of the film followed by information about the release date, the fact it is in 3D and finally some shots of the main actors and actresses and other people involved in the production of the movie.
The next trailer I have chosen to analyse is one for a film called "The Age of Adaline" which is a drama, romance due to release in April 2015. It is directed by Lee Toland Krieger and stars Blake Lively, Michiel Huisman and Harrison Ford.
The first shot in the trailer is a long shot of a street panning down, this shot fades in from black and the non diegetic soundtrack also starts at this point. The music is lively and gives us the feeling of everyday peaceful life. Combined with the shot of the street this makes the start of the trailer appear to be based around a normal persons normal life, which contrasts with later on in the trailer. There is one character within this shot, which is a man riding a bike, this again adds to the peaceful idea of ordinary life.
The next scene goes to a police man getting out of the car, from this shot it is apparent that at this point in the film it is based in the past. This is made clear through the use of mise en scene, the policeman is dressed in a police uniform from a long time ago, the cars are also one of the first types of cars. There is then a sound bridge as this clip fades out of the policeman talking to someone.
A fade in from black reveals he is talking to a woman who helps to confirm the time period in which this part of the movie is set. The costume and make up are done to the style of around the 1940's with her hair in tight curls and a red lipstick, which was very popular. She is sitting in a car and talking to the officer through a window. The window allows her face to be framed, which makes it stand out within the medium close up shot. The man is questioning the face that her licence says she is "45 years old". She replies with "That's right". She is obviously not 45 years of age and appears to only be in her 20's or possibly early 30's - this creates a sense of mystery into how she is so young in appearance and technically so old. I believe this has been done to set up the enigma of the film a mere 18 seconds into the trailer. This ensures that the audience keeps watching as they wish to discover the mystery.
The image then cuts to an animated production company logo, and the music strikes up along with the sound of a ticking clock. This adds to the theme of time and age which has already been made clear. On each tick of the clock, the production company logo's appear, in total there are three production companies which are shown in the trailer. This means that this is a high budget film, also by promoting the production company logos, anyone who enjoys films created by a specific production company will want to watch this film as some of their other movies have attracted their attention.
The video then turns back to clips from the movie it shows a shot which fades in from black of the same woman, who we can now take to be Adaline, the protagonist, with an old fashioned projector. The camera then cuts to show what she is looking at on the projector. As this cuts, there is a non diegetic voice over telling the audience when she was born, combined with the image we take that this is a video of her as a baby. The camera then changes to an old fashioned photographer taking a photograph, and then a follow up shot of what h e is taking an image of. This is of Adaline getting married to someone. This shot uses an effect called 'vignette' this makes the edges of the image dark and shadowy. This means that only the bride and groom are really visible and the other people in the image are faded into darkness. This creates quite an odd image as wedding photographs are supposed to be bright and happy. This suggests that something bad has happened to the people in the photograph and that things aren't as they were when the image was taken.
There is then a fade out to black as the voice over explains how she started her own family. The image fades into a scene of a church with Adaline holding a baby and people surrounding her, obviously at a christening. The image again has a 'vignette' appearance and is darker than we would associate with a clip about something which is a social ideal and commonly linked with positive connotations such as joy and happiness. Another fade out to black and fade in reveals a car driving through a rain storm in a wood. The headlights stand out against the background very vividly, catching the audiences' attention. The dark woods, combined with the fact that it is raining connotes that something bad is about to happen and the dark connotes the idea of unknowing and therefore danger. The voice over describes that on a "cold winter night in 1935, Adaline's life changed forever." As this happens the non diegetic soundtrack reaches a peak of tension, this suggests to the audience that something is going to happen. This is accompanied with the sound of a ticking clock. This comes back to the idea of the film being about time.
Together, Chelsea and I formed two mood boards to show the types of lighting style that we would like to try and create for our movie trailer. We have two very contrasting themes, of evil and good, which are conflicting within the character. When we are shown clips of the character in a state of equilibrium the mise en scene, in terms of lighting and effects which can alter how the lighting looks will be brighter, this creates a more peaceful mood and the lack of shadows connotes that they aren't hiding anything. Whereas, during the parts the character is in disequilibrium the lighting will be darker, like the first mood board. There will be a higher contrast in shadow to make the image look darker but also scary as shadows connotes the unknowing and fear. In addition to the lighting, during the production stages of creating our product we will be able to adjust the saturation, and any colour filters. This is because warmer colours, like oranges, pinks and yellows represent the feeling of happiness and that everything is content. Whereas, colder colours such as blues connotes feelings of unease and agitation for the audience which will will be trying to portray in our trailer as Pandora is a very mysterious character.
