Exploring Hollywood Films
A genre is a certain type of film and they are each defined by certain codes and conventions. Within a genre there can be different categories these are known as sub-genres, for example, a psychological thriller. There are also occasions when in a film there may be a combination of more than one genre this is known as a hybrid. Genre is an excellent way of classifying a film. Audiences will know what to expect when they go too see a film as they will know if they normally like, thrillers, for example then they make the choice of seeing it. They also generally guarantee box office success this is also because of the audience knowing if they will like the film or not.
…show more content…
Therefore it should have some sort of twist that the audience is not expecting. However not all films strictly follow the codes and conventions of a certain genre, they change to reflect the changes in society.
The film 'Mean Girls' is a typical romantic/teen comedy. It uses the general codes and conventions for example; it has the typical teen romance and also the competition between the girls for the one boy. It also has the people who are classified as the 'freaks' and those who are the 'popular' group, who are the cheerleaders; this is typical of a teen comedy. 'Mean Girls' is quite predictable and formulaic, in the way that it has all of the traditional teen flick characters and the traditional teen flick story lines. However I still enjoyed it and thought it was funny. This was because even though I could predict what was going to happen there was one twist in it, which I would not have been able to predict. The way in which it was written was also very funny, and this makes the audience forget about the expected plot of the film.
However not all films are predictable, for example, the film SWAT. Which is a hybrid - an action-adventure/thriller however it does not really follow the strict codes and conventions of an action- adventure/thriller. It begins with the breaking of the relationship between
In the reading, Violence in Movies: Cinematic Craft or Hollywood Gone Too Far?, the response that states "Point: Hollywood, Stop Exposing Our Kids to Violence" is more persuasive than "Counterpoint: Hollywood Filmmakers Should Not be Villainized for Movie Violence" because it provides better-supported facts that are reliable and credible. The "Point" response explains how violence in movies has become very excessive and is allowing children to act out and think it is okay because of what they see on TV. While, the "Counterpoint" response explains how Hollywood filmmakers should not be punished for their creative writing and that parents should monitor their kids and decide whether or not they should be watching it.
The Revolutionary war, sparked by the colonist's anger towards taxation without representation, was a conflict between the United States and its mother country Great Britain. This event had been considered the most significant event in the American history. It separated the thirteen colonies from the tyrannical ruling of King George. The revolutionary war was not a big war, "The military conflict was, by the standards of later wars, a relatively modest one. Battle deaths on the American side totaled fewer than 5,000"1. However, the war proved that the thirteen colonies were capable of defeating the powerful Great Britain. Over the years there were many Hollywood films made based on the revolutionary
During the course of this essay it is my intention to discuss the differences between Classical Hollywood and post-Classical Hollywood. Although these terms refer to theoretical movements of which they are not definitive it is my goal to show that they are applicable in a broad way to a cinema tradition that dominated Hollywood production between 1916 and 1960 and which also pervaded Western Mainstream Cinema (Classical Hollywood or Classic Narrative Cinema) and to the movement and changes that came about following this time period (Post-Classical or New Hollywood). I intend to do this by first analysing and defining aspects of Classical Hollywood and having done that,
What were Edwin S. Porter's significant contributions to the development of early narrative film? In what sense did Porter build upon the innovations of contemporaneous filmmakers, and for what purposes?
Even though a vast majority of us wish that it was possible to turn back the hands of time and change or rewrite history. However, the truth of the matter is that we simply cannot. Everything happens for a reason, and we should learn to accept it. Accept it for what it is, rather than what we would like it to be.
Film makers use many historical events to spark up and idea for a movie. One historical event that is commonly used is war. One advantage a film maker has when using war as a movie plot is that there is already a lot of drama in war. This may seem like a good advantage for the film maker, however focusing on all of the drama of war leaves much of the actual info. When watching a war movie, you may feel like you have an understanding about the war, but when you really compare a war movie to an actual war you find that there is a lot of factual information left out. One may ask why would directors and film makers leave out the facts of war and focus on the drama? After reading The Faces of Battle by John Keegan and reviewing war movies
There are many ways a genre can be categorized in films. Each film has a genre or a mixture of genres on which the film is based. Genre can change and be determined by aspects such as the setting, the theme, topic, the mood (which shows the emotional tone of the film), and the way the movie was filmed. There are multiple genres in film, which then branch off into mix-genres. Mix-genres or subgenres are a combination of two or more genres of different types.
