Main Task 2.4 - (Generic Conventions)

It is important to firstly distinguish the differences between conventions and iconography as the two can easily be mistaken for one another; often its easy to mistake iconography for generic conventions- e.g. in a horror film an icon of that genre would be a knife and an audience would expect to see that; however, that does not make it a generic convention as a generic convention is relative to the narrative of the film. In this assignment I will assess and analyse the conventions and iconography of 4 different genres.

Horror

Initially, I will research the genre of Horror. Conventions that audiences would expect to see are as follows:

- A central or a group of central protagonists who are usually vulnerable - this tends to be accented by an atmosphere of isolation; which can be in terms of setting or emotionally.

- Usually features themes of the supernatural, illness and death.

- Often all protagonists are killed and there is no explanation as to who/what/why?
- There is on almost all occasions a key antagonist who is out to kill the protagonist - they are usually conveyed as a 'creature' or 'monster' who contrast greatly from the protagonist/s and are unlike anything in society.


The video i have chosen to represent the horror genre is Saw. This is a typical horror film conforming to all the generic conventions including isolation of the characters and the helplessness surrounding them. The film includes lots of blood and gore (often excessive) which to is typical to the genre.

War

The war genre looks at many different themes including comradeship, courage, emotion and loss. Most war films are based on real life events that have been adapted for the audiences entertainment.
Generic Conventions in a war film include:

- Follow the struggles of one central protagonist, who will usually be fighting a battle with himself emotionally as well as the enemy, and a group of others who will all try to defeat the enemy (antagonist).
- usually action driven.
- The central protagonist's comrades are usually killed one at a time. This is when we see the emotions within the central protagonist and the theme of loss is explored.
- The Protagonists are mostly outnumbered and look like they are fighting an unwinnable battle.
- Before the equilibrium is restored the audience is usually faced with a dilemma that explores the emotions of the protagonist.

Science-fiction

A science-fiction (Sci-fi) film is usually set in the future, which is a typical generic convention of sci-fi. Similar to horror, Sci-fi will have characters that are supernatural due to the expectation that the audience has about futuristic people and places. These people could possibly be aliens.
Also, sci-fi may a plot linked in some way to a love relationship between two protagonists. Iconography in sci-fi usually revolves around a special weapon or futuristic technology which in this case is the Lightsabre (which typically in Sci-fi generic convention, the antagonist has the better, more powerful weapon), a spaceship and other science related icons such as planets or the Sun.