Investigating Sub-genres

Before the 10 participants of my questionnaire answered the question of their favoured sub-genre, I showed them examples of 5 different sub-genres to see which one the preferred. I also defined each of the sub-genres with a short description.

Crime Thriller: These films feature combined aspects of crime film and thriller film. They are based around successful or failed crimes and focus mainly on the criminal(s). However, there is often an important police/detective/inspector character. Murders, chases and robberies are common topic utilised in this sub-genre.

Examples: Se7en, Reservoir Dogs, Inside Man, Kalifornia

Action Thriller:

Action Thrillers are fast paced and sometimes prove to be a race against the clock. They contain a lot of violence, guns and use of special effects to create explosions etc.

Examples: Bourne Ultimatum, Bad Boys, The Transporter, James Bond

Gangster Thriller:

Gangster Thrillers usually include aspects of Action and Crime. They involve money, guns and vivid violence.

Example: Lucky Number Slevin

Film Noir:

Film Noirs are classically known to be black and white hollywood crime thrillers. The film noir period stretched from the early 1940's to the late 1950's. However, aspects of them are often utilised in contemporary thrillers.

Examples: Kiss Me Deadly, The Third Man, Citizen Kane, The Glass Key

Horror Thriller:

Horror Thrillers usually involve the character(s) being put in

danger but unrealistic creatures. Generally, their goal is to

destroy the creature in order to protect themselves and others.

They often incorporate elements of science fiction and fantasy also.

Examples: Children of Men, Cabin Fever, The Amityville Horror, Blade

Audience Research

Proposal:

I am going to look into the audience's age and lifestyle

and find out about the relationship between them and how they consume films (and where) and how they hear about films (and what makes them want to see it)

I will create a questionnaire and analyse the results to find out how the use of audience segmentation can help us see how exhibition and marketing effects the audience. Also, how differences in the needs and wants of the target audience effects the way the product is marketed and exhibited to suit them.

Questionnaire:

Here are some pictures of the questionnaire and the results.

Analysis:

After looking at the results of my questionnaire it is clear that age and lifestyle determine how films are consumed and marketed.

Young people usually go to the cinema or watch DVD's. They are targeted differently to adults when marketed because they are a modern generation. Merchandise is used to win over really young children because they always want the latest thing out and adverts promoting this merchandise will cause children to craze their parents for such items. Tv and trailers appeal to all age ranges really as the majority of people watch television for several hours a day or week. I have found that music and supermarket choice were less influential when marketing for children, however fashion, culture and music seem to be taken into a lot of consideration when advertising for young men, young women and adults. This could be through things like the type of marketing or features that they include to grab the target audience's attention. For example: the soundtrack used on a trailer.

Young adults seen to have the largest intake of marketing types. 16-20 year olds have heard about films through a large selection of marketing methods, however the most successful appears to be the use of trailers. Magazines are another successful way to market films to the young adults apposed to newspapers and reviews which are likely to catch the attention of an older audience.

By asking people their favourite/ preferred supermarket to shop in, I can try to loosely determine their "class"- this is something else that might inform marketing choices. This would be done by catagorising the methods of marketing but futhermore, the catagories within the methods of marketing. For example: Magazines- what kind of magazine a certain film will be advertised in.

Social groups would influence the genre of film that people favoured. Genre wasn't something i looked at when creating my questionnaire, so the inclusion of social groups did not make much of an impact on the results.

All in all, from looking at my questionnaire, i have found that different age groups consume films in different ways and find certain marketing techniques more effective than others, meaning that audience must be segmented in order to meet the needs and wants of every group. The wide range of marketing options are there to cater for different individuals; age and lifestyle are definitely factors that influence this. However, there is a lot more to think about when it comes to audience. Exhibition runs in the same way, by segregating groups to market and exhibit films to. There is also a clear overlap in some group: marketing: exhibiting methods because there is always going to be people that do not fit the stereotype of the group and therefore a 12 year old could watch a film in the same way as a 32 year old and they could both find the same marketing method the most effective.

Location Shots

These photographs were taken by Ryan Mills and Sam Rogerson, both members of my production group.

All of these images were taken down Elm Hill in Norwich. We chose this particular location for our Thriller opening because it is quite a dark, narrow street meaning that crime could easily happen there. Also, the cobbled road is appropriate for our Film Noir genre- it is something that was inspired by the streets in The Third Man. The bars across the bottom of the church window could also show entrapment or imprisonment. The lack of lighting may be a problem, so when shooting, we must ensure to bring bright torches; This aspect is crucial for creating surgery. The old houses down Elm Hill are also very suitable for the genre. Ideally, we would like the cobbled road to be wet, something generic of the thriller genre, however the light that reflects off of the road creates the illusion of a wet street.

