Research of Different Genres

Notting Hill
1999
Directed by Roger Michell
Romantic Comedy

· Opening Credits
· Everything is slowed down
· No establishing shot
· Fades
· Slow pan
· Main character smiles in most of the shots
· She is centralised (selective focus)
· Unsaturated colours (red stands out)

· Tracking Hugh Grant
· Saturated colours
· Hugh Grant not centralised/ no selective focus
· Many more extras
· More realistic MES
· Establishing shot
· Don’t see his face much
· Voice over
· Meet important characters
Ghostbusters
1984
Directed by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis
Action/comedy/sci fi

· Establishing shot of building
· ECU lion
· Tracking shot of main woman
· Establishing shot of inside the library
· Weird sci fi SFX
· Dark (not light)
· Dull colours
· Enclosed space
· Stereotypical Library MES – lots of wooden shelves and books
· High pitched strings
· Fast paced drum beat
· Alpha channel mask – iris
· Credits
· Bright red
· Easily recognisable theme tune
· “Ghostbusters” logo
· Glow around the lettering
· Black solid font
· Super imposed onto establishing shot of building
· Music bridges several shots and scenes

Never back down
Director: Jeff Wadlow
Writer: Chris Hauty
Release Date: 4 April 2008 (UK)
Genre: Action Drama Sport
Plot: At his new high school, a rebellious teen is lured into an underground fight club, where he finds a mentor in a mixed martial arts veteran.

The scene I am going to talk about is where Jake (good guy) has found out that Ryan (bad guy) has beat up his best mate Max and is going to sort this rivalry out at the beat down.
Sound
The sound in this scene fits the genre, they use a music track called stronger by Kanye West, it fits with this scene really well as Jake travels to the club where beat down is. The song allows us the audience to know how Jake is feeling and what his intention is. The song is lowered so we can hear dialog between Jake and his mum this is important as we see how both of them have changed. The song is non diagetic at the start of the scene and when he gets in the club it slowly fades to diagetic
Mise en scene
Card bored box in Jakes room, we see this at the beginning of the film, we find out that’s it is his dead dads stuff. They use this to show his respect for his dad, as he goes in the box and gets his dads T-shirt and puts it on, this shows he had a close relationship with his dad.
Gloves to show he is going to fight.

Camera angles
The scene with Jake’s mum coming in his room, this little scene helps the audience see how the mum n Jake are feeling. It show Jake packing his bag ready for beat down and his mum walks in and he say “I don’t want to lie about this” and his mum says “I’m not going to ask you to.” This shows how the relationship between him and his mum has changed. They use these camera angle to show this:-
Close up
Over shoulder shot
Medium shot of his face down the third line on the right side of the screen, we also see in this shot Jake’s emotion on his face.
Over shoulder shot of Jake, his mum is bigger than him and it shows she is in control as she is positioned higher than Jake.
When he gets to the beat down they use a crane shot and lots of pans in a medium shot as he rushes through the crowed.

Editing
Eye line match – when Jake and his mum are talking in his room.
Quick cuts to build the tension coming up to the climax of the film.
Continuity editing.

Mean girls
Directed by: Mark Waters
Released: 2004
Genre: Comedy/Drama

Sound
Safari music comes on during credits and then continues into the first scene- sound bridge-connecting the two scenes together.
Music fades out for dialogue to be introduced.
Once important introduction of the characters has been heard safari music begins again.
Voice over of Katy, this helps the audience understand how she feels and it also helps with the pictures that tell the story which goes along with the voice over.
Uplifting/bubbly music.
When flashbacks of Katy back in Africa safari music plays to set the scene.
Sound effects -bus
Modern music to introduce viewer to school and school life.
As music is played background noise form people can be heard.
Music dramatically stops at the end of opening scene.

Mise-en-scene
Simple cloths/ standard clothes.
Brown paper bag to represents packed lunch-school.
Neutral make-up creates the feeling of simplicity.
Camera – talking pictures of daughter going to school.
Glasses and old fashioned clothes to make character look clever.
Chequered skirts and denim overalls to make characters look like farmers.
Wild animals – to represent Africa.
Sandy- desert like setting.
School bus
School bag
School desks, chairs, books, posters, detailed school equipment, black board to create the image of a class room.
Coffee and donuts.

Camera angles
Low angle shot/ point of view daughter looking at parents.
Close up of mothers face.
Back to low angle shot.
Pan upwards to show characters are now level with each other.
Medium shot used to show dialogue between characters.
Photos taken in medium shot, so all of the character and surrounding can be seen.
Close up of face- allows us to see her reaction to what is happening around her.
Over the shoulder shot, to show a conversation between two people.
Medium shot of two people colliding, and then a quick close up to show coffee being spilt.

Editing
Continuity editing.
Match on action.
Flashes on every picture.
The opening of this film is simply edited and uses basic techniques so the targeted audience will understand what the director wants to get across.

