Action Adventure Genre Conventions

Codes and Conventions of Action Adventure Films

Narrative

What makes all Action Adventure Films similar is that they use the same sort of narrative structure. The narrative structure is how a story is organised and shaped in terms of time and events. Think about the rules of narrative structure in Pirates of the Caribbean or Indiana Jones films.

• A defining feature of Action Adventure is the high degree of narrative closure, with all problems resolved and the hero triumphant.
• Linear structure from problem to crisis to resolution
• Oppositional structure as a fight between good and evil.

Task: Explain how one film of your choice follows this narrative structure.

Main Characters

Example of Captain Jack Sparrow (Main character from Pirates of the Caribbean)

Task: Find an image of a main character from an Action Adventure Film and copy it onto your page. Label the character with all of the rules of the hero.

Oppositional Characters

Action Adventure films tend to feature characters that play opposite the key central character, for example either in the form of a relationship (hero/heroine) or in conflict (hero/villain)
Task: Who is the oppositional character to your chosen main character? Add them to your notes.

Journey/Quest

Action Adventure films often involve central characters working towards a final goal (such as seeking treasure). These narratives take place against a backdrop of a variety of exotic and sometimes glamourous locations. These can range from desert landscapes to urban settings. Not only can their use provide the audience with visual pleasures, but the location itself can serve an important narrative function as central characters find themselves battling with the challenges presented by it. For example: surviving earthquakes, struggling through jungles or deserts or surviving in war zones.
Task: Find a variety of settings that are used in Action Adventure films and refer to these examples.

GCSE MEDIA: Moving Image Glossary

GCSE MEDIA: Moving Image Glossary

The Maze Runner: Film Analysis

Does the page work?

There are a few basics which you MUST try and stick to when  building your page, this goes for the cover, the contents or the double page spread.

Step 1

Pick a magazine cover.
Draw a diagonal line from the top left corner down to the bottom right corner.

Step 2

Now draw a diagonal line from the to right hand corner which will hit the other line at a RIGHT ANGLE. Repeat this process from the bottom left.

Step 3

Now you should have two hot spots. SOMETHING interesting should be happening at these spots.

Task: Do this for THREE magazine covers and write about the 'things' which appear in these hot spots.

Need to know more about hot spots? Read this...

Yr 11 cover analysis basics from Mr Smith

How teenagers are Represented in Action Adventure Film: The Maze Runner

In preparation for your film analysis essay, you need to find out about the film The Maze Runner. Use your knowledge about Media Theory to write about how the characters are being Represented to appeal to the film's Target Audience.

Task: 

1. Find images of the main characters in the film. Write about Representation by looking at:

• Clothing (costume)
• Pose or body language
• Facial expression
• Mise-en-scence (colours, lighting, props)

2. Find the Film Posters used to market the film. Deconstruct them - pick out the codes and conventions. How is Representation being used in the Key Image? Look at colour and font too; how are they used across all of the different posters to link them together as a marketing campaign?

3. Watch the Trailer. Try and look at what is included in terms of plot. Try to analyse the codes and conventions of moving image media products:

• lighting
• editing
• camera shots and movement
• sound
• mise-en-scene

Y11 Magazine Production Work to Do - November 9th - 13th

Contents Page

Planning your Contents Page (tips to consider)....

• The next element of your production needs to follow the same style as your planned Front Cover and Double Page Spread. Use the same fonts or colours to link the products together. 
• Look back at your research and see what conventions are used on the Contents Page and analyse why they work. Do you think they will work in your product?
• Focus carefully on getting the page numbers to make sense. Use a grid tool to help align your numbers on the page.
• Look at the results of your market research. How are you going to satisfy the interests of your target audience? Think carefully about the articles that will appear in your magazine.

Task:
1. Create a first draft Contents Page. Print a copy out.
2. Draw a flat plan. Make changes from your original to improve the layout.
3. Create your new and improved Contents Page.
DEADLINE: Friday13th November

Y10 Representation in Action Adventure Film

Analyse the images below:

• Taron Egerton and Colin Firth in Kingsman
• Dylan O'Brien & Kaya Scodelario in Maze Runner

Write about the representation of the celebrity. Include the following:

• facial expression
• styling e.g.: hair, make-up, clothes, costume, props
• background (the mise en scene). What does the background/ setting/ location they are in tell us about them

Do your work on a word doc. Print out and paste in your books. Colour images please.