Se7en

Director: David Fincher

Writer: Andrew Kevin Walker

Release Date: 5 january 1996 (UK)

Genre: Crime/ Drama/ Mystery/ Thriller

Production Comapany: New Line Cinema

Awards:

Won- ASCAP Award, Saturn Award, Blue Ribbon Award, CFCA Award, Empire Award, International Fantasy Film Award, Golden Trailer, Hochi Film Award, ALFS Award, MTV Movie Award, NBR Award, NYFCC Award, Audience Award, Universe Reader's Choice Award

Nominated- Oscar, Saturn Award, ASC Award, Award of the Japanese Academy, BAFTA Film Award, Best Cinematography Award, Video Premiere Award, Image Award, MTV MOvie Award, OFCS Award

The beginning of Se7en starts with a close up of William Somerset's hands picking up various items at a crime scene; he wears a long coat and a hat which is a similar costume to those in The Third Man therefore suggesting that the character is quite traditional. His costume is detective looking and is out of place within the mise en scene as his partner Detective David Mills is a lot more contemporary looking as are the other characters.

The films acts a clock, ticking down time; 7 days precisely. William Somerset retires in seven days and the new detective David Mills has seven days to learn the ropes in a new city. The seven days corresponds with the title of the film Se7en. The credits include pens, handwriting and a black/white/ red colour scheme, all suggesting crime and the Thriller genre. The pens and paper suggest police involvement and clues and the connotations of red are danger, anger, blood. Black and white could be representative of bad and good. The two sides represented in crime and in thriller films.

The urban setting of the film is another suggestion of the genre as cities are often represented as a place of corruption and criminal activity. The tall buildings and industrial look of it create an unglamorous perspective of the location; the dark lighting in the mise en scene is another generic convention of the thriller genre that is utilised in the majority of thriller films. The use of torches in the dark at the crime scenes is an interesting use of lighting also. I like the fact that the shot is very drab and the only light in the mise en scene is the spotlight coming from the handheld torches that the detectives are carrying. The murky light makes the setting obscure which creates on going tension. The sound of rain is the most consistent diegetic sound in Se7en and I noticed that it was raining throughout the film, a convention of the thriller genre and use of pathetic fallacy.

The seven deadly sins are used as the theme of the crimes committed meaning that there is a lot of room for grotesque images. The first crime is that of Gluttony; in the mise en scene you see a morbidly obese man that had died from being force fed. The scene is dingy and unglamorous. Another diegetic sound that occurs is when the detectives are at a crime scene and you hear girls screaming, this again suggests the genre and causes suspicion of other crimes being committed within the city.

A lot of close ups of the characters' faces are used and the camera particularly focuses on the detectives' hands; these are essential close ups to inform the narrative and give the audience clues about the forth coming events of the film. One of my favourite shots within the film is the tracking shot of Morgan Freeman walking through the library. Within this scene there are extreme close ups of pages of books focusing and highlighting words relating to the seven deadly sins and the relation of the crimes.

Violence, drugs and mental health issues are all addressed within the film which is generic to see within the thriller genre, especially within the characters of the films. Corruption from the detectives and police force is also evident in the narrative when a friend of Morgan Freeman's character finds information in the FBI files to aid the resolution of the case. Corrupt authorities are often used in thrillers and has proved to be a generic characteristic of the thriller genre. Corruption of authorities is something that has been utilised within crime fictions also, for example: The Big Sleep. The main character Marlowe is a very corrupt detective, working in a very unordinary manner and relying on vices to get through the day.

A chase sequence happens within Se7en, something that has been seen in other Thriller films, such as The Third man. Shadows and reflections are another feature used a lot in the thriller genre and it is used in this film through a puddle, the image is obscured by the rain which creates apprehension. Ironically, religion is presented in the film which is opposed by the use of guns and brutality within it.

Nearing the end of the film, the "good guys" ( two detectives) have a change in morality where their attitudes change; both characters seem to let the case get to them and they become more aggressive, swapping their calm, professional attitudes to ones similar to the criminals they are trying to catch. This transition is evident when Morgan Freeman's character throws his pendulum and when he uses a knife as a substitute for a dart on a dart board. A change in morality and/or epiphany is usually seen or realised near the end of films; a change in a characters personality or behaviour is seen often within the thriller genre.