Codes and Conventions of Genre

Popular Genre for Silent Films

Genres are significant when it comes to the setting of the film. Being able to identify what type of genre the film is, allows the audience to remember scenes that stand out and simply recognise the iconic moments that become popular over time. 

In my brief, I stated that I was going to be creating a Short Film. But after looking at the different possibilities, I narrowed the choices down and decided that I was going to create a Silent Film. I have looked at the different movements that the many silent films went through during the Silent era and there are genres that are popular today, that were only just becoming recognised and becoming popular back then, because of the industry constantly evolving at the time, and these movements had an impact on the genres and the way they were created and established.

The genres in the photo above were just some of the many popular genres throughout the early twentieth century, as well as after the First World War and towards the end of the 1920’s. Many of these genres began to grow popular, an example being comedy with the likes of Charlie Chaplin being one of the stand out stars of this particular genre. The different movements such as French Impressionism and German Expressionism were all a major influence on how films were produced in each specific genre.

The genre that I have decided to have theme of my film is Fantasy. I am going to be looking at the codes and conventions of this genre. There are many codes and conventions of this genre, but the ones that stand out the most are the ones that the audience begins to notice the familiarity in each fantasy film. Whether it is following the same narrative, or the type of characters that are introduced, they all end up following the same rules. 

One of the popular conventions that are used not only in the fantasy genre, but also other genres, is the battle war between good versus evil. It is one of the common themes used and when watching the films or TV shows, it becomes easy to spot who the good and evil characters are. Usually, the protagonist is introduced within the first few minutes of the movie starting and can be a while longer before the antagonist is introduced and then the storyline and plot begin to develop into the climax.

Pam Cook’s narrative theory states that there are false resolutions as part of the storyline and this links into the good versus evil as the antagonist may appear to the protagonist as the good one, but once they don’t fulfil their promise or the protagonist realises that they are the villain. In the 2001 animated film Spirited Away, the young protagonist Chihiro is on a quest to rescue her parents, and the antagonist Yubaba runs a bath house and her parents are kept there and in order for them to return to human form Chihiro must work at the bath house to pay off their debt for all the food they ate. By the time she goes up against her, it is established that Yubaba is the main villain of the film, after appearing as the good person to Chihiro.

Spirited Away

Another convention is how the use of colour and lighting has an impact on the films and the genre. This fits in with the mise-en-scene, due to lighting falling under this category. The colours that are used represent what type of person the character is, and often reflects their personality. The use of saturated primary colours, gives a strong contrast between the good versus evil side.

Evil characters tend to have green and red lighting to represent that they are evil and that they are the antagonist for the film. If they aren’t these colours, then they main lighting is usually dim to show how different the villain is in comparison to the hero is portrayed differently. For example, Queen Narissa from the film Enchanted is constantly surrounded by darkness, even to the extent of her clothing shows this.

However, the protagonist is surrounded by bright a colour which reinforces the idea that this character is good. Giselle from the film Enchanted is seen wearing a blue dress which is a representation that she is good and this links to the Media Language Theory by Ferdinand de Saussure who stated that there is a difference between signs on of how the form is taken and what it presents. This can be argued that at a party that takes place in the film, both protagonist and antagonist is wearing a black dress whereas Giselle is wearing a purple dress, now usually this would be seen as them being evil, but in this case Giselle’s dress represents the danger that she is in whereas Queen Narissa wears a black dress as a representation that she is evil.

Enchanted, Park Scene

Promotion Packages are often the same in relation to this genre as they all take the same look with how they’re edited together, as well as the tone of the poster. The main characters in the film are often the main central focus, along with hints in the background as to what the movie is going to be about, but not revealing too much. The cinematography and editing are vital to this for many reasons. One reason that editing is important is because on the postern all the characters are together, with the antagonist in the background. Whereas in the trailer, it is fast paced and the dialogue and the verisimilitude is established giving the audience an idea about what the film is going to be about. The cinematography is the use of extreme close ups, medium shots, establishing shots, pans, shot reverse shots and over the shoulder shots. An example of this would be the movie The Hobbit, which features many if these features, especially on the posters.

These are just a variety of fantasy film posters, and it is very clear from the way that they have been put together that the characters are the centre of attention on the posters, as well as the lighting which can also set a tone for the film.

Because the genre has a heavy focus on magic, or unusual or unexpected things to happen, props are an important part of it. They become a heavily common feature in films and the use of realism makes it seem normal, like this is something that audience already knows and feels natural to see. Some of the props can range depending on the setting of the story.

For example, if the film was set in the medieval era, then the props used in the film would be swords and other weapons which represent this era that the film is set in. Whereas if the film is something like The Chronicles of Narnia where the make believe world and the real world are joined together by a prop, then this prop is going to be the wardrobe as that is was Lucy steps through to enter Narnia the wardrobe can be a signifier for being a another type of portal which is another prop used in this genre.

The setting plays an important part. Whether it is a fairy-tale setting, medieval or make believe worlds, which incorporate both fantasy and reality. The imagery or mise-en-scene helps create the setting of the different worlds, establishing them as something completely different and a contrast from the real world. With the use of props and diegetic sound, this helps show the difference and how the make believe world is has differences or similarities with the real world. An example of mix worlds is Narnia, the beginning of the film is set in the opening of the Second World War and the Blitz, but in the next moment they’re in the wintry land of Narnia. Another film which has a traditional setting is Snow-white and The Huntsman, this has a medieval setting and the props are of that time period, however the film incorporates the mythical creatures: Dwarfs and magic is used by the Evil Queen.

There are many other codes and conventions of this genre:

• ·        Happy Endings
• ·        Hero embarks on a journey and going against the villain
• ·        Magical or Mythical Characters
• ·        Both Male and Female as main Protagonists