Without a Paddle
Genre: Comedy
Director: Steven Brill
Writer: Fred Wolf
Harris Goldberg
Year: 2004

Sound
Non-diagetic music, reminiscent of the time when the characters were young.
Little conversation but there is some dialogue heard over the top of the music
All of the diagetic sound is heard but the music is prominent

Mise en scene
Realistic / stereotypical
The flag and compass prominent as they are significant later in the film
In the shot of the boys trick or treating, there is a lot of pumpkins and skeletons in the front garden to show it is Halloween.

Camera angles
First shot is a medium shot of all 4 boys to introduce the characters and show they are most important. There are very few other people in the opening sequence
Lots of close ups of the boys working/playing
Long shots of the boys playing
High angles shots from the trees and the tree house
Another medium shot to show all 4 boys dressed up for Halloween, it shows they are never apart.
A shot of the 4 boys on their bikes, 3 on the third line the fourth is centralised to show something is going to happen to his bike; he falls off in the next shot
Low angled shots to make the jump over the stream look higher and more significant
Close-ups of their faces at graduation, introducing the characters, with their names across the bottom of the screen
There is a low angled point of view shot of a golden skull with jewels in it, to make the viewer feel the same awe as the boys, which then cuts to a high angled point of view shot of another boy watching them.
There is a further medium shot of the boys eating their lunches sat on the edge of the tree house, however, the camera then moves to show only 3, the 4th is off to the left. This shows that the 4th is less significant, and that the other 3 can live without him. He dies at the beginning of the film. This is the main story line.
After the 4th boy has attempted to jump the stream, the camera cuts back to all of them at graduation, proud they have graduated, then back to the boys proud they have completed the jump, showing nothing has changed.
The final shot is a medium shot of all of them happy at graduation. Tom is highest in the shot, then Jerry, then Dan then Billy. This shows the ranking of the boys, in order of power and significance to the film. Because Billy dies at the beginning he is last in the ranking. Dan is weedy and nervous so follows Tom, the most daring; he has been in prison and very rarely has a job, and Jerry; out-going, quite daring, but cleaver and stuck in a dead end job.

Editing
The initial credits are in a child-like font, white on a black screen
Some letters are wrongly capitalised; childish
Some shots, the boys are aware of a camera being there and do things in front of the camera on purpose. These shots use a handheld camera to show it is being filmed by someone, and also puts the viewer into the scene.
The camera very often moves to show the viewer what is happening instead of cutting to a different angle/shot
The credits continue through the entire sequence, however, they are purposely small and in the bottom corners of the shots, to show they are less significant to the rest of the shot.
The medium shot each boy jumping over the river on their bikes fades to a slowed-down close up of them at their graduation, their names are bellow almost like a signature. The shot then cuts back to the boy half way through the jump and then landing it. This is a cutaway.
There is a fade after the shot of the boys celebrating their jump, back to them at graduation.



Scary Movie
Horror Spoof
Director: Keenen Ivory Wayans
Writer: Craig Mazin
Year: 2001
Sound
Jumpy violin music, to coincide with what’s happening in the scene.
Most music non-diagetic/ tense fits in with the scene.
Voice on phone, dialogue / voice-over

Mise en scene
Posh house, very large kitchen
Some skeletons on show, and other representatives to show that it is Halloween
Popcorn been made, keeps getting bigger
The arrangement of guns and the banana un-realistic
The popcorn becoming massive size, also unrealistic
Scream/ wearing a mask and has a blade, mysterious and dangerous
Stereotypical blonde, long blonde hair, big chest, thin body (throughout the whole scene keeps making the obvious wrong decision)

Camera Angles
Establishing shot of house
Close up of popcorn
Pan of girl answering phone / talking
Slow zoom, puts her on 3rd line from the left hand side
Medium shot of popcorn, popcorn is central
Extreme Close Up of girl locking door
The camera is used to make it look like there’s someone in the house following her around
Medium shot of scream, followed by a Close up of him looking at the magazine
Medium Shot of popcorn again
As she is on the phone she is consistently on the 3rd line to the left hand side
Medium shot /point of view of her ex boyfriend taped to a chair
As bad things are happening she moves more to the central line, keeping her in central view so the audience can focus on her expressions
Tracking shot of the woman running to the door
Medium Shot of the popcorn again, but this time, popcorn is un-realistically large
Point of view shot of the woman looking out of the window, switched to a medium shot of the woman against the door
Zoom into screams face
Tracking shot following woman
Medium shot of woman
Tracking shot of woman running away while scream entails

Editing
The whole phone conversation with the woman and scream is voice over’s
Slow motion of the girl running through the sprinklers
Music fitting in with the scenes perfectly.


As you can see we developed our research as we became more comfortable with the process. The later reviews are much more detailed than the previous ones. These reviews are more useful to us as they include more precise points and are more organised. It was these reviews that helped us to narrow down our choice of genre and also gave us ideas for mis-en-scene, music and camera angles. It gave us a better idea of what cinematography is typical of each genre.