research genres

  My group and I have decided to create a film opening in the genre of action. Here is my research into the codes and conventions that are used used in the openings of texts from this genre. 

Typical conventions from the action genre: 

Films from this genre usually include. Guns , knife , martial arts fights , criminal , urban location , gunshot sound , . The narative is normally about something being stolen than the hero comes . or the main character's relatives is killed . The films opening is often used to attract the viewers , introduce character , introduce the problem .

John wick , 2014 

Produced by , 87  North Production 

Distributed by ,Lionsgate Films 

Genre / Sub genre:

The genre and the sub genre are action ,thriller , shooter

What conventions does it conform to?

The conforming convention are in the opening starts with the hero, John Wick, full of blood and clearly vulnerable. He has likely been in a car crash (mise-en-scene, visible car). and another conforming convention are the car that John Wick use are all beaten up like has been shot multiple times . Another conforming convention is the opening in the middle of the night and it is snowing

What conventions does it subvert?

The convention that subvert is he looks at the picture of his wife which shows his soft side , The car used by John Wick is family car which is different from other action movies . Another subvertion to other action movie , is unlike other action movie , the start of John Wick movie is the end of the movie , which create hermeneutic codes which creates intrigue about what has happen to john wick . Another subvertion is Jhon Wick is shown falling down / dead. we don't normally see action heroes in such a damaged condition.

What representations are there?

(people/places/events) John Wick is shown as a tough fighter with a soft side which is his wife

What technical elements are used to give meaning to the representations?

Long shot of a car crashing toward a wall and medium shot of john wick getting out of the car and walking and the long shot effect is to show Jhon Wick fits with the dark night place and snowing area and the long shot shows that he is very lonely . and long medium shot showing him falling down into a sitting position which shows he is very tired after doing something and the effect of the medium shot is to show John Wick's expression which is tired and injures and shows his condition which is beaten up . Then in the extreme close up of him clutching his wound which shows that he is very beaten up and just finished a fight , and the extreme close up draws the audience attention to his wound . In the opening scene there is a close up of john Wick watching a video of the past moments with his wife on a beach possibly on vacation ,where john and his wife were very happy and romantic , this shows that John and his wife is very close , The close up effect is used to show that john wick and his wife are happy in a honeymoon and to show the audience John Wick that misses his wife very much . Another close up was shown of John Wick fainting to the ground the effect of the close up is , so the audience could know that John Wicks facial movements when he is fainting and to create hermeneutic codes

Nobody , 2021

Produced by , 87  North Production 

Distributed by , Universal Studio

Genre / Sub genre: The genre and the sub genre are action ,thriller , shooter

What conventions does it conform to?

In the opening scene the person has so many scars and wounds in his face which shows that he was beaten up or he just finished fighting this conforms to other action movies which has bloods and scars . The setting place is also a dark place which conforms to other action movies that takes place in a dark mysterious place . Another conforming convention is the man is shown smoking a cigarette which makes the character looks tough.

What conventions does it subvert?

The subverting convention are the opening scene is the ending scene unlike any action movies which the opening scene is a start of a conflict . Another subverting convention is the person was shown taking a cat from his jacket this shows that the person likes animals and it is shown that the man opening a can of tuna which he will feed it to the cat this is different from other action movie that doesn't have small kittens . And the sound in the first scene is soft music while showing a beaten up man.

What representations are there? (people/places/events) A beaten up person that is shown alone at first in a dark room and he feeds the cat that shows he is a caring person and at the end of the opening scene it shows that he is not alone in the room , he is being interviewed by two person

What technical elements are used to give meaning to the representations?

At the start of the opening scene a extreme close up of his face with a scar was shown , the effect of the close up is to draw the audience attention , and followed by a soft music this subverts to other action movie which use high adrenaline music , and after the camera shows his face , the camera tilts down showing his body above waist , this will attract the audience to see his condition and make the audience confuse on what happen to him . Followed by the person taking out a cigarretes which shows that he is stress . Then a medium shot of him burning the ciggaretes , the medium shot is to emphesize the persons surrounding . And the person takes out a cat and a cat food which makes people more confuse with the situation , and followed by a medium shot which show 2 person that is interrogating him , which makes him not alone in the room . The medium shot is to show thw two person's emotion .

