Comparing two different genres; by analysing trailers

Comparing two different genres; by analysing trailers.

I compared two film trailers in order to achieve an understanding from not only an opening sequence perspective, but from a trailer as well, could potentially broaden my knowledge of genre throughout films.

Die Hard: (action)

The genre is communicated to the audience through the use of generic conventions. Within the first ten seconds of the film trailer, the music instantly grabs the target audiences attention by the tense beats (stereotypically represented in action films) connoting the genre is action. As the audience progress through the trailer it becomes very clear it is an action because of the generic iconography, demographics would expect to be in an action film. In addition, conventions from: gunfire, hostages, explosions to helicopters is all action related conventions in this particular film – connoting its genre. All these visual iconography aspects conclude that it is indeed an action.

Although there are some syntactic elements such as: love, possibly suggesting a hybrid genre; in most action films nowadays the girl is crucial in developing a successful action film. Reason being is because it emphasizes the heroic aspect of the protagonist in the film connoting that the hero always prevails in not only victory but getting the female as well. Stereotypically heroic men are supposed to be confident, courageous and gallant which therefore means winning the girl round. In addition, this links into Vladimir Propp’s character type theory in terms of the hero.

The majority of the text from the film trailer denotes all the conventions in an action film.   The physical conventions (visual iconography) of the trailer all represent the action genre in some way, shape or form. The actor Bruce Willis is well known for his role in action films. Furthermore, what becomes clear within the mis-en-scene is that, his costume becomes ripped and torn throughout the film - which is a convention of action films.

The genre of ‘action’ has remained popular over the many years is not only through the exhilarating and thriller suspense of it but because according to Steve Neale specific genres go through a life cycle and change during the process, resulting in a different type of action which audiences enjoy just as much.

The text does in fact fall into one genre as the visual iconography represents the trailer to be mostly action signifying that the conventions of the trailer connote its genre – for example: the narrators voice is deep and empowering and describes Bruce as “ruthless”, connoting the film is an action.

Hot fuzz: (Comical action)

This film is impossible to place in one genre because it contains semantic and syntactic elements that both represent different things to the audience. There are many funny and ironic scenes that don’t conventionally go with an action so therefore it is a hybrid genre - a hybrid genre between Action and comedy. The action aspects are represented through the gunfire and high-speed car pursuits whereas; the comedy elements are represented by a 999 call that ‘the swan has escaped’.

There are two potential sides to the coin in this movie where the two main characters “Nicholas Angel” and “Danny Butterman” both represent a genre each within itself! Nicholas is the serious action type and Danny is the funny dopey officer who adds the comedy element to the film. Therefore the two protagonists represent the two genres in the film. The ironic thing about officer Danny is that he is obsessed with action films but has never experienced it first hand because he is this comical character – denoting the comedy semantic element of the film.

The two genres have been merged together in order to create a new type of action with a hint of comedy. According to the theorists Steve Neale the genre goes through a lifecycle and has to change its orientation to keep trending. This particular film is supposed to be a parody of an action regarding Steve’s theory of a genres life cycle.  

Another reason behind a hybrid genre is because it appeals to two different target audiences and therefore will be bigger in terms of sales and promotion.

The physical conventions representing the two genres are suggested through the props where “Nicholas Angel” (Simon Pegg) wields a powerful gun and “Danny Butterman” (Nick Frost) holds a teddy monkey, again coming back to the two genres represented through each character. This hybrid genre has remained popular because ultimately makes the audience feel intense but at the same time gets a laugh through the comedy aspect, connoting the audience receives maximum pleasure from these types of generic films. A win, win situation or a win, win film where the producers and directors can’t go wrong with it.