Y10 Stereotypes Vocabulary

We have been working on Representation of Teenagers. In many of the presentations of reality you found, you have come across Stereotypes being used to represent groups of people or certain characters.

Task: Can you select one of the examples from your presentation and write about them in your book? Using the work you did with your group, you need to use one image of the character and explain how they are being represented by commenting on:

• facial expression
• styling e.g.: hair, make-up, clothes, costume, props
• background (the mise en scene). What does the background/ setting/ location they are in tell us about them

USEFUL VOCABULARY
Stereotype - a generalisation (often true but can contain falsehoods) e.g. Brits drink tea
Countertype - a challenge to a stereotype, presents an alternative view of a group e.g. women being practical and good at DIY or men being sensitive and understanding
Atypical - not representative of a type, group, or class
Quintessential - representing the most perfect or typical example of a quality or class. Often timeless e.g. Bowler hats and suits for upper class Brits
Zeitgeist - typical of the time, captures the dominant mood/fashion of a time. Only popular for a fleeting moment e.g. a particular fashion or musical movement

EXTENSION WORK
Everything we have done revolves around 'stereotypes'
1. Copy Tessa Perkins' views on stereotypes into you books
2. Include an example for each (I have done the first for you) as well as an example from TV, Film or Magazine

Stereotypes - Tessa Perkins

Rethinking Stereotypes - (Tessa Perkins)

1. Stereotypes are not always wrong - The English do drink tea
2. They are not always negative concepts
3. They are about groups with whom we have little or no social contact; by implication, therefore, they are not held about our own group(s)
4. They are not always about minority (or oppressed) groups
5. They can be simple or complicated
6. They are not rigid and can change
7. People often believe some parts of a stereotype but not always all

Y10 Representation Theory

It is not possible for the media to present the world as it really is because when the media constructs meanings about the world they change or mediate what is really there.

Richard Dyer is a British media theorist, who discussed a star's special place in the audiences' lives. He suggests that the star image is manufactured and artificial and that individual stars have their own unique selling point in order to grab and hold our attention - for example Justin Bieber's hair.

The paradox of the Star

Dyer goes on to say that a star must be represented as both ordinary and extraordinary at the same time, in order for the audience to buy into their celebrity status. They need to appear to be just like us (the audience/regular people), but also at the same time possess something we do not have and something that makes them special, different, extraordinary. This may mean that they are more talented, gifted, confident, passionate, artistic, sensitive, carefree or sexy, but they are also allowed to be rebellious, anti-social, or angry maybe. They are idealised versions of humanity or in other words idols.

He also thinks this paradox (a statement that contradicts itself) means that the star has to be present in our lives, in terms of in our social group chats, our style, our habits and our consumption habits. However, they are also absent; something we think of as out of reach, on a pedestal and not actually there.

Task:
1. Look at the images of the celebrities below and consider what they are using as their unique selling point.
a) Pharrell Williams and his wife Helen.
b) Miley Cyrus performing at the VMA Awards 2015

Write about the representation of the celebrity. Include the following:

• facial expression
• styling e.g.: hair, make-up, clothes, costume, props
• background (the mise en scene). What does the background/ setting/ location they are in tell us about them

2. Select four celebrities of your own choice and complete the same activity.

3. Complete work on word and glue into your book.

Year 10 Action Adventure Films

Using your knowledge about how teenagers are represented, we are looking at three specific film posters. These are all action adventure films.

Using the key images from the film posters, can you answer the questions below. You can deconstruct the posters to show the evidence you need to support your answers.

1. What are the conventions of Action Adventure Films?
2. How are teenagers Represented in Action Adventure films to appeal to a Target Audience?

Task: Using the three film posters from The Hunger Games, The Amazing Spiderman and Jurassic World:

1. Analyse how the films follow the conventions of the action adventure genre. 
2. Explore how the teenage characters are represented in the film. 
3. Discuss how you think that these films designed to appeal to the target audience.