Nicole's Media Studies Blog: Research: Possibilities for Genres

Me and my partner, Zunairah, decided to branch out in different genres to find which would be the most enjoyable and the easiest to achieve in our portfolio. I researched adventure, comedy, and mystery. While my partner went on to research genres she was interested in.

Adventure

Adventure films are built on quests for the main character. On this journey, it follows the protagonist on cliches such as obtaining a valuable object or fighting an antagonist. Films like this normally include high stakes and stressful, fast scenes. They can create this type of feel by creating tension and suspense.

A key convention that adventure movies need is a strong protagonist. This is typical because this character goes through unbelievable dangers and obstacles and surpass them with endurance and intelligence. This character is also typically an ordinary human who is charismatic, yet still flawed, which makes them enjoyable.

Adventure films are normally set in exotic, unrealistic environments. These fictional worlds allow for more difficult obstacles for the protagonists. However, although the challenges the main character face are unrealistic, they can excel through them logically. This can be seen in The Mummy as protagonist defeats the mummy by understanding the ancient rules.

Sources:

https://brianair.wordpress.com/film-theory/codes-and-conventions-of-action-adventure-films/

https://nofilmschool.com/adventure-genre

https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?title_type=feature&genres=adventure

Comedy

Comedy films are one of the most loved genres in the industry. They primarily entertain their audiences through humor. Films make the humor happen through different ways such as exaggerated situations, wordplay, and certain characters.

The protagonist in these types of films are normally flawed. They are depicted as ordinary people, usually underdogs or awkward. These personality traits make it more enjoyable for the audience as they follow them in their everyday lives or journey.

The structures of comedy movies are very typical. The ordinary protagonist faces an incident that disturbs their normal life and then they go on a comedic journey full of failures that is humorous. A movie that exemplifies this example is the movie Dumb and Dumber.

Sources:

https://nofilmschool.com/comedy-genre

https://robincatling.com/conventions-of-the-comedy-genre

https://www.imdb.com/search/title/?title_type=feature&genres=adventure

Mystery

Mystery films revolve around a certain unknown question that has to be solved before the film ends. This question typically is a crime, and it makes both the characters and the audience engage their curiosity to figure it out. The crime is commonly a theft or a murder.

The audience follows the protagonist as they try to find clues throughout the film. This can be interviews, observations, and journaling, leading them to have possible suspects and suspicions. This also keeps the viewers suspecting certain characters themselves and remain uncertain on who the culprit is.

It is typical in mystery films that backstories and drama all gets unraveled near the end. These are the films last attempts to give hints to the audience so they can guess the culprit. The film concludes by revealing who the culprit was, along with their motives and methods. Some examples of mystery movies are Knives Out, Sherlock Holmes, The Prestige, and Shutter Island.