Research & Planning: Genre Research

Horror

Most people associate horror with large amounts of violence, blood and gore.  However, there are many layers to a horror film to help influence the audience's reaction towards the picture.  Factors such as music, colour, lighting and sound all work together to make the audience feel uneasy, heightening the overall scare-factor of a film.  Films such as the SAW series rely heavily on gore and suspense to shock their audience, creating their own unique atmosphere and developing their own fan base.  Other films like The Exorcist use factors such as the paranormal and small children as the focus of the narrative.  The use of the paranormal and a vulnerable child causes the audience to panic over the child's fate, yet they still fear the child as they are the manifestation of the threat.

Thriller

Thrillers use psychological aspects to access the minds of the audience.  This causes them to play a more active roll within the film as they have to think about how the plot fits together.  Films such as Shutter Island use mental illnesses to add the psychological thrill to the film.  This is also put to use by adding a huge twist shocking the audience and turning the entire plot upside down.  Silence of the Lambs is another extremely popular psychological thriller that uses the character's mentality to add tension to the film.  Hannibal Lectre, the main character of the film, is a very misunderstood character as he comes across an extremely intelligent man, yet is treated like a mad man.

Comedy

Comedy uses different types of humorous situations and characters to appeal to their audience.  Some comedies, such as The Inbetweeners had an existing fan base that was developed from the television series whereas The Hangover Part II gained their audience from their popular prequel The Hangover.  The use of character in both of the films shown above are mainly male yet the people who are shown to have some sort of stability or order throughout the film are females.  This appeals to audiences of both genders as it shows a clear divide between the two.

 

Fantasy