Today, American film is among the most internationally supported commodities. Financially, its contributions are enormous: the industry is responsible for the circulation of billions of dollars each year. Since its explosion into the new media markets during the mid-twentieth century, film has produced consistently growing numbers of viewers and critics alike. Sparking debate over the nature of its viewing, film is now being questioned in social, political, and moral arenas for its potential impact on an audience. Critics claim that watching films is a passive activity in which the viewer becomes subconsciously absorbed, and creates a reliance or "addiction" to the medium, and thus
In classical Hollywood cinema, most films are voyeuristic in nature. This paper examines two films that explain the main characters’ relationships but in styles that contrast classical cinema. The two films analyzed have some similarities but primarily are different than what most American audiences are accustomed to seeing. Annie Hall is a romantic comedy from the United States that explores sexual relationships. The movie is focused on the relationship between two main characters -Alvy Singer played by Woody Allen and Annie Hall played by Diane Keaton. They had a tumultuous relationship that had many highs and lows that lasted for years. However, due to their different personalities and views on life, they finally break up and live their
Genre Theory is used in the categorization of films. Genres are dependent on various factors such as story line, whom the director is, and what are the audience expectations In using genre theory we create a short cut in how we describe films. Genres are categorized into and then sub categorized depending on the story and plot. Fantasy is a genre described as, “Any film with obviously unreal, magical, or impossible situations, characters, or settings, often overlapping with various other genres, especially science fiction, but sometimes historical dramas.” (Goodykoontz, 2014) Fantasy is a genre that typically includes a crossover genre, sci-fi,
The film industry, like all industries, is an economical institution that strives to make money out of their creative projects. In the early years of Hollywood, studios were still trying to figure out methods that would turn the most profit. Vertical integration allowed companies included in the Big Five to produce, distribute, and exhibit their own films, but they needed to find a way to maintain the public’s interest of attending theater viewings. The strategy of packaging their actors’ “personas” and selling it to their audiences started to become popular and yielded positive results (VanDerploeg 24). The star system was one of the key economic strategies that helped production companies find new talent for their movies and helped audiences differentiated movies from competing studios. While it was primary created to effectively promote their movies, the star system was also the “basis for a hierarchical division of labour in the Hollywood film industry”. This meant that it allowed Hollywood executives to have power over both their actor’s career decisions and their general lives (Holmes 99). Although all actors were affected by this, women were the main victims of exploitation and trauma in the work place. Throughout the “Golden Age of Hollywood”, actresses have been highly mistreated by studio executives. Components of the star system left a physical and emotional toll onto female performers, and it was only through their plight that certain workforce were developed.
“The Day of the Locust is often described as the best novel ever written about Hollywood”, but unlike most Hollywood novels it is not about the fame and glamour most people would expect from a novel like that (Mordercai).
Steven Spielberg is one of the most successful directors of all time (in fact, may people would argue that he is the most successful director there has ever been) and his movies have been some of the most profitable and well known in history. His opening sequences are noted for being captivating, gripping and often scary, building tension and suspense. Born in 1946 in Ohio, Spielberg has become elite among directors. The gross of the films he has directed is estimated at $8.5 billion, and three of his films – Jurassic Park, Jaws and E.T. the extra-terrestrial – have achieved box office records.
Leadership is when the leader’s prophetic vision of the future resonates with people’s beliefs and values in such a way that people can understand and interpret the future into present-time action steps which involves inspiring, energizing, and unifying people towards the pursuit of the vision. (Winston and Patterson 2006).
First of all, genre is the method categorized a film based on similarities in the narrative elements. There are a wide range of different types of film genres: detective, action, adventure, gangster or crime, science fiction, drama, horror, romance, comedy, musical and so on. It is quite difficult to identify a particular film because a film might have a few of different genres. That is the reason why sub-genres exist. Sub-genres can help us to more clarity in identify the genre of a film. For example, a horror film might involve supernatural.thriller,mystery or others.