Research: Genre & Sub-Genre- Analysis on Codes and Conventions
In class today we learned about the different types of genres and sub-genres in films. genres and Sub genres are a way in which films get categorize to appeal to a certain audience. There are many types, like action, comedy, adventure, romance and more. A way to determine the genre of a film, and to analyze the way a film is produced, is through codes and conventions.
- Codes are signs in a film that make the film have a meaning. There are 3 types of codes written codes, technical codes, and symbolic codes.
- Conventions are part of a genre like the situations or plots that tend to happen in that specific genre. Challenging conventions is a way for films to stand out.
As a practice to better understand the significance of genre, codes, and conventions, we were told to choose 5 of our favorite movies in different genres and analyze them based on their codes and conventions.
1. Tick Tick... BOOM! (2021)
Director: Lin Manuel Miranda
Genre/sub-genre: Biographical musical
Written codes: In Tick Tick... BOOM! , the title of the movie is written in white thin text. The movie follows the life of Jonathan Larson in a form of a musical, depicting how he felt that life was a ticking bomb to the end and having to manage life not knowing if you will live to see the next day. Having the letter be in a thin font, signify how thin or short life can be. The exclamation point, that was placed at the end of the title, following the boom in all capital letters, was made to exclamation that in the film something will end or will explode, that being Jonathan Larson's life. The Tick Tick followed by the suspense points explain how the movie will go. It will start off with suspense and stress to live life to the fullest and the boom is when life ends.
The choice of songs used in the movie are also a following of what the title signifies, time running out. The word choice in the songs, for example in 30/90 it goes through the feelings of turning 30 and how life flashes before your eyes and can end at any moment. The word choice of using metaphors to compare life to certain things like lines on your face, express the rapidness of time passing.
Technical codes: The use of rapid camera movements and switching through scene really quickly through the trailer shows the fast can move. When the trailer firsts starts we see a long shot slowly zooming in to a medium shot, focusing on the main character, Jonathan. The use of angles and shots add meaning to the film especially since it is a musical the scenes tend to change fast. For example in the song Therapy while Jonathan and Karessa sing, the camera moving quickly between there two characters while singing in a medium shot shows the rapidness and rhythm of the song.
Symbolic codes: The use and observation of Mine-En Scene was a great way in which the film made it visible for the audience to know the time period it was set in, costumes and the situation of the characters. Using Andrew Garfield as the main character also helped gain some audience since he is a well known academy award nominee actor, already having a large following. The colors of the film, for example when Jonathan Larson is talking in front of an audience telling and singing his story, is mostly dark colors like grays, browns and blacks which show the deep meaning of his upbeat songs and words, which actually have a darker and serious meaning of time passing fast.
Conventions: This film challenged conventions, because unlike most musical or biographical musicals, this film uses Jonathan Larson's own music to demonstrate his life and howe it ended, as well as mixing clips of him on a stage explaining and singing while merging into the story of his life and struggles. It does not flow in a straight line, instead it has breaks in between the story of his life to him on stage talking to an audience. about his life and his music.
2. Enola Holmes (2020)
Director: Harry Bradbeer
Genre/sub-genre: Mystery and adventure
Written codes: In the movie Enola Holmes, the use of words and writing is used a lot, and holds significant value. Enola Holmes allows a journey of a young girl on Ana adventure to find her mother, but runs into a viscount who is running from his family and needs help. With the use of word cyphers, Enola is able to find clues and pieces of evidence of where and what her mother is doing. For example, when she was listening in on a conversation she heard her mother having in the past, she discovered that her mother was talking in code and discovered that when her mother said Ellie Houseman, is was a cypher for Lime hose lane, which is a place her mom had been in trying to plan a protest for women's suffrage. The use of words and cyphers was a big way that the story came together and was the start of Enola's adventure.
Technical codes: The thing that stands out the most in this film is the way there was a breaking the third wall in the film. The character Enola Holmes would talk and loom directly into the camera as if talking to the audience. The camera is usually following Enola, but when she talks to the audience the camera does a close up shot or and eye level shot making the audience feel as if they are part of the film.
Symbolic codes: The movie is set in England during the time of the women's suffrage. Having items like news papers and flyers, makes it visual for the audience to know what Enola's mother is fighting for and why she left. Clothing is a also a large part of the film. At the beginning of the film Enola uses loose clothing, not typical for a young lady in those days. When she leaves her home she disguises as a boy, because it shows how men had more power. When she gets to the city she decides to wear more proper clothing like corsets, which is a symbol of refinement or being a proper lady. She uses this as a disguise to look for her mother. The clothing in this film is important because through the clothing that Enola Holmes wears we can tell what she feels like comfort or refinement and how that is important to the message of the film.
Conventions: This film challenges conventions be breaking the wall between the audience and the movie. Most films usually are just between the characters in the screen but this film makes it so that the audience also feels like they have a say in what should happen and feel included in the plot.
3. Spider Man: No Way Home (2021)
Director: Jon Watts
Genre/sub-genre: Super hero Fantasy
Written codes: The title of the movie is in blue and red letters. This is an obvious reference to the iconic spider man red and blue suit. I t also shows that those are some of the predominant colors throughout the film, not only through the suit but through background and scenes. These colors are dark but have a shine or reflection to them, showing how the movie is going to be intense and suspenseful but will have times of heart warm and excitement.