Here are some texts that I will look at a little more broadly to see how they appeal to audiences and how they can inspire me.

Name: John Wick 2

Year: 2017

(TRAILER From YouTube)

Target audience, and how are they appealed to? Teenagers and men , it appeal to them because there are fights and an intense situation which is a thing that many teenagers and men would like to see and the brutal scene is not reliable for kids which makes our target audience are teenagers and men .

What would you like to use in your opening from this? i would like to use the dark night situation , to make the situation more intense and the dark night situation would make the situation more mysterious . and we want to make our character mysterious same as in the opening of John Wick 2 which covers John Wick's face . And i want to add the high angle shot in our opening scene to make the villain weaker. This could make the main character looks more stronger .

What would you like to avoid in your opening from this? In my action movie opening i would like to avoid using cars and motorbike or other vehicles , because in our movie opening include more fighting and gunshots to make the opening more brutal . Also we avoid car chasing scene , because we don't have the skill to drive car .

Name: John Wick 3

Year: 2019

(TRAILER From YouTube)

Target audience, and how are they appealed to?

The Target audience is an adult from the age of 18-24 because it shows a lot of fighting scenes showing blood and how brutal it was. And it scene there are a lot of guns used to kill people which is not good for kids to watch it.

What would you like to use in your opening from this? we want to include dark clothing in our opening scene

What would you like to avoid in your opening from this? We avoid using taxis and the place in a middle of a city

Name: John wick 4

Year: 2019

(TRAILER From YouTube)

Target audience, and how are they appealed to? Teenagers and men , it appeal to them by the dark situation and the intense situation .

What would you like to use in your opening from this? We want to use a dark place and the close up of the punching scene

What would you like to avoid in your opening from this? we avoid using the scene people training. to fights because it would take a lot of time for our opening scene

Name: The Raid

Year:2011

(TRAILER From YouTube)

Target audience, and how are they appealed to?

The video shows a lot of blood and a gun being used to kill the villain or persons, indicating that the target audience is adults. Then, by demonstrating the character's perseverance, they demonstrate how his personality truly attracted to grownups.

What would you like to use in your opening from this?

we would take the intense fighting scene and how the movie builds suspense in every scene , this would make the audience more attracted to the film opening.

What would you like to avoid in your opening from this? In our opening scene we avoid using to many soldier , and would rather use less soldier but longer fighting moments to build up the suspense , this would make the audience more thrilled as the main character needs to work very hard to reach to the final fight.

Name: Undesputed 1

Year: 2002

(TRAILER From YouTube)

Target audience, and how are they appealed to? teenagers and adults , the audience are targeted by the brutal punching scene in jail which could triggers adrenaline for the people who watch and since most of the fights shown are using hand , it could increase the tense .

What would you like to use in your opening from this? we want to use , how the movie makes a weak character win against the bigger and stronger person , this will make the audience left with disbelief .

What would you like to avoid in your opening from this? we avoid using 1 on 1 fights and more about 1 vs many people to make the intensity increases and build up the suspense .

Name: Undesputed 2

Year: 2006

(TRAILER From YouTube)

Target audience, and how are they appealed to? Adults and teenagers , the audience are targeted by the brutal punching scene in jail which could triggers adrenaline for the people who watch and since most of the fights shown are using hand , it could increase the tense .

What would you like to use in your opening from this? we want to use the punching scenes as like in the movie , because it could build up suspense and could make the scene more brutal , and to make the audience tense with the bare hand fighting scene , and this would shows the martial arts mastered by the main character in our opening scene

What would you like to avoid in your opening from this? We avoid using the set as a prison , and we don't including a gambling as in our opening scene we dont have a ring fight which doesnt allow gambling in between the fights .

this is a video that help me to make the project of making an opening scene for an action movie

this helps me to know how do the opening scene starts with and how do they introduced the character in the opening scene and many ways to create a opening scene .