In both pictures you can see a lot of mist which creates a sense of darkness and mystery especially in the first mood board, the mist is there to almost hide what is going on and to make viewers or audience members feel on edge as they wouldn't like to be entering places like these.
Where as the second mood board uses the mist to portray a magical feeling as there are fantasy characters, for example; fairy's in the different pictures.
We came up with some plot ideas which we would use for our film and therefore our trailer. As we were creating a trailer we need at least a basic outline of the entire plot for the film so we can express parts of the plot through the trailer.
The BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) is an organisation funded by the film industry which is responsible for the censorship and classification of films. It was formed in 1912 by a group of members of the film industry who wanted to manage their own censorship instead of a government organisation to do it for them. It began to take action on the 1st of January 1913. It was based on the Cinematography Act 1909. This act required cinemas to have licences to show films from local authorities.
During the Second World War the BBFC was given power to completely censor films. This was because cinema had become a powerful mass-medium and it was feared by the government that it would be used for propaganda purposes as this has happened in the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany at the time. This meant that scripts would have to be submitted to the BBFC before the shooting process could start. However, Hollywood films were not treated in the same way as the British Films as the BBFC believed that American cinema represented foreign culture did not have an affect on audiences.
After WW2 the BBFC was involved in the increasing controversies involving the depictions of sex and violence rather than political expression. Movies at this time were also used as an argument for the legalization of homosexuality.
In the 80's the BBFC was also given the power and responsibility to classify videos for hire or purchase for home viewing. Home video and cinema are normally given the same certificate, although occasionally they can be given a stricter home rating because of an additional content. In December 1986, the first computer game was given a BBFC rating. However the BBFC was given no power over print media.
Here are the current certificates:
UNIVERSAL: All ages are admitted as there is nothing unsuitable for children. There is only allowed the infrequence use of mildly bad language such as "damn" or "hell". Characters are allowed to be kissing or cuddling but there is no overt focus on sexual behaviors or innuendos. Violence will generally be very mild, and will contain a reassuring element. U films will normally contain positive messages of loyalty, honesty and friendship.
PARENTAL GUIDANCE: All ages are admitted but some scenes may be unsuitable for young children but should not disturb children 8 years or older. PG movies can explore challenging issues such as bullying. There may be mild bad language such as "sh*t" or "b*tch" but the delivery of the line cannot be aggressive or too frequent. Sex references are unlikely unless they are unlikely to be understood by a child such as innuendos. Violence again is mild, there may be some blood but an audience cannot see the injury. Violence is more acceptable in a historical, comedic or fantasy setting.
12A (CINEMA ONLY): The 12A applies only to cinema films with the A standing for 'ACCOMPANIED' meaning that any child under 12 years old must be accompanied by an adult (anyone over 18 years old). The tone of the film cannot be too dark or upsetting which could disturb an audience is unlikely to pass as a 12A and would be moving towards the 15 category. Strong language, such as "f***", may be passed at this level dependent on the context in which it is used and if it can be justified. Aggressive usage of such language may result in the film being placed in the 15 category. Any discriminatory behavior or language (eg- homophobic or racist terms) is very unlikely to be passed at a 12A unless it is clearly condemned. Sex may be briefly portrayed, verbal references should not pass what is suitable for young teenagers. Sexual references can be used more frequently for comedic effect and innuendo can be used frequently. There may be some kind of nudity in a sexual context but should be brief or discreet. Moderate violence is allowed but should not dwell on detail, as in, no emphasis on injuries or blood, unless it can be justified. Weapons may also be present during a 12A and can be used in extensive fight scenes. However, instruments which are accessible to teens (for example knives) should not be focused on or glamoured. Sexual violence (such as rape or assault) can be briefly introduced however, should not be focused on and must be justified. The usage of drug misuse can be infrequently used but should not be glamorized or contain instructional detail.
12 (HOME ONLY): The 12 is the same as a 12A requirements only applies to outside of cinema exhibition of the film and can only be sold to people over the age of 12.
15: Only 15 year old's or older can view a 15 and can purchase 15's legally. There is not limit on the number of strong language uses, for example "f***" can be used as many times as the film makers want. There may also be some examples of the strongest terms, for example "c***". This depends on the context in which they are used and require justification. However, aggressive use of these very strong terms in unlikely to pass as a 15. There many be discriminatory language but at a 15 level it must not endorse this language or behavior. Sex scenes can be quite long, but without the use of strong detail. Nudity is allowed in a sexual context without strong detail. 15's are also allowed to portray strong violence although should not dwell on the infliction of pain or injury as sadistic violence is unlikely to be acceptable. There can also be detailed verbal references to sexual violence but any portrayal of this must be discreet and justified by context. Any drug use should not promote the idea of drugs, the misuse of very dangerous substances is very unlikely to pass at this level. Elements such as suicide or self-harming can be included but not dwell on detail which could be copied.