Technical codes: The camera work in this film is a mix of all the angles and shots. it uses these shots in the needed moment to express the characters significance or feeling. A shot used in the movie that made an impact on the audience was the full body shots of both Andrew Garfield's and Tobey McGuire's spider man, because it was an unexpected but pleasant surprise. the mast shot of the three spider mans on the statue of liberty landing in their well known poses was also a way to get the audience engaged and happy to see all of the spider mans in one movie, and bringing back memories from the other movies. The editing of the movie was also a large part of the film since a lot of it was CGI. The editing of the spider webs made to show the audience how they work, with close ups to the web and how they attach to items and can stick in place.
Symbolic codes: The costumes were a large part of this movie especially the spider man suit. The suit played a large role in the film, because since there were three spider mans, there needed to be a way to differentiate them when hey have their faces covered. Each suit is a bit different in design depending on the spider man. The suits are accurate to their own movies so for example Andrew's spider man had a different suit than Tom's. This also appealed to older generations who watched the older spider man's. The actors like Andrew and Tobey made the audience grow because all the different generations could enjoy the same movie.
Conventions: This movie follows the super hero fantasy world but adds a twist when it introduces the different spider man's in one movie. This being the first time that different types of the same hero end up in the same universe, even since the multiverse was introduce in marvel movies. It challenged the idea that different movies can come together into one and make the story line concurrent.
4. Back to the Future (1985)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Genre/sub-genre: Sci Fi
Written codes: The title of the film and the way it is presented can actually mean and add a lot to the meaning of the film. Starting with eh color the font is in, orange and yellow, which also represents the predominant colors of the film. These colors can be used to show the fire made when the car drives to the future. The font of the text is in large and block letters, giving them a futuristic advanced look. The symbol of the arrow in the title pointing the back symbolizes how time travel will be an important symbol of the film.
technical codes: The editing in this movie made a large impact on the film and on the industry. For the times 1984, the editing in this film was shown to be advanced. With the special effects of the fire on the road, and the editing of the car disappearing into thin air and re appearing in the past made the film want to be watched by millions. The camera work also played a large role in the movie. The way the camera would move while in the car traveling through time made the audience feel like hey were there. The use of different soundscapes when Marty is in the past or diegetic sounds like from the car or music in the scene impact the way the audience views the scene.
Symbolic codes: The clothing and props used in this film are a large part of the impact this film made. The costumes were representative of their time period, Marty wearing his jeans and puffer vest, goes back to the time period of when his parents were young, in which the clothes were more proper and put together. Having Marty in that costume was a way in which the audience could tell that he did not fit in to that time period. the costume that Dr.Emmett wears at the beginning of the film, which is just a white bodysuit, is a way in which people even until now can identify his character. Props such as the car or time machine itself were a center piece of the movie. The way it was decorated and made inside made it look complex and again futuristic for its time.
Conventions: This film follows the conventions of a sci fi movie in terms of time travel. In the sci fi world it is general knowledge that when a person time travels, they can not mess with anything in that time or it can disrupt the future, which is what Marty did. He disrupted the past of how his mother and father met and his family in the future was slowly starting to disappear so he had to find a way to bring his parents back together before his whole family including him got erased from existence.
5. The Karate Kid (1984)
Director: John G. Avildsen
Genre/sub-genre: Drama and action
Written codes: Some of the phrases and words used in the film made an impact on the future and had a deep meaning in the film. For example the words wax on and wax off were training. exercises for Daniel Larusso to use at the start of learning karate. Using these words seem simple and like a task but they actually have a deep meaning as they are the start to learning how to associate every day skills with karate. These words stayed to this day as the future karate Kid movies and re makes used them. No mercy was also a well known line from the film in which Cobra Kai shows how they only care to win even if it meant playing dirty. Many of the lines that Mr. Miyagi said had a deep meaning which usually Daniel had to learn to understand and discover their importance.
Technical codes: The way the camerawork is used in this movie usually shows full body shots especially when there are fighting scenes or scenes in which karate is being practiced. For example when Daniel is on Mr.Miyagi's boat and practicing balance was a full body shot as well as a master shot showing the peace around them. The camera also moved a ,to during fight scenes to make the audience feel like they are in the fight. During most of the tournament the camera is set stead looking at the full body of both contestants as well as a view of their surroundings. For most of the training scenes with Mr.Miyagi, concentration is needed so a lot of silence or low voice is used in those scenes to show concentration and dedication.
Symbolic codes: There are many symbolic codes in this movie. If we analyze the mise en scene of almost any scene of the movie, for example when Daniel and Mr.Miyagi are cutting the bonsai tree's for the first time, we can see the clothing of Daniel in comparison to Mr.Miyagi is more youthful while Mr. Miyagi wears a button up plain shirt. The deign of the set gives a small but almost cozy feeling to Mr.Miyagi's home.One of the biggest symbols in this movie are the bonsai trees. They signify balance, patience and concentration, which are key skills to learning karate. The trees make a large impact on all of Karate Kid history.
Conventions: This movie is mostly drama and action because of the fighting especially in the school and at the tournament. But, this movie has a lot of calm and peaceful scenes. Unlike most action and drama movies, it is learned in this film that fighting and aggression should never be the way out of a situation and should only be used for self defense. So we see in this film how control and patience are prevalent factors of the movie even when there is fighting.