18: There is no limit to language at an 18 level, even very strong language such as "c***". This language can also be used aggressively or accompanied by strong violence. There can be racist, homophobic or other discriminatory language and the themes can be explored into depth. Although it should not be promoted as good. There can be strong and detailed portrayals of sex, including full nudity. At an 18 film or video can contain depictions of real sex, as long as the film or video is not a sex work. There can also be strong violence with strong detail, even the infliction of pain or injury. Sadistic and sexual violence are also permitted. Drugs can also be used but the work as a whole should not promote their use. Very dangerous or criminal behavior however can be cut from a film.
R18: The classification for explicit works of sex.
Comedy is a genre of film where the main emphasis is on humour. This genre films are designed for entertainment purposes using amusement, often achieved by exaggerating elements of everyday life to form a humerous hyperbolic version of life. Comedy is one of the oldest genre in film, some of the first silent movies were comedies known as slapstick comedies. During the 30's, silent movies were replaced by dialogue. Types of Comedy:
Slapstick- This type of comedy uses a lot of movement, it was introduced in the earlier silent movies to help enhance the audience’s understanding and reaction as slapstick comedy doesn't need any sound with it to still allow it to be funny. Slapstick comedy became quite popular with non - English speaking people.
Anecdotal- This is where comedy is produced from a small short true story.
Dark or Morbid – Where humor is created from a grim situation or misfortunes however there is a pessimistic outlook on it. This can also deal with scenes like death, drugs, terrorism, rape and war.
Stand Up - A type of comedy that entertains and audience with a selection of jokes and humorous stories. A comedian may use a few different types of humour throughout their performance.
Codes and conventions:
Settings where a comedy genre would normally take place:
Bright places like towns or cities that are well populated, the lighting would pretty much always be bright as this emphasizes the reality of the programme and allows the audience to be interested by the characters, surroundings and the realistic environment. Furthermore bright colours have the conventions of being happy.
If it is a teen comedy then it would most likely be set in a school, small town or if the comedy was part of a program taking the mic our of teens then then the settings could be where a teenager is ‘known for’ hanging out at an alley way
Social comedies are generally set in a home or a bar as being in a bar allows people to be more confident as they are drinking.
Throughout a comedy there are usually a lot of jokes which often has a response of the characters laughing or some TV shows have a non-diegetic sound of laughing which is used as a voiceover, two examples of shows that use a laughing voiceover are ‘Friends’ and ‘The Big Bang Theory’.
In a comedy the opening credits, trailer or closing credits will have an upbeat soundtrack. This advocates the light heartedness of the show; this allows the audience to immediately pick up on what genre and what to expect from the following show.
The characters are what make up the humour in the comedy and generally the audience can depict whether the program will be a comedy just by looking at the cast, either from a poster on the side of a bus of an advertisement online. Moreover the characters often show distinct character differences to allow them to stand out. The typical character in a comedy would be an incompetent character, this character is the one who makes lots of mistakes, isn’t very smart and is always getting into trouble. To this character there will be a complete opposite character that knows everything, is hard working and will get annoyed by the incompetent character really easily because of their stupidity or the way they don’t stop talking. The difference between having the idiotic characters contrasting with the “normal” or clever group of people also emphasises their personalities and highlights the stupidity of the other character even more.
The
genre ‘Action’ was discovered in the 1920’s and was generally based around
western films that included sword fight and chase scenes on horse-back. As
technology has improved over the years, action films are always changing and
new variations are starting to appear. In the 1960’s the first James Bond film
was produced and has served an inspiration to a lot of action movies nowadays.
Action
films usually include a high level of energy which gets shown throughout the
film. Action films tend to have a very large budget because it has to cover all
to the costs for the stunts, costumes and props needed. There is non-stop
motion, this keeps the viewer tied into the film, and there is furthermore
spectacular rhythm and pacing created by the adventurous characters and mis-en-scene.
Main characters often include two-dimensional 'good-guy' heroes battling the
'bad guys’; this is all designed for pure audience escapism.
What
an audience will stereotypically view in an action film:
Explosion
Gun Fights
Chase Scenes
Fist Fights
Natural Disasters such as (floods, tsunamis and tornado's)
Destructive Crises
Prison or Culprit escapes
Blood
A Victory
Some
examples of Action Movies:
The fast and Furious sequel
James Bond
Die Hard
Batman: The Dark Knight
Indiana Jones
300
The Matrix
Avatar
Popular
actors that known for their good acting in